# Comcast MPEG-4 Greater Boston Region 9/27



## kbmb (Jun 22, 2004)

Just got my letter from Comcast yesterday saying the Greater Boston Region (including southern NH), is making the switch to MPEG-4 by 9/27.

I like how they make the letter nice and scary by mentioning TiVo only by TiVo DVR. Clearly a play to scare people to switch over to the X1.

We have a Roamio Plus and Roamio Basic - fingers crossed we don't have the same issues as other parts of the country are having with the Comcast MPEG-4 switch - yeah right huh 

-Kevin


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## schatham (Mar 17, 2007)

Does this include the Cape?


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## kbmb (Jun 22, 2004)

schatham said:


> Does this include the Cape?


Not sure. I'm in Southern NH and got the letter.

-Kevin


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## tivoyahoo (Sep 4, 2003)

kbmb said:


> I like how they make the letter nice and scary by mentioning TiVo only by TiVo DVR. Clearly a play to scare people to switch over to the X1.
> 
> We have a Romain Plus and Roamio Basic - fingers crossed we don't have the same issues as other parts of the country are having with the Comcast MPEG-4 switch - yeah right huh
> 
> -Kevin


Might want to follow a few of the threads to get a preview and up to speed:
The comcast letter thread
http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=10948650#post10948650

and the tivo email on this subject isn't accurate either - a series 3 won't lose all HD, and a roamio won't receive all mpeg4 - there isn't a single market mpeg where that's been reported as being the case. But plenty where the opposite is true. may want to dump your roamios ahead of the crowd if it doesn't get solved soon. Latest from comcast today is that they seem to be full steam ahead with 720p downconversion which roamio is choking on - covered in this thread and portland is in mpeg4 flux too:
http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=10957830#post10957830

SF is in transition, but hasn't been hit hard yet - only 6 channels failing so far on Roamio but lots more to convert:
http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=10955772#post10955772


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## schatham (Mar 17, 2007)

tivoyahoo said:


> Might want to follow a few of the threads to get a preview and up to speed:
> The comcast letter thread
> http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=10948650#post10948650
> 
> ...


Has anyone tried setting their Roamio to 720p, if so did it help?


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## tivoyahoo (Sep 4, 2003)

schatham said:


> Has anyone tried setting their Roamio to 720p, if so did it help?


yes, lots of things basic things like that including cable card value were looked at in June when it started happening. Now analyzing the comcast stream as it may be a compression format change by comcast that triggered it - latest here:

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=10958859#post10958859

links to the 3 threads on xfinity forums including a statement from comcast pointing at 20.6.1 as being the issue:
http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=10959633#post10959633


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## kokishin (Sep 9, 2014)

Comcast nationwide BuFu.


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## laria (Sep 7, 2000)

kbmb said:


> Just got my letter from Comcast yesterday saying the Greater Boston Region (including southern NH), is making the switch to MPEG-4 by 9/27.
> 
> I like how they make the letter nice and scary by mentioning TiVo only by TiVo DVR. Clearly a play to scare people to switch over to the X1.
> 
> ...


Hrm, I hadn't been following any of this. We didn't get a letter yet, but I'm guessing we are included, too.


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## kbmb (Jun 22, 2004)

laria said:


> Hrm, I hadn't been following any of this. We didn't get a letter yet, but I'm guessing we are included, too.


Yeah guessing you'd be included too since your just on the Seacoast. I've been casually following the drama and then got the letter. Now I'm nervous we are going to start having all the issues as well!!

But hey - at least we know TiVo works on these things quickly right? I mean, look at the audio dropout issue....they had that fixed within......er.....oh crap! 

-Kevin


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## schatham (Mar 17, 2007)

I just got this letter. My date is by Sept 7. Reports seem to indicate any problems have been fixed.


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## kbmb (Jun 22, 2004)

So.....anyway to tell if we are seeing MPEG-4? Is something shown in Diagnostics?

-Kevin


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## schatham (Mar 17, 2007)

kbmb said:


> So.....anyway to tell if we are seeing MPEG-4? Is something shown in Diagnostics?
> 
> -Kevin


Yes, browse diagnostics and look for mpeg 2 or 4. One or the other will show.


