Comcast Incompetence

[Hi Ho]

I work for a local A/V store and custom installer. I work in the field and I work with multiple Comcast cable boxes every day. When someone at the store sells an HDTV, they always tell the customer to pick up a new cable box from Comcast and have it waiting for us when we get there to install their TV. Why? Comcast installers don't seem to have a clue about what they are doing! Luckily most people follow the advice and there is a cable box waiting for me. Those who don't follow that advice end up thinking, "That picture on that HD channel doesn't look that good". The reason is that Comcast doesn't know how to setup their own damn boxes!

One example, the other day we delivered a new TV to a longtime customer which we installed in his bedroom. He had a standard Comcast box and I recommended upgrading to the HD box. He said he was going to and Comcast was coming out later in the week. Then he mentioned that he had an HDTV in his living room that was about four years old and he was amazed with the picture and that Comcast installed the box after my company had installed everything else. I thought I'd better take a look at it. It was a very nice Mitsubishi Diamond 65" CRT RPTV with Rotel audio equipment and a Niles IntelliControl system. I turned it on and switched to Discovery HD. There were bars on the top and bottom. He was still exclaiming how amazing it looked. I pulled out the cable box and my suspicion was confirmed. The HD cable box was connected with a composite cable to the HDTV! I told him to wait there and I would be back. I grabbed a component cable out of the truck and proceeded to hook it up. I then entered the setup menu for the cable box and set it to output 1080i. When I turned on Discovery HD this time, he was absolutely floored! He couldn't believe what it looked like. He was glued to that TV the rest of the time we were there hooking up the other TV and I had a hard time pulling him away to sign the paperwork. It was like he was seeing his four year old TV for the first time. We got a generous tip and he said he would definetly call us out to check his other Comcast box after they installed it.

This is not unusual, at least not in my area. Literally EVERY cable box that I have seen installed by Comcast was NOT outputting an HD signal. Most are hooked up with component but they were set to output 480i. 480i is the default setting. Appearently the Comcast installers do not know about the setup menu which is accessed by pressing "Menu" when the box is off.

If anyone knows someone that bought an HDTV and had Comcast install an HD cable box I would advise you to check it out and make sure it is setup correctly. How can they be so incompetent? It would take five minutes to train an installer how to properly setup a cable box.

 

[Jedi2016]

I guess some people take the "one cable is as good as another" adage a little too far... But it's quite clear they have no idea what the different types of cables actually do.

 

[markw]

What's really scary...

... is that, thanks to Comcast and various other entities, there are probably tens of thousands of people that have that composite run going from their HDYV box to their brandy new HDTVs and don't even realize they aren't getting HDTV.

 

[billy p]

Hey don't laugh. I got my TV last January just in time for the Rose Bowl( USC VS. TEXAS). Hooked it up and sat back WOW I though, but Freaking ABC isn't broadcasting in HD, back bars . The tv was set up with component cables but I didn't know better. The next day I went to work and I talked to a co worker, came home switched it to comp vs. video and the rest is history

 

[ctjoe]

Billy P

I am probably getting Scxi Atl 3250 box. That comes with DVI connenction not hdmi, what cable did you get and what settings do you have on box? Trying to do homework. Will be setting it up middle of nite Christmas eve while wife sleeps. thanks for any advice you can give

 

[evilkat]

Does anyone have Verizon's FiOS ? I've been wondering how it compares to Comcast's service...

 

[Tomorrow]

I work for a local A/V store and custom installer. I work in the field and I work with multiple Comcast cable boxes every day. When someone at the store sells an HDTV, they always tell the customer to pick up a new cable box from Comcast and have it waiting for us when we get there to install their TV. Why? Comcast installers don't seem to have a clue about what they are doing! Luckily most people follow the advice and there is a cable box waiting for me. Those who don't follow that advice end up thinking, "That picture on that HD channel doesn't look that good". The reason is that Comcast doesn't know how to setup their own damn boxes!

One example, the other day we delivered a new TV to a longtime customer which we installed in his bedroom. He had a standard Comcast box and I recommended upgrading to the HD box. He said he was going to and Comcast was coming out later in the week. Then he mentioned that he had an HDTV in his living room that was about four years old and he was amazed with the picture and that Comcast installed the box after my company had installed everything else. I thought I'd better take a look at it. It was a very nice Mitsubishi Diamond 65" CRT RPTV with Rotel audio equipment and a Niles IntelliControl system. I turned it on and switched to Discovery HD. There were bars on the top and bottom. He was still exclaiming how amazing it looked. I pulled out the cable box and my suspicion was confirmed. The HD cable box was connected with a composite cable to the HDTV! I told him to wait there and I would be back. I grabbed a component cable out of the truck and proceeded to hook it up. I then entered the setup menu for the cable box and set it to output 1080i. When I turned on Discovery HD this time, he was absolutely floored! He couldn't believe what it looked like. He was glued to that TV the rest of the time we were there hooking up the other TV and I had a hard time pulling him away to sign the paperwork. It was like he was seeing his four year old TV for the first time. We got a generous tip and he said he would definetly call us out to check his other Comcast box after they installed it.

