[mythtv-users] Re: Comcast being coy?

Joseph A. Caputo jcaputo1 at comcast.net
Thu Oct 13 13:25:08 UTC 2005


On Wednesday 12 October 2005 20:24, Chris Ribe wrote:
> I haven't tried, but I'm almost certain the answer is yes. Digital and
> analog cable coexist on the same line, as everybody in a neighborhood 
> shares 
> the same line.

Yes, that's *usually* the case.  Most cable providers rely on the fact 
that almost no-one has a QAM-capable tuner, and even if they did,
a lot of the providers encrypt most of the digital channels anyway.  
It's a matter of cost -- imagine how much it would have cost them to 
roll out digital cable if they'd had to go out and put a filter on 
every subscriber's line to block the digital signal until that 
subscriber upgraded.  It was definitely worth it for them to just allow 
the signal through, knowing that most people couldn't do anything with 
it anyway.  Plus, I think some providers have problems providing cable 
modem services if they filter the digital signal.

Now, as some TVs and tuner cards are coming out with QAM tuners, they 
may re-evaluate the cost/benefit of that practice, and may start 
encrypting things that they didn't before.  Of course, they're not 
allowed to encrypt the OTA equivalent channels, but everything else is 
fair game.

-JAC


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