The saga continues (of course). We now have an APEX HD converter box
hooked up to an analog tv, along with our home made antenna. It pulls
in a few HD over-the-air stations, but not nearly as many as the over-
the-air lists would indicate. This may be a function of the box, or it
may be a function of the antenna. Or both, or neither. In any event,
we have an RCA box on order through an ebay store and will report on
its functionality once it is received and hooked up.
Meanwhile: We had a 2 year old "cable" box from Comcast Cable. This
box had never been used as we connect directly to Comcast's input
cable with our analog tv's. We tried for 1 1/2 hours to activate the
box with Comcast this past Saturday without success. The 1st
technician (East Indian? Phillipine? don't know and didn't ask)
switched us to a 2nd technician (American) who spent a great deal of
time trying to get us up and running with the Comcast box. According
to the techie, who sounded knowledgeable, the box was defective. (It
would switch off for no reason, randomly. After playing far too long
with the box, we all agreed it was futile and that the box needed to
be returned and replaced with a working box.) That said: Techie #2
reduced our bill by $40 per month for a year. He also added stations
101 through 200 for the same time period. As he said, they are very
well aware of the over-the-air and FIOS issues, and they are breaking
their backs to keep folks using Comcast. Now here's the tricky part:
Techie #2 also said that we don't really need the Comcast Cable box,
which provides all sorts of on-demand and other features we will never
use. He said we should return the defective cable box and pick up two
DTA converter boxes, available from Comcast at no additional charge to
our account. So we went to Comcast's offices in White Marsh, MD today
-- their MD / Baltimore County / headquarters -- to make the swap. We
spoke with a very nice young lady who said:
#1 -- She doesn't know why the techies are telling folks to pick up
DTA converter boxes. They don't have any in stock, and they don't know
if they will ever have any. If they do get these boxes in, which she
seemed to doubt, but . . . if they do get the boxes, they will be
available as we were told. The earliest this might happen will be June.
#2 -- We could add HD service to our mix, but it would not get WETA.
What we need(ed) is the black Comcast Cable box (Model DCT700/US), the
same as the one we were exchanging as being defective. This will
provide us with access to WETA -- according to her. Haven't had a
chance to hook it up yet, so we'll see.
Now: There was a bit of discussion about "digital" versus "hd"
channels. I totally do not understand the difference. Apparently the
Comcast Cable box will receive digital channels, and these will be
disappearing from boxes that only receive analog signals as stations
switch to (Digital? / HD?). I'm very confused by this, as is my
husband. Any, and all, explanations will be appreciated.
As above, I'll keep you all posted on the continuance of this. If the
Comcast box receives WETA, we'll all know soon. If not, we'll know
that too - as will Comcast.
Thanks, as always, for the continuing help.
Mical Wimoth Carton
chrper...@aol.com
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