Comcast is here to please again. Almost a month after sucking in new customers with the OTA Digital TV Transition, Comcast is changing customers (at least in my area) to all digital. Currently, stations like ABC/CBS/NBC/FOX that broadcast in digital only, are down converted to analog for cable customer use. Other stations on cable are also broadcast in analog.
This is all changing. I have mixed feelings. Overall, my negative feelings reside with the timing. Almost exactly a month after the OTA transition, they're announcing the change?
Their FAQ page is horribly misleading.
Are there any ways that I can make my old television set work?If you subscribe to Comcast cable, we will take care of you. You won't need to worry about getting a new TV if you subscribe to a Comcast cable package. Comcast will offer some converter boxes, but that doesn't plug the hole. I have a friend that has 5-6 TVs in his house. Comcast won't give him enough converters. What if someone had OTA TV and decided to research pay TV. Cable suckered them in with no need for boxes and the customer avoided DirecTV/Dish. Whoops, well don't worry about that, you wanted to pay for their DVR anyway, right?
Onto the positive. If comcast broadcasts one digital station, theoretically, my HDTV will display in full resolution. Anyone who doesn't have an HDTV should view the same signal, but at a lower resolution.
I have noticed on a comcast Digital Tuner box that it will display black on a low res TV that is tuned to a HD channel.
Time will tell how it plays out, anyone else have any additional info on this?