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## keenanSR (Oct 13, 2004)

schatham said:


> Yes, browse diagnostics and look for mpeg 2 or 4. One or the other will show.


On a TiVo on the TiVo box Diagnostic page, it will show a VideoPID of MPEG2 or H.264(for MPEG4) for each channel currently tuned.


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## kbmb (Jun 22, 2004)

schatham said:


> Yes, browse diagnostics and look for mpeg 2 or 4. One or the other will show.





keenanSR said:


> On a TiVo on the TiVo box Diagnostic page, it will show a VideoPID of MPEG2 or H.264 for MPEG4 for each channel currently tuned.


All of my tuned channels still show MPEG-2. Guess Comcast missed their deadline.

Do all channels move to MPEG-4, or only certain ones?

-Kevin


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## keenanSR (Oct 13, 2004)

kbmb said:


> All of my tuned channels still show MPEG-2. Guess Comcast missed their deadline.
> 
> Do all channels move to MPEG-4, or only certain ones?
> 
> -Kevin


To the best of my knowledge, no local broadcast channels will be switched, only straight cable network channels. They seem to have started with OWN and WGN in a lot of areas so you might check those first. Make sure they are tuned in first and then go to the Diagnostic page to check the format.

In other words, everything will be switched except local stations. I'm not sure what the plan is for Comcast RSNs, I assume those will be switched as well.

(I edited my previous post for clarity.)


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## kbmb (Jun 22, 2004)

Thanks for the info. We only get WGN and OWN in SD (not sure if that matters) but neither are MPEG-4. 

Checked a bunch of others and all show as MPEG-2. 

-Kevin


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## JWhites (May 15, 2013)

kbmb said:


> Thanks for the info. We only get WGN and OWN in SD (not sure if that matters) but neither are MPEG-4.
> 
> Checked a bunch of others and all show as MPEG-2.
> 
> -Kevin


It does. Only the HD versions of those channels are being switched over. Comcast is doing the rollout gradually, a few channels at a time over several weeks until _all_ the HD channels are done, with certain exceptions. From what Comcast has said in other forums, the letter only informs of the change and gives a grace period of a month or two to replace incompatible equipment before the changes actually start.


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## JWhites (May 15, 2013)

kbmb said:


> Just got my letter from Comcast yesterday saying the Greater Boston Region (including southern NH), is making the switch to MPEG-4 by 9/27.
> 
> I like how they make the letter nice and scary by mentioning TiVo only by TiVo DVR. Clearly a play to scare people to switch over to the X1.
> 
> ...


No, it's not a conspiracy to scare customers into getting the X1.  You're reading too much into it. They don't know what model TiVo you have, if any at all, it's just a standardized letter.


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## schatham (Mar 17, 2007)

I now have MPEG 4. All my channels went out. A signal refresh fixed it and then I had MPEG 4.


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## kbmb (Jun 22, 2004)

schatham said:


> I now have MPEG 4. All my channels went out. A signal refresh fixed it and then I had MPEG 4.


Where are you located? None of my channels have gone out and they all still seem to be MPEG2.

-Kevin


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## schatham (Mar 17, 2007)

kbmb said:


> Where are you located? None of my channels have gone out and they all still seem to be MPEG2.
> 
> -Kevin


Cape. All the hd channels (excluding broadcast) are now MPEG 4. Make sure you tune to a HD channel to check. The pid will no longer say mpeg 2, nor will it say mpeg4, it will be something like h264


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## kbmb (Jun 22, 2004)

schatham said:


> Cape. All the hd channels (excluding broadcast) are now MPEG 4. Make sure you tune to a HD channel to check.


Thanks. Guessing it hasn't made it this far north yet.

-Kevin


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## schatham (Mar 17, 2007)

kbmb said:


> Thanks. Guessing it hasn't made it this far north yet.
> 
> -Kevin


Probably very soon. Hopefully your channels won't all go out.

A quick way to see if you now have mpeg4 is to select info while on a channel, it will show 720p on all those channels that used to get 1080i or p.


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## laria (Sep 7, 2000)

I still never even got a letter about the switch up where I am in NH (Seacoast area).


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## mattack (Apr 9, 2001)

It's awesome that my HD recordings are now 1.x gigs for an hour show!! (e.g. Halt & Catch Fire episodes). I'll live with the "FF problem" (FF way too fast/flickery) for that.. I use skip mode (when available) or 30 second skip anyway, and those still work.


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## hershey4 (May 31, 2006)

JWhites said:


> .... the letter only informs of the change and gives a grace period of a month or two to replace incompatible equipment before the changes actually start.


Just got my letter today in central Mass. The letter says you may lose "some channels" but it doesn't say which ones. So how the heck are you supposed to know if your equipment is incompatible to the channels you watch??? So the grace period is actually just an empty warning window.

[Reminds me of Obamacare bill and N Pelosi... "you have to pass the bill before you know whats in the bill".  ]


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## HarperVision (May 14, 2007)

schatham said:


> Probably very soon. Hopefully your channels won't all go out. A quick way to see if you now have mpeg4 is to select info while on a channel, *it will show 720p on all those channels that used to get 1080i or p.*


Ridiculous.



mattack said:


> It's awesome that my HD recordings are now 1.x gigs for an hour show!! (e.g. Halt & Catch Fire episodes). I'll live with the "FF problem" (FF way too fast/flickery) for that.. I use skip mode (when available) or 30 second skip anyway, and those still work.


Yeah, and it's "The future of awesome" that they ruin all quality and downconvert and compress the hell out of your image to get that, isn't it?










Are we all watching on 5" smartphone screens or our multi thousand dollar HDTVs and UHD-TVs???


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## atmuscarella (Oct 11, 2005)

HarperVision said:


> Are we all watching on 5" smartphone screens or our multi thousand dollar HDTVs and UHD-TVs???


There are more than a few people around here that seem to believe everyone is going to watch via a phone/tablet. They claim that all young people will only watch on those devices and seem to think the most important feature is the ability to stream to Android or iOS devices.

While I don't really care how other people consumer video the concept that I would intentionally choose to watch TV on a small screen and/or not care much about the video's quality seems crazy to me, but there are more than a few people that seem to believe that is where we are headed.


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## lessd (Jan 23, 2005)

atmuscarella said:


> There are more than a few people around here that seem to believe everyone is going to watch via a phone/tablet. They claim that all young people will only watch on those devices and seem to think the most important feature is the ability to stream to Android or iOS devices.
> 
> While I don't really care how other people consumer video the concept that I would intentionally choose to watch TV on a small screen and/or not care much about the video's quality seems crazy to me, but there are more than a few people that seem to believe that is where we are headed.


Everybody I know with a smart phone, when at home, watches TV on their home HDTV, never on their smart phone, kids may watch on their smart phone in their bedroom if they don't have a bedroom TV, and when traveling one may watch TV on a smart phone, but at home. ??


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## kbmb (Jun 22, 2004)

lessd said:


> Everybody I know with a smart phone, when at home, watches TV on their home HDTV, never on their smart phone, kids may watch on their smart phone in their bedroom if they don't have a bedroom TV, and when traveling one may watch TV on a smart phone, but at home. ??


Hey guys - having a superbowl party this year. You can come over and we'll huddle around my iPhone 6s 

-Kevin


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## HarperVision (May 14, 2007)

kbmb said:


> Hey guys - having a superbowl party this year. You can come over and we'll huddle around my iPhone 6s
> 
> -Kevin


Come on dude, it's the Super Bowl for God's sake, be serious! I have an iPad I'll bring over instead!


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## keenanSR (Oct 13, 2004)

Well, since it's on FOX it will be 720p anyway.


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## HarperVision (May 14, 2007)

keenanSR said:


> Well, since it's on FOX it will be 720p anyway.


Haha touché!


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## JoeTaxpayer (Dec 23, 2008)

Just got my letter. The Romio deal is over. Not ready to jump to a Bolt at the price they offer. 
I never had an issue with "lifetime" being the life of the TiVo, I never thought a video compression SW update from Comcast would kill my older TiVos.


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## HerronScott (Jan 1, 2002)

JoeTaxpayer said:


> Just got my letter. The Romio deal is over. Not ready to jump to a Bolt at the price they offer.
> I never had an issue with "lifetime" being the life of the TiVo, I never thought a video compression SW update from Comcast would kill my older TiVos.


The Comcast MPEG4 upgrade and the increase in lifetime/All-in pricing were the reasons I went ahead and took advantage of the longtime TiVo user offer and got a Roamio Pro with lifetime last October to replace our 2 S3 OLED's even though we were still happy with them. I will admit that the Roamio with Amazon Prime and better Netflix interface has been better for us. 

Scott


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## kbmb (Jun 22, 2004)

Still no change on my end for MPEG-4. 

@HarperVision - man I hear you now with your complaints about the Comcast signal. Tried out a 4K TV this weekend and oh man - what a sure fire way to see how crappy that signal is!!

-Kevin


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## HarperVision (May 14, 2007)

kbmb said:


> Still no change on my end for MPEG-4.
> 
> @HarperVision - man I hear you now with your complaints about the Comcast signal. Tried out a 4K TV this weekend and oh man - what a sure fire way to see how crappy that signal is!!
> 
> -Kevin


Yet, they win Emmy Awards! 

http://corporate.comcast.com/comcas...2Y0ttVkZYOFluNlZrcGpUcXdYeiszc3R2MVBHQTQ9In0=


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## garberfc (Feb 10, 2003)

I received the letter here in central CT yesterday. I have until 1/24/17 "to avoid losing your HD channels".

Is it a matter of getting a new Cable Card for the Roamio, or a software updated from TiVo?


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## kbmb (Jun 22, 2004)

garberfc said:


> I received the letter here in central CT yesterday. I have until 1/24/17 "to avoid losing your HD channels".
> 
> Is it a matter of getting a new Cable Card for the Roamio, or a software updated from TiVo?


You don't have to do anything. Cablecards can already handle MPEG-4 as well as the Roamio.

Sit back, relax, and get ready to enjoy a crappier signal (for the same price as before)!!! 

-Kevin


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## garberfc (Feb 10, 2003)

kbmb said:


> Sit back, relax, and get ready to enjoy a crappier signal (for the same price as before)!!!
> 
> -Kevin


But, but, but.... The letter states: "You deserve the best and in an effort to bring you the best TV experience, we are updating our technology." LOL


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## HarperVision (May 14, 2007)

garberfc said:


> But, but, but.... The letter states: "You deserve the best and in an effort to bring you the best TV experience, we are updating our technology." LOL


.......*NOT!!!*

"Xfinity......the future of awful"

Signed,
"Con"cast


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## kbmb (Jun 22, 2004)

HarperVision said:


> .......*NOT!!!*
> 
> "Xfinity......the future of awful"
> 
> ...


Just got this today:



> We continue to increase our speeds because we know faster
> Internet means you can share more, stream more and download
> more of your favorite HD content on multiple devices at the same time.
> So, go ahead  reboot your modem to enjoy your Blast! Internet
> with speeds up to 200 Mbps.


Cool. I can download better quality streams from other providers FASTER!

-Kevin


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## laria (Sep 7, 2000)

kbmb said:


> Just got this today:
> 
> Cool. I can download better quality streams from other providers FASTER!
> 
> -Kevin


Got the same email about the internet, still no TV letter though. But now we can hit our brand shiny new 1 TB cap faster.


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## HarperVision (May 14, 2007)

kbmb said:


> Just got this today:
> 
> Cool. I can download better quality streams from other providers FASTER!
> 
> -Kevin


Yep, like Vue, SlingTV, DirecTV Now, Layer3, etc.!


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## kbmb (Jun 22, 2004)

Finally noticing most all channels besides locals have moved to h.264 and 720p. Just in time to have the channels look craptastic in my new 4K tv. 

When even a Hulu stream of a show is better than the Comcast broadcast, you know it's bad 

-Kevin


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## laria (Sep 7, 2000)

I still never got any kind of notification from them about the changeover.


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## kbmb (Jun 22, 2004)

laria said:


> I still never got any kind of notification from them about the changeover.


Did you get changed over yet? I'm in Derry so not that far from you.

-Kevin


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## laria (Sep 7, 2000)

kbmb said:


> Did you get changed over yet? I'm in Derry so not that far from you.
> 
> -Kevin


I don't actually know.  I haven't checked because I never remember how to check.


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## kbmb (Jun 22, 2004)

laria said:


> I don't actually know.  I haven't checked because I never remember how to check.


It's mostly on non-local channels.....so any premium channel.....or cable channels like TBS, TNT, Discovery, etc. If you tune to them and click on info....first clue is they all say 720p in the info box. Then with some of these channels tuned.....go into the Tivo diagnostics and see if it says MEPG-2 or h.264. h.264 means the channel has been converted.

-Kevin


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## laria (Sep 7, 2000)

Ah ok... we don't watch much non-local channel stuff so maybe that's why I have not noticed anything different. My HBO shows are out of season right now, as are the Red Sox so no NESN.


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## laria (Sep 7, 2000)

kbmb said:


> It's mostly on non-local channels.....so any premium channel.....or cable channels like TBS, TNT, Discovery, etc. If you tune to them and click on info....first clue is they all say 720p in the info box. Then with some of these channels tuned.....go into the Tivo diagnostics and see if it says MEPG-2 or h.264. h.264 means the channel has been converted.
> 
> -Kevin


I checked the channels the other night and I guess I never got notification because they didn't change us over.  I just assumed that since it's not like NH is that big an area, when it happened it would be all of us. But I checked HBO, CNN, and BBCA and all were still saying 1080i.


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## Jack Mccarthy (Aug 24, 2012)

kbmb said:


> When even a Hulu stream of a show is better than the Comcast broadcast, you know it's bad
> 
> -Kevin


That in addition to all the sound dropouts and video glitch issues I had over last winter is why I've dropped Comcast cable TV and just kept internet. I now stream cable TV via Playstation Vue on a Roku device and use the cloud based DVR. My Roamio Basic is now just for OTA watching/recording only and the quality of the Playstation Vue shows appears better than the compressed Comcast video broadcast.


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## kbmb (Jun 22, 2004)

Jack Mccarthy said:


> That in addition to all the sound dropouts and video glitch issues I had over last winter is why I've dropped Comcast cable TV and just kept internet. I now stream cable TV via Playstation Vue on a Roku device and use the cloud based DVR. My Roamio Basic is now just for OTA watching/recording only and the quality of the Playstation Vue shows appears better than the compressed Comcast video broadcast.


Yeah, I was tempted to do something similar as well......and tried Vue for a few days. It shows progress, but for me wasn't going to cut it. We would only get CBS as a live channel, the rest would be OnDemand. I won't do commercials......and ABC OnDemand with Vue always had commercials. Even the OnDemand shows without commercials still wouldn't let me fast forward?!?! Why? Especially if for some reason it lost my place.

On my 4K TV, wasn't impressed with the video quality on Vue. Seemed extremely compressed, even more so than some Comcast locals. Again, I realize with a 4K set you are always fighting with potentially having a worse picture, unless the source is good. But even though Hulu is 720p.....we find it night and day better than anything Comcast is doing.

A perfect example of just how bad Comcast is getting (and I posted this in the other thread) - my wife recorded some show on Lifetime. I walked by yesterday and thought "wow that looks nice" on our 4K. I was curious......until I realized the recording was from June this year, before they made the switch to MPEG4 and 720p. Man oh man.....they are compressing the hell out of these cable channels. I tuned into Grey's Anatomy live on Lifetime right then and it was a mess......because of course it was a converted channel.

I'm hoping 2017 has the streaming services get better and better and start to become a real alternative. Especially in bitrate, as they all seem to top out at 720p. Someone needs to lead the pack and start pushing 1080p down the pipe!

-Kevin


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