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

Kevin Kuphal kkuphal at gmail.com
Tue Dec 2 21:30:39 UTC 2008


On Tue, Dec 2, 2008 at 2:58 PM, Mark Knecht <markknecht at gmail.com> wrote:

> 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.


I just refuse to use Comcast for Internet as well.  AT&T was happy to sell
me a naked DSL line.  1.5Mbps is actually plenty right now for streaming
non-HD content.  Hopefully FIOS or U-verse will be more available as HD
streaming become reality

Kevin
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