MythTV/Comcast going all digital TV in Cambridge [OT]

[Derek Atkins]

Shankar Viswanathan <shankar.viswan-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w at public.gmane.org> writes:

> On Mon, Jun 29, 2009 at 2:25 PM, Bill Bogstad<bogstad-e+AXbWqSrlAAvxtiuMwx3w at public.gmane.org> wrote:
>>
>> Got it now.  They do provide the over the air as clear QAM to me now.   They
>> currently provide me about 45 channels as analog
>> that are not over the air.  Reading between the lines, these channels will
>> probably go encrypted QAM for me in October.
>
> This is exactly what RCN did -- they switched to all digital (called
> the "analog crush") and encrypted all the non-broadcast channels. I
> requested them to provide the "basic cable" channels as ClearQAM but
> the guy on the phone did not know (or pretended not to know) the
> difference between "digital" and "encrypted digital" and kept saying
> that the FCC mandated this. Arguing with him was futile and a later
> call to a different support person didn't go any better.

I had the same results..  I was even quoted in the Globe about it!
Pissed me off.  AT LEAST RCN's HD boxes give full access to all your
content via Firewire..  So you can plug an RCN box into your firewire
port and it'll work...

> As a result, both my NTSC analog capture card and the QAM tuner in my
> TV are useless. The basic converter box that they provided for free
> doesn't have anything except an IR receiver (no serial, no USB, no
> IEEE1394), and I haven't found the time to setup an IR blaster for my
> mythtv yet.

True...  The low level (free) box requires an IR blaster..

> -Shankar

-derek

-- 
       Derek Atkins, SB '93 MIT EE, SM '95 MIT Media Laboratory
       Member, MIT Student Information Processing Board  (SIPB)
       URL: http://web.mit.edu/warlord/    PP-ASEL-IA     N1NWH
       warlord-DPNOqEs/LNQ at public.gmane.org                        PGP key available