Tag: Rant

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Comcast changing their lineup

Just happen to be watching the weather channel this morning and saw a scrolling ticker that said a bunch of channels were changing.. Said to go to comcastdigitalworld.com to find out more. Well went there and found this:

Guess we will be getting a couple of new HD channels… I wish they would fix the stuff they have first. My HD DVR box cuts out the audio almost every couple of minutes… Going to have to call to get it replaced. Funny thing about the channels changing, they have not sent out any info on it so far, and the only reason I saw it was because I was watching the weather channel, which looks like it is moving too. Also looks like they are removing HGTV from the line up? (They are putting the Weather channel on channel 58, which is where HGTV currently is, but no signs of where HGTV is going to.)

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Comcast again

I have started to get really mad at comcast lately. I had set the DVR to record a show on Mojo the other night. Went to watch it tonight, and guess what…. Comcast pre-empted the show with FOX Sports again! So I decided to use their Chat thing tonight and chat with them to see why they are doing that, here was the outcome:


Me(Sat May 24 2008 19:33:59 GMT-0400 (EDT))>

Why is FOX Sports Pittsburgh HD showing up on the Mojo channel?

analyst James has entered room

James(Sat May 24 2008 19:34:03 GMT-0400 (EDT))>

Hello Me_, Thank you for contacting Comcast Live Chat Support. My name is James. Please give me one moment to review your information.

James(Sat May 24 2008 19:34:11 GMT-0400 (EDT))>

Good Evening

Me_(Sat May 24 2008 19:34:23 GMT-0400 (EDT))>

hello

James(Sat May 24 2008 19:35:07 GMT-0400 (EDT))>

That happens because Comcast does not carry FSN Pittsburgh in HD, but the Penguins games are aired in HD on that channel.

Me_(Sat May 24 2008 19:36:07 GMT-0400 (EDT))>

Uh, yeah they do...channel 769 is "FSPHD" which is Fox sports Pittsburgh in HD. It is currently airing the exact same thing as in on Mojo.

James(Sat May 24 2008 19:36:28 GMT-0400 (EDT))>

We do not carry that channel in every area.

Me_(Sat May 24 2008 19:36:48 GMT-0400 (EDT))>

It is frustrating because when I try to tape something on mojo, 9 times out of 10 I get something else.

James(Sat May 24 2008 19:36:58 GMT-0400 (EDT))>

I am sorry for the inconvenience.

Me_(Sat May 24 2008 19:37:49 GMT-0400 (EDT))>

can they not change the channel guide to show when they are going to pre-empt a show that is supposed to be on mojo with what ever they are going to simulacast from FSP?

Me_(Sat May 24 2008 19:38:19 GMT-0400 (EDT))>

like right now it says London Live should be on, but it is a pittsburgh pirates game.

James(Sat May 24 2008 19:38:21 GMT-0400 (EDT))>

The channel guide is controlled and maintained by TV Guide

Me_(Sat May 24 2008 19:39:03 GMT-0400 (EDT))>

So there is really no way to ever know if I am going to get what I set to get recorded?

James(Sat May 24 2008 19:39:36 GMT-0400 (EDT))>

I am very sorry for the inconvenience, Comcast does not control the information that is displayed in the Program Guide.

Me_(Sat May 24 2008 19:40:48 GMT-0400 (EDT))>

ok, just very frustrating that my bill keeps going up and up, and when I want to watch something, it is usually what is not there. Don't understand why there are 30+ Test channels that they could use for the same purpose, but they end up pre-empting some other channel.

James(Sat May 24 2008 19:41:33 GMT-0400 (EDT))>

I apologize for the frustration.

Me_(Sat May 24 2008 19:43:02 GMT-0400 (EDT))>

is there any possiblity that this may be "fixed" in the future?

James(Sat May 24 2008 19:43:45 GMT-0400 (EDT))>

Yes there is a possibility of it being fixed. Unfortunately, I am not able to provide a time frame on when it will be resolved.

Me_(Sat May 24 2008 19:46:05 GMT-0400 (EDT))>

ok, just getting tired of the service price going up and up, and the quality of service going down. Paying almost $200 a month for cable and it is almost exactly the same amount of content that I was getting 5 years ago and paying half the price. Is there any where to submit formal complaints about things like this?

James(Sat May 24 2008 19:47:09 GMT-0400 (EDT))>

I can see what I can do to lower your bill for you if you like.

Me_(Sat May 24 2008 19:47:27 GMT-0400 (EDT))>

that would be great....

Me_(Sat May 24 2008 19:48:19 GMT-0400 (EDT))>

the only thing extra I have even gotten in the last 5 years has been the HD+DVR.

James(Sat May 24 2008 19:49:22 GMT-0400 (EDT))>

I can bring your bill down to 159.84 plus taxes for a period of 6 months for you.

