Comcast going all digital in Seattle, bringing DTAs to the Pacific Northwest
You already know what Comcast's Digital Transport Adapter looks like, and for folks in Salem, Eugene and Corvallis, Oregon (not to mention Seattle, Washington), you'll be seeing 'em in the flesh soon enough. Comcast has announced that its all digital transition will be heading up from Portland and into Seattle in the near future, and it's upsetting quite a few locals with Media Center PC / TiVo setups. Of course, these are just the growing (or should we say "changing") pains associated with a mass switch from analog to digital, but at least in theory, the conversion should free up oodles of bandwidth for the carrier to expand its HD lineup. And remember, a cable company choosing to pipe its channels out in digital is very different than the broadcast change coming in February 2009 -- it's confusing, we know, but the read link does a fairly decent job of spelling everything out.[Thanks, Doug]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
madgamer @ Dec 12th 2008 8:26AM
Are they going clearQAM with the standard/basic cable channels or are they simply making you have a STB for every TV? If it's the second option, I can see why people would be mad...
Tralus @ Dec 12th 2008 10:58AM
It effects the expanded basic users (I'm from Seattle and watched a news piece on this). If you are one of those "lucky" ones that have those services. If you want higher then channel 29 (so anything over basic) you have to move to a standard converter box. If your "happy" with less then Channel 29 and down - then these little DTA's are your new friend.
Rick Huizinga @ Dec 12th 2008 1:11PM
This sounds like great news for Cable Card users. Freeing up all of this analog bandwidth for HD channels will hopefully remove the immediate prospects of Comcast implementing switched video.
BenM @ Dec 12th 2008 4:30PM
It seems like Comcast is trying to hide behind the massive campaign by the FCC and use the resulting confusion to remove service from customers. As an HD nut, I like the idea of theoretically adding more HD stations, but it bugs me that the rest of the TVs are around my house are only going to get a few channels if I don't shell out for a box. Comcast could have taken the opportunity to do this at a different time and explain to customers how this benefits them. Instead, they're playing on the confusion of the masses.
All I want for Christmas is FIOS.