Re: ATSC modulators

["BruceR" <razrbruce@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Although it's of no help to you, Time Warner in Hawaii has been making a
big push to get customers by promoting the fact that old TV's will
continue to operate as always without any boxes.

 beaver wrote:
> Thanks Bob, lots of great info in your post.  Looks like you confirm
> what I suspected.  It is in the cable providers best interest to
> terminate analog under the cover of the governments mandate of over-
> the-air analog termination.  So eventually, COMCAST will go the way of
> Verizon too it appears.
>
> Looks like your situation is similar to mine (and perhaps others).  I
> enjoy a seamless merging of the incoming TV and in-house channels.  I
> hate to give that up.  Looks like I need to set up my own internal
> analog system in-house after all  8-(.
>
> Edward Cheung
>
> On May 28, 12:28 pm, "Robert Green" <ROBERT_GREEN1...@xxxxxxxxx>
> wrote:
>> "BruceR" <razrbr...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
>>
>> news:483ce35b$0$30155$4c368faf@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>>
>>> Ed,  It appears that by doing that you're willing to forego the
>>> supposed benefits of the digital signal by converting it to analog
>>> but to do so you'll have to rent a cable box for each channel -
>>> which could get pricey on an annual basis.  Is VZW's FIOS system
>>> the only cable TV game in town? Perhaps there is another company
>>> like Time Warner or Comcast that would let you keep everything as
>>> is at no additional cost.
>>
>> I live near Ed and have Comcast.  They are planning to drop analog
>> and have been quietly converting over their analog channels to
>> digital, which means I lose about three analog channels a year.  The
>> latest went just last month, TruTV aka CourtTV bit the dust.  Ed's
>> quite right about their service. IIRC, a recent article said Comcast
>> has a customer satisfaction rate below that of the airlines and used
>> car salesmen.  When I make the all digital switch, it won't be with
>> Comcast.  I suspect they are prolonging analog only because they
>> know when they switch, LOTS of people will leave.  I am sure they'll
>> do it by or at the time of the big switchover so they can blame the
>> feds, but the truth is they get a lot more out of the switchover
>> then the average consumer because they can institute "on demand" for
>> more programs (and $) with the increase in bandwidth.
>>
>> http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/25-05202008-1536695.html
>>
>> "By DEBORAH YAO
>> Associated Press
>>
>> PHILADELPHIA ? Customer satisfaction ratings for Comcast Corp. fell
>> this year to an all-time low and rank at the bottom of cable and
>> satellite TV providers, according to a survey released today
>> [5/22/08]."
>>
>> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> ----
>>
>> I would NEVER advise anyone to switch to Comcast for ANYTHING.  Not
>> the absolutely worst company I have ever dealt with, but pretty darn
>> close.
>>
>> The bigger question Dr. Cheung has raised for me is how to get
>> things like HomeVision, my CID video box (takes a video signal via
>> RCA in and overlays the CID info on the screen via RCA out) and my
>> closed circuit TV cameras are going to integrate with HDTV.  So far,
>> the answer is very, very poorly.
>>
>> Hopefully, when most houses have more than one pipeline, true
>> competition will set in.  Comcast couldn't get as rich and arrogant
>> as they have gotten without a pseudo-monopoly on their product.
>> Let's see if the Congress and the FCC remembers they got special
>> breaks to get started that they certainly don't need now.  BTW, I
>> believe it's not Verizon Wireless that runs their fiber *wire* into
>> Ed's house, but the parent company, Verizon.  My experience is that
>> VZW's has far worse customer support than Comcast, FWIW. That's why
>> I am happy to finally see them on the ropes now for their OUTRAGEOUS
>> early termination fees:  Those are the fees where they gouge
>> customers for 5 to 10 times the actual cost of a handset if they
>> want to leave their lousy service after they find out how profoundly
>> lousy their service is:
>>
>
>> Bobby G.