James(Sat May 24 2008 19:50:44 GMT-0400 (EDT))>

You currently pay 171.85 plus taxes

Me_(Sat May 24 2008 19:51:33 GMT-0400 (EDT))>

yeah and I received a letter the other day saying it was going to be going up even more.

Me_(Sat May 24 2008 19:51:47 GMT-0400 (EDT))>

after taxes I will be paying almost $190 a month

Me_(Sat May 24 2008 19:52:03 GMT-0400 (EDT))>

what is the deal with the 159.84?

James(Sat May 24 2008 19:53:46 GMT-0400 (EDT))>

That is everything you have now, although the only promotion I am able to provide you with is an Internet promotion that is $19.99 a month for 6 months. You would be gaining some channels as well. You would be removed from the Adelphia grandfathered package and put into the Digital Premier package (that includes Digital Preferred and all the movie channels) and the Sports and Entertainment Package.

Me_(Sat May 24 2008 19:54:59 GMT-0400 (EDT))>

that is what I have now, I have nearly every single channel except the new sports ones added in the last week, and I am not interested in any more sports channels as I don't watch the ones that are there now.

James(Sat May 24 2008 19:55:43 GMT-0400 (EDT))>

Without the sports package it would be 151.89 plus taxes per month, for a period of 6 months.

Me_(Sat May 24 2008 19:56:25 GMT-0400 (EDT))>

and that keeps everything I currently have access to?

James(Sat May 24 2008 19:57:16 GMT-0400 (EDT))>

You will loose some channels without having the Sports and Entertainment package, those channels that you will loose will be listed in the mailing you received.

Me_(Sat May 24 2008 19:59:13 GMT-0400 (EDT))>

and what would the price go up to after the 6months?

James(Sat May 24 2008 19:59:37 GMT-0400 (EDT))>

174.85 plus taxes

Me_(Sat May 24 2008 20:01:49 GMT-0400 (EDT))>

well thanks for the help, but since it would only change it for 6 months it is not really worth me changing anything I will just keep what I have now and reevaluate whether I will switch to dish or not.

James(Sat May 24 2008 20:02:18 GMT-0400 (EDT))>

Ok, I am sorry I was not able to assist you any further today.

Then as I was reading through the news tonight I see this article: Comcast trying to sell 46 outlying cable systems

Which is funny as now our system will probably be sold to Time Warner… I am so so so tempted to go get a Dish Network system. But I still need the cable modem, so it is almost not worth it yet.

What makes me mad about the whole conversation with the comcast dude is that he kept using the cost not including taxes. But by the time you add in all the taxes, it is almost another $10+ to the bill. Let alone that just this year so far my bill has went up $10 since january (with no change to service) and will go up another $3.00 in June with get this a lost of service.. Right now I have every Movie channel on the system (HBO/Cinemax/ShowTime/The Movie Channel/etc), after June I have to pay more just to get The Movie Channel. The best part is that “no action is required!” my bill will go up, I will lose channels, and more than likly I will cancel more of the service. What is where is if they can keep giving these “promotions” why don’t they use that for the price all the time.

It would be cool if we had something like FreeView or SkyTV here in the US. I would gladly pay for the hardware if the service was free. Sort of like back in the early 80’s when we had the BUD (big ugly dish) at my parents house. We could get nearly every channel for free off of the satellites before they started encrypting them.

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Sucky day

Today started off ok, but as it went on it got worse and worse. I hope this weekend goes better.. Nothing like coming home to find that the ReplayTV that was working the previous night is now dead, who knows why other than the power strip it was plugged in to was off. All it does now is display “please wait”, the fan doesn’t turn on. Not sure how to diagnose what is wrong with it. Then server was down because of 2 power outages at the hosting place and it took me about an hour to get the disks fixed in it. And to top it all off a hundred and one projects that are all high priority and need done asap, but not enough time in the day/week to get everything done.

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Silly Elgato

It seems that Elgato has 2 different EyeTV Hybird USB Tuners for the Mac.. The one you can find in the stores is NOT the one advertised here. The one in the stores does NOT do Clear QAM. They decided to add Clear QAM support to the “2008” version but kept the name and model the same. So to those who want one that does QAM you need to buy it directly from Elgato and not from a local retailer. Only get it from a local retailer if it has on the box “Clear QAM” in green listed some place. The others will not do QAM at all, which means if you bought it to watch HDTV via Cable it won’t work. This information the last time I looked was not clearly visible and was buried deep in their support forums.

So to sum up, if you want a TV Tuner for your Mac and you want to watch the Digital Stations on Cable that are in the clear, you need the Tuner that does Clear QAM. The 2007 version will only do over the air HDTV, which in my area means 1 PBS station.

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Tax Time again

I wish West Virginia would re-evaluate their Tax schedules. I just finished doing my taxes for the 2007 year, and once again I owe the state money… $856 to be exact… This really makes me mad as I even made a point to having extra money taken out of my pay check because of what happened last year. Looks like I will be visiting HR on Tuesday to have even more taken out of my pay check now. This really sucks!