This is not unusual, at least not in my area. Literally EVERY cable box that I have seen installed by Comcast was NOT outputting an HD signal. Most are hooked up with component but they were set to output 480i. 480i is the default setting. Appearently the Comcast installers do not know about the setup menu which is accessed by pressing "Menu" when the box is off.

If anyone knows someone that bought an HDTV and had Comcast install an HD cable box I would advise you to check it out and make sure it is setup correctly. How can they be so incompetent? It would take five minutes to train an installer how to properly setup a cable box.

Dish Network is in exactly the same (in)competency mode...doing the same to us. And DO NOT get me started on EMBARQ!

 

[brikelly]

Does anyone have Verizon's FiOS ? I've been wondering how it compares to Comcast's service...

Plenty of reviews of FiOS on www.dslreports.com.

 

[Audioholics]

It's not just them. I had a Time Warner tech in South Carolina tell me that s-video was better than component (and actually believe it)... too bad it only outputs 480i and I had an HDTV.

Most of these guys don't even understand HDTV, but time will change that even if they aren't properly educated.

 

[mtrycrafts]

It's not just them. I had a Time Warner tech in South Carolina tell me that s-video was better than component (and actually believe it)... too bad it only outputs 480i and I had an HDTV.

Most of these guys don't even understand HDTV, but time will change that even if they aren't properly educated.

As good as a master plumber telling me that an external water heater blanket will lead to premature failure of the heater due to internal condensation on the tank being trapped by the blanket
I blew my stack What? water condenses on a 140 degree surface? How does it get in there with 2" of foam? Why would it? clueless. Went down hill from there.

 

[cmusic]

I work for a small local triple play company (telephone, internet, cable over FTTH) that uses SA 2350HD and 8300HD boxes and contract cable install labor. Most of our contract labor just gets the TV working and leaves. They are paid per job, not by the hour, and receives no benefits. They want to get the job as done ASAP and get on to the next one. My comany does training every six months due to the turn-over in our contracted labor and I do the part of explaining how to hook up HDTVs. The last training session we had only 3 of the 12 contracted installers stayed around after the core training to learn about HDTV. They were not being paid for the training, so it was taking up time they could be working on a paying job. Their supervisor usually tells the contracted laborers to call me if they run into a HDTV install.

Thankfully our repair service techs are in-house labor with better pay and full benefits. They usually get the larger cable installs and they are trained on HDTV setup and installation.

 

[agarwalro]

A couple of years ago when I first took the HDTV plunge, the Comcast guy was starting to hook up my RPTV with an RF cable ... luckily I was better informed thanks to this website and had a DVI cable ready.

 

[Mort Corey]

Before I had the cable box delivered I went on line, knowing the brand of boxes they used, and downloaded the manual. The installer was pretty impressed to find out how to set up the box. Where he got lost was when I pointed out that there was a newer firmware patch available that corrected some of the problems using a digital interface (DVI). He said he'd have someone contact me about the upgrade, which they did, and then they started telling me I first had to turn to channel three ....it went downhill from there but the firmware patch did download a few days later.

Mort

 

[j_garcia]

My box was installed on Friday and I am missing 90% of the channels I am supposed to get. We know it is the box because cable works fine without the box in the loop.

 

[Bigsilvs]

I was thinking about switching from Directv to Time Warner Cable after my contract ends. I live in Wisconsin, does anyone know if there new HD Receivers have DVI or HDMI? Time Warner keeps calling me to ask if I want there service, but when I ask them this question, they have no clue what I am talking about. My father-in-law has Time Warner and the HD package but his cable box doesn't have DVI or HDMI. I know that it's a bit more expensive but I live about 20-25 miles away from Milwaukee and sometimes I do not get a couple local HD stations with my external antenna.

 

[ancientpimp]

lol, i do installs too and i feel ur pain buddy ....i cant wait till every station broadcasts in HD...the only thing that does it here in the cold north is pretty much Discovery HD and a few here and there

 

[jake51s]

I just have to say I had a great experience with a Comcast installer. I wasn't going to be home when they were dropping off the HD box, but my wife was. So I just asked her to have them drop it off so I could set it up myself. Partly because of the rat's nest of wires tucked into the TV armoire the aforementioned wife limited me to.

Not only did the guy from Comcast set the box up correctly, connecting it correctly to the receiver and TV using the cables I had set out for it for when I got home, deciphering my rat's nest of wires, but also left a note saying since I had a 1080p set that he changed the output to 1080i, and flagging the page in the manual if I wanted to change it to 720p.

Needless to say I was more than impressed. I may be in the minority, but I did get some top notch service from them.

 

[mtrycrafts]

Needless to say I was more than impressed. I may be in the minority, but I did get some top notch service from them.

Yes, this happens from time to time I could not imagine that 100% of their techs are so bad.

 

[chaoster]

So what is the proper settings on the cable box?

 

[markw]

It's less important than you think.

I was thinking about switching from Directv to Time Warner Cable after my contract ends. I live in Wisconsin, does anyone know if there new HD Receivers have DVI or HDMI? Time Warner keeps calling me to ask if I want there service, but when I ask them this question, they have no clue what I am talking about.

All you really need for great HDTV is a component connection. My Comcast/Motorola box spits out glorious 1080i via component.