[mythtv-users] Comcast rendering my HDHR useless

Friedrich Clausen fred at derf.nl
Mon Nov 10 13:10:47 UTC 2008


On Mon, Nov 10, 2008 at 1:41 PM, Mark Small <msmall at eastlink.ca> wrote:
> On November 10, 2008 05:41:44 am Friedrich Clausen wrote:
>> Hello,
>>
>> On Mon, Nov 10, 2008 at 9:42 AM, Jon Bishop
>>
>> <jon.the.wise.gdrive at gmail.com> wrote:
>> > On Nov 8, 2008, at 11:00 AM, Larry K wrote:
>> >> The weird thing is that about a month ago, they put almost
>> >> EVERYTHING on
>> >> QAM.  I just happened to rescan and my HDHR was picking up all the
>> >> stuff
>> >> that's available over analog, plus all the cool HD stuff like TLC,
>> >> and even
>> >> some digital tier stuff like TruTV.
>> >>
>> >> I thought they were gonna open all this up as an alternative to
>> >> analog, but
>> >> now it doesn't look good.
>> >>
>> >> On Sat, Nov 8, 2008 at 1:49 PM, Brian Wood <beww at beww.org> wrote:
>> >>> Larry K wrote:
>> >>>> Anyone else in VA have Comcast and use an HDHR (or a QAM tuner)?
>> >>>> Recently, they took away a whole bunch of must-have QAM channels,
>> >>>> like
>> >>>> TLCHD, DSCD, HGTVHD, HSTRYHD, and on and on.  It's a pretty lengthy
>> >>>> list.  Now all that's left is the networks and a few miscellaneous
>> >>>
>> >>> channels.
>> >>>
>> >>>> I wonder if this is somehow related to the removal of analog
>> >>>> channels in
>> >>>> February?
>> >>>
>> >>> That's what they want you to believe, they screw you and you blame
>> >>> the
>> >>> government.
>> >>>
>> >>> Sounds like you are now in the same boat as most of the rest of us,
>> >>> the
>> >>> only unencrypted QAM channels are the local OTAs and things like
>> >>> CSPAN
>> >>> and the various home shopping things.
>> >
>> > This makes me ponder. Now, for years and years, you've been able to
>> > hook your TV up to the cable line and tune all the channels you've
>> > subscribed to. Now, with QAM, you could *theoretically* hook up most
>> > new HDTV sets to the same cable and get all the digital channels that
>> > you are subscribed to, except that commie-cast has encrypted all those
>> > stations, forcing people to pay for a set top box.
>> >
>> > It seems to me that this is extortion, and would like to know why the
>> > FCC doesn't require the cable co's to broadcast in such a way that
>> > people aren't forced to lease hardware, or provide as many STBs as
>> > requested at no expense to subscriber. There's no reason for them to
>> > broadcast encrypted signals except to screw their customers. When
>> > you're not a subscriber, they disconnect your cable, physically. If
>> > they don't, that's not the fault of the consumer.
>> >
>> > ~Jon
>>
>> Perhaps, in addition to the STB motivation, the broadcasters are also
>> being pressured by the large studios into denying the subscriber
>> unencrypted access to *his* subscription. But that is pure speculation
>> on my part. Perhaps the FCC should be petitioned to look into this.
>>
>> Cheers,
>>
>> Fred.
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>
> Okay conspiracy theorists, calm down.  The whole reason that they encrypt most
> of the QAM streams is that HDTV's with QAM capable tuners are very common.
> If they didn't encrypt the QAM streams then people would be able to view
> channels that they DON'T subscribe to.  And that's called cale theft.
>
> If you want to view subscribed digital content without an STB, that's what
> cablecard is for (in theory -- shame its such a mess in practice)

Ah, good explanation - a pity indeed that cablecard is such a mess in practice.


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