Comcast Adds 7 New HD Channels in New England

I read an article in a TV forum earlier this week that Comcast was adding some new High Definition channels to their lineup. Sure enough when I got home tonight and checked the new channels were there. They are Disney HD, ABC Family HD, TLC HD, AMC HD, Science Channel HD, The Movie Channel HD and Showtime 2 HD. My total HD lineup is now:

PBS
CBS
ABC
NBC
WMUR
National Geographic
Discovery Channel
Fox
MTV
TBS
HGTV
TNT
USA
A & E
WSBK
HD Theater
CNN
Weatherscan
Golf / Versus
ESPN
ESPN2
NESN
Comcast Sports Network New England
NFLHD
Food Network
WLVI
Sci Fi
Animal Planet
Cinemax
HBO
History Channel
Starz
Showtime
MOJO
Disney
ABC Family
TLC
AMC
Science Channel
The Movie Channel
Showtime 2

That brings the total number of available HD channels in my area to 41. The Movie Channel and Showtime 2 are subscription only and I do not subscribe to those channels but I did see them in the guide. Also Disney and ABC Family did not appear to be broadcasting HD Programs or they weren't when I looked earlier. This seems to be the case when many of the HD channels first go on-line. They start with just a couple programs in HD and slowly add programming over the months.

I don't understand why Comcast doesn't make an announcement when adding new channels. It seems you either have to find them accidentally while flipping through the channels or read TV and HD forums. A simple email to their HD customers would be nice. But I am always happy to see them add new channels. I don't regularly watch any of the new channels but it is great the Comcast is constantly adding to their HD lineup.

DCT700

Over the past few months we have been having some problems with the TV in our bedroom. Intermittently the signal was dropping and it wasn't the normal pixelization that you sometimes see on the digital boxes. This isn't my High Def TV where I have the DVR installed. It is just a basic 27" Panasonic tube that I have owned for over 10 years. I was really hoping it was the TV that was going as I would love to get an LCD for the bedroom but I just couldn't justify it if the TV was still working fine.

So I figured the problem was most likely with the box so I popped over to the local Comcast office to get a replacement box. I was a little surprised when the tech brought out one of these:

It is another Motorola box: model number DCT700. What surprised me about it is the size. It is 5-1/2 inches wide 6-1/2 inches long and under 2 inches high. The specs say that it has the same features as the larger basic digital boxes. The obvious difference is there is no readout on the front for channel or time which has taken us a little getting used to as we used our cable box as a clock in the morning. I also noticed that the box emits a high frequency buzz. I can hear it but my wife cannot so maybe it is just me.

Overall though I am pretty happy with it. The size allows us to save some space on the shelf and I am not having the signal dropping problems that I was having with the old box. So I guess I am stuck with my 27" tube for a few more years.