Comcast Cable Service HDTV question...?

Question

We currently have the Comcast "Basic Cable Service" at our house, and we are planning to get an HDTV. The Comcast site is confusing, so I figured I'd go to trusty Yahoo Answers. Do you need to get Digital Cable to get an HD signal, or can you get a seperate small box just for an HD signal alongside the normal analog cable? We really don't want to pay $54.95 a month for Digital cable, but the Comcast site leads me to thinking that you can get a little HD box for $5.00 more a month, regardless of what cable you have. What is the correct answer? Thanks!

Answer 1

The HD comes thruogh the regular comcast box. The $5 is an uprgrade to the normal services and gets you about 10-15 channels, depending on if you get premium channels like HBO.

I had Comcast HD for a year and it wasn't worth it because their HD channels were primarily local broadcast network channels. They've promised to add more channels, but I didn't see it in the year I had them.

Did you consider getting a HD antenna so that you can receive local channels over the air in HD?

Answer 2

You have to have a Comcast digital cable box to receive a Hi-def signal into your TV. The HD signal is a digital signal that needs to be decoded by the box. The $5.00 upgrade is the addtional cost for HD -- this requires a change in programming and an upgrade to the "silver" box. Dealing with Comcast is difficult. They never give answers to the questions you ask. So here's a simplifed answer that I hope meets your needs. (1) If you don't have a cable box or get the "basic cable service" you can only recived the analog channels. These are the stations below 100 on the dial. This is probably what you have now. These are not digital and not hi-def signals. (2) You can subscribe to the comcast digital service. This gives you all the basic cable stations, plus the ones 100 and above. This includes multiple versions of HBO, showtime, etc. Comcast supplies this through there digital cable box (typically black). This decodes the digital signals and sends them out the coax to the TV as an analaog signal. (3) HD. Requires a different box from the one above. It is typically silver. This box decodes HD signals and sends them to the TV via a optical, composite or HDMI signal. You have to subscribe to digial service with the HD premium ($5) for this.

Answer 3

Digital cable is a pre-requisite for HDTV from Comcast. Once you get the digital service, you get all your channels through that and you don't need the old analog box. I'm afraid there is no getting around the cost: you need digital cable, and then the HDTV service is additional and if you get a DVR, that is also additional (but the latter two are relatively low prices compared to the basic digital cable).

Answer 4

Hi, You don't need to get Digital Cable to get HD channels if your HDTV has ATSC/QAM/NTSC Tuners built-in. I also have "Limited Basic Cable" with monthly fee of less than $15. With the built-in QAM tuner, I was able to get the HD signals from ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX and KQED! I live in Sunnyvale, CA. Recently, Comcast changed the digital sub-channels and KQED-HD and Encore (my favorites) have disappeared! I hope Comcast will put them back soon. We're entitled to get these Over-The-Air HDTV signals with the Limited Basic Cable. So, when you get your new HDTV, connect your Comcast Cable and do a complete analog and digital channels scan and you'll be surprised to see many extra digital channels! Good Luck!