Since Comcast has changed some of the channels and freq that some channels are on, I updated the list… Morgantown Comcast Channel Listing
It is in PDF form now..
Comcast just can’t leave crap alone
So not even 3 days after they started having WNPB in QAM on the Morgantown system, they have changed stuff again. Now instead of it being on PSIP 24.1, 24.2, 24.3, they for what ever reason decided yesterday to change it to 8.3, 8.5 and 8.6 and they removed the PSIP identifiers to say what channel is what. I believe that 8.6 is the HD one 8.5 is Create and 8.3 is the SD version of 8.6.
In addition to this change they also moved the Pittsburgh CW HD Channel from 65.2601 to 7.2601. Which leads me to believe they are getting ready to start here what they are doing in other cities. Basicly the only thing that will be in the clear in the Analog channels will be the local ABC,CBS, NBC, FOX and PBS. Everything else will be moving to a digital channel. Because of this they will move most of the “analog” stuff down to the lower channels, and start using all the upper channels to do digital stuff. This is would explain why WNPB and the Pittsburgh CW were moved. WNPB they had on channel 66 and the CW was on 65. So what does all this mean? I assume that pretty soon that you will have to have a DTA (Digital Television Adapter) to make your “non-obsolete tv” that was supposed to “still work after the OTA digital switch work with cable now. So basicly even though they have said that the switch to digital transmission for the people who are not using rabbit ears and had cable would not be affected… You will be now.
Now if Comcast wanted to do it the RIGHT WAY, they would make all the channels that are currently available in the analog channel band, be in the clear on the digital side. So all those people who have the new TV’s that do Clear QAM recepition, will be able to still get the channels with out having to add another box and remote.
Wonder what Comcast will do next? And the TVGOS still doesn’t work……
Comcast WNPB and TVGOS
Since Comcast has decided to take away the analog PBS channel from Morgntown (WNPB 24) that was on channel 8, those people who use the TVGOS (aka TVGuide On Screen) on their TV’s / DVR’s will now see that their listings are blank… From what I have found so far, Macrovision (who supplies the TVGOS data) worked with PBS channels to provide the info in the VBI (Vertical blanking interval. Sort of like Closed Caption data) over those PBS Channels that were broadcasting in Analog. Well it seems now that with more and more channels going to Digital ATSC transmission, CBS is now the “carrier” chosen by macrovision to host the data on a subcarrier on one of their digital channels. So now it appears that either KDKA out of Pittsburgh is not providing the data or Comcast is stripping it some place. Who knows, all I know is that now that data is not provided to the TV and the TV just sets there and keep saying that the setup is in progress.
This really sucks as I was just getting used to having the TVGuide info stuff on the screen with out having to look at the cable box on another tv to see the info. So long for that until KDKA/comcast can figure out how to fix it.
So please Comcast/KDKA fix the problem!
Comcast and WNPB
Seems Comcast has finally realized that WNPB has multiple digital channels. I noticed last night that channel 8 on the cable was showing snow, which I thought was interesting as it has been working for months since the switch. But now it appears that they have maybe moved it to 712 and started showing the HD version of it. They also added channel 699 which carries the second subchannel on WNPB.. Just wondering now if they have then in clear QAM or if they encrypted them. They better in be in the clear…..
More info from the West Virginia Public Broadcasting page…
And from the looks of the article, it appears that they are dropping the analog WNPB channel from the line up. Funny that they are saying they are offering a new PBS2 channel, this channel has been available over the AIR for months now.
And yes, they added 3 new channels in clear qam 24.1, 24.2, 24.3… They took away channel 8 analog, but if you have a cable box and go to channel 8 it just shows the same thing as 24.1. So they have taken away more analog now…
Update to comcast speed
So the other night when I was testing the speed’s I was doing it with my MacBook Pro on the wireless.. Tonight I decided to do it from the desktop that is wired in at 100mb/s link, here are the results:
Pretty darn nice…. The weird part is I think my comcast connection goes through DC instead of Pittsburgh. On the Pittsburgh comcast speed test I get 20mb/s right off the bat, but then it drops down to about 13 / 14 mb… on the DC test it stays around 20 until the last couple of seconds and then drops down to 19.94, but I think that is just the finishing of the file. So it looks like even though Pittsburgh is geographicly closer the route to dc may be bigger.
The Pittsburgh test site is in summit park, which funny as it is only 5 hops from my house. The DC test site is in Manassas VA, which is at least 9 hops.
To get from my house to the DC test site, it goes thorugh pittsburgh ph, cleveland oh, pittsbugh pa, mclean va, and then capitlhights maryland.
To get from my house to the Pittsburgh test site,just 5 hops, and it is there. both of the ones out side of morgantown are in pittsburgh..
Very weird