[mythtv-users] To survive the switch to digital...

[Mark Knecht]

On Tue, Dec 2, 2008 at 7:42 AM, Brad Fuller <bradallenfuller at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Mon, Dec 1, 2008 at 1:16 PM, Mark Knecht <markknecht at gmail.com> wrote:
>> I agree. My wife and kid don't. They want stuff on basic cable
>> channels - Monk, Psych, The Closer, etc. Like you I've got more than
>> enough. NetFLix discs, plus Watch Instantly, plus Watch Instantly on
>> the Roku box is more hours than I can devote. Problem I see coming is
>> that Comcast Internet will segment download bandwidth based on whether
>> I'm a cable TV subscriber or not. They will give 250GB to TV
>> subscribers and only 100GB to those of us who quit cable TV. Less
>> bandwidth makes watching Watch Instantly & Hulu more problematic.
>
> Sounds like you are in the same boat as me, Mark. I have extended
> analog basic and my family wants TNT, FX, TBS, etc. I'm also worried
> that Comcast will do something, like move them to digital and I'll
> have to get a set top box and screw around with IR blasters and such.
> Yuck.
>
> --
> Brad Fuller

Brad,
   I'm assuming that we will, but probably not on day 1. Comcast has
made a big deal that things won't change and that if someone is a
customer, as you and I are, then come the day of the switch nothing
will have changed. I expect that will be true. come March 1st I expect
that there won't be any changes necessary to record all, or at least
most, of what we can record today on our PVR-150/250 setup.

   What I also assume is that Comcast, being a publicly held company
responsible by law for maximizing shareholder returns, will want to
get more money from each subscriber. their job is to figure out how
much they can take away from us (by putting it on digital) without
having us cancel our accounts, with the idea being that if we want MTV
which had been moved to digital then we should just pay for another
box.

   As for us here, the more we can get online - like NCIS, Heros and
more on NetFlix Watch Instantly - the the less we are held prisoner by
Comcast cable subscriptions. However Comcast does lower Internet
access fees when you subscribe to TV so if we drop our TV subscription
then we pay more for Internet.

   I expect it's all going to end up being sort of a game of chicken.
Only time will tell how it might work out. I want to investigate over
the air HDTV antennas and then recording those. Maybe look for more
online services and start paying more attention to what the broadcast
networks offer over the Internet.

Cheers,
Mark