The last time is posted about the line up of High Definition channels was about a year ago. At the time we had 41 channels. Comcast seems to have been randomly adding channels over the past year and we are now up to 47 High Definition channels. My current channel lineup is:
800 - HDPPV
802 - PBS - WGBH
803 - ION HD - WBPX (formerly PAX)
804 - CBS HD
805 - ABC HD
806 - FOX HD
807 - NBC HD
808 - CW HD - WLVI
809 - ABC - WMUR (New Hampshire Affiliate)
814 - WSBK 38
818 - MLB Network HD
821 - National Geographic HD
823 - Discovery Channel HD
824 - Disney HD
826 - ABC Family HD
828 - Palladia HD
830 - FX HD
831 - TBS HD
832 - HGTV HD
833 - TNT HD
835 - USA HD
837 - A&E HD
839 - HD Theater
841 - Fox News HD
842 - CNN HD
845 - WeatherScan HD
846 - Univeral HD
848 - Golf HD
849 - ESPN HD
850 - ESPN2 HD
851 - NESN HD
852 - Comcast Sports Network HD
853 - NFL Network HD
854 - Food Network HD
859 - American Movie Classics HD
862 - SciFi Network HD
863 - Animal Planet HD
865 - Versus HD
866 - Science HD
867 - The Learning Channel HD
868 - Cinemax HD
870 - HBO HD
872 - History Channel HD
875 - Starz HD
877 - Showtime HD
878 - Showtime 2 HD
883 - The Movie Channel HD
We seem to have lost a channel or two somewhere along the line. I think we had Bravo at one time but it doesn't seem to be in my listing anymore.
Monday, June 29, 2009
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
DVD Rental vs Netflix vs Comcast On Demand
I will preface this post by saying I haven't seen a movie in a theatre in about 5 years. I spent thousands of dollars on my HDTV and surround sound system so we happily watch all movies in the comfort of our family room couch.
Up until about a year ago all of the new movies we watched were rentals from Blockbuster. At the time it was a good deal for me. I used points on my rewards card to get 8 free rental certificates every few months so I basically was not paying anything out of pocket to see new releases. Our local Blockbuster was in a pretty convenient location so it was not too out of the way to stop by and rent/return movies. Then suddenly our local Blockbuster closed and it was no longer convenient so no more blockbuster for us.
At the time it was not that big a deal because of the writer's strike there was not a whole lot of new movies out that we wanted to see. We also added a baby to our family so our movie watching time was fairly limited. When there was something we really wanted to see we would watch in on Comcast On Demand. Usually when we did this though we had a free coupon. Since the ON Demand rentals are $4.99 and I was used to renting movies for free we probably only ever paid for 2 or 3 movies in total.
A couple months ago we noticed there were a bunch of new movies out that we were really interested in seeing. A couple of our friends have been using Netflix for a while and are really happy with it so we decided to give it a shot. We signed up for their one at a time unlimited plan for $8.99/month. We usually only have time to watch movies on weekends and with our schedule we usually only watch one movie a weekend. Given this we still get 4 movies a month for a cost of about $2.25 a movie.
Compare that to Comcast On Demand's cost of 4.99 a movie and the choice was pretty simple for us to stick with Netflix. The one advantage that Comcast On Demand has over Netflix is that you can order using your remote rather than needing to mail the DVD back. But to me that is only a minor advantage. The only way Comcast On Demand is going to compete with Netflix is if they offer some kind of monthly plan structure similar to Netflix where you get 4 OnDemand movies for around $10/month, 5 movies for $12/month etc. I am sure Comcast has thought about this and my guess is the movie studios are preventing them from doing it. Another hurdle may be that they would need to rewrite the cable box software to allow for the operation of a plan structure. So something like this is probably a way off but in my opinion it is the only way On Demand is going to gain market share form Netflix. I look forward to what the future holds for Comcast On Demand but for now I am staying a Netflix customer.
Up until about a year ago all of the new movies we watched were rentals from Blockbuster. At the time it was a good deal for me. I used points on my rewards card to get 8 free rental certificates every few months so I basically was not paying anything out of pocket to see new releases. Our local Blockbuster was in a pretty convenient location so it was not too out of the way to stop by and rent/return movies. Then suddenly our local Blockbuster closed and it was no longer convenient so no more blockbuster for us.
At the time it was not that big a deal because of the writer's strike there was not a whole lot of new movies out that we wanted to see. We also added a baby to our family so our movie watching time was fairly limited. When there was something we really wanted to see we would watch in on Comcast On Demand. Usually when we did this though we had a free coupon. Since the ON Demand rentals are $4.99 and I was used to renting movies for free we probably only ever paid for 2 or 3 movies in total.
A couple months ago we noticed there were a bunch of new movies out that we were really interested in seeing. A couple of our friends have been using Netflix for a while and are really happy with it so we decided to give it a shot. We signed up for their one at a time unlimited plan for $8.99/month. We usually only have time to watch movies on weekends and with our