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Comcast "forced" digital

R

radiophiler

I live in Bryn Mawr. I got a notice from Comcast yesterday that on Jan. 26 and then again on Feb. 16, a number (most) of the cable channels are going digital only. Some going digital on Jan. 26: AMC, Animal Planet and Weather Channel. Others going digital only on Feb. 16: A&E, Bravo, CNN channels, Comedy Central, Comcast SportsNet, ESPN channels and E. (This is not the complete list.)

You get up to three boxes for free. You start paying with the fourth one (no problem for me, we only have 1 TVs).

What happens if you don't get the boxes (or don't have digital TVs)? You lose most cable channels and will only get the other-the-air channels.

I knew this was coming, I just didn't think it would be this soon.

They also claim there will be no extra charge. I'll believe that when I get my March bill.

Here's my question: They say you can still use a VCR to tape programs. However, my understanding is that you lose the ability to watch one channel and tape another. Is that true?

And if that's true, is there a way around it? I thought I'd tell Comcast I have 3 TVs, and use the extra box to feed the VCR directly, which would allow me to watch one thing on TV and tape another. Is that possible?

I rather not pay for a DVR. I won't get that much use out of it.

Any info/advice on this is welcome. Thanks.
 
I live in Chester County. They did this last month here and added many many HD channels. I welcomed them getting rid of analog cable and using the bandwidth for HDTV. If you had Verizon, DirecTv, or Dish network, you'd have a box. Get 2 free boxes, one for your TV and one for the VCR. By the way, you'll still get 3, 6, 10, 12, 17, 29, 57, and a couple of other channels on analog. Also, DVRs are great. You can even program them from the web!
 
Here in Plymouth Meeting, the analog extended basic tier ended yesterday. Although I consider myself a geek, having one more box to deal with to watch TV seems like too much trouble. I'm keeping the basic basic analog service ($10/mo, but essentially free with my Internet bundle) and living without the extended basic channels. I'll miss the news channels, ESPN, Discovery and History, but I hardly ever watched the others. I'm watching more shows on the Internet, anyway, and I can get the audio from CNBC and Fox News on my Sirius sat rad. Comcast says this is all about bandwidth, maybe that's true but it seems to me they want to force customers to switch to digital so they will be tempted to pay for lots of on demand stuff. Sorry Comcast, not me.
 
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