When HD isn’t

by dez on May 10, 2010 · 4 comments

in Personal

Megan and I just moved into this apartment less than two weeks ago (ok, ALMOST two weeks ago, whatever). When we got our cable box I talked to the service guy about getting an HD box (since Megan wanted a channel guide). He brought an HD box up to the apartment and hooked it up.

This is what I got: A box connected via component cables giving me 720p stretched SD signal to my 1080p TV. In short, it looked like crap. Saturday Night Live with Betty White was horrible to watch since the stretch also pushed out the edges. The Muffin sketch (if you watched it you’d know) cut off the entire right half of Betty.

The facts: 720p IS technically high-definition. Just like an XL t-shirt IS technically extra, but still doesn’t fit me.

I’m taking the cable box back tomorrow and getting 3 filter adapters. We’re losing channel guides, but I’ll actually get the HD that I want and not the HD that Comcast is trying to punish me with.

For more information see this post: Get HD Without A Cable Box

  • Tom

    I’ve got a Tivo Series 3 with two cablecards. It gives me HD from Comcast without their box.

    • http://iamdez.com dez

      They told me the same thing if my TV had the ability to use cable cards I wouldn’t need a box. I still don’t ‘need’ one.

  • http://willisistalking.blogspot.com billhelm

    The Comcast boxes are complete and utter crapin the old Time Warner area that you live in. They’re still on Scientific Atlanta/Cisco head ends which they aren’t actively developing box software or using newer hardware for (unlike the Motorola boxes on the St Paul side of town which get continual updates). I lasted 3 weeks before I splurged on a Tivo HD and I don’t regret it for a second.

    That’s really weird that they didn’t at least give you a box with HDMI, my last crappy box even had that.

    • http://iamdez.com dez

      The whole process with them is screwed up. I need to make a new post for what I’m dealing with now. The new process now got me a new HD box with an HDMI cable but I’m still having issues with the service with sound constantly cutting out.

      Also, between the phone support and in store support I kept getting told different things as far as what I needed and what was actually available in my area. Those filters I mentioned… apparently not available in my area even though phone support kept telling me to ask for them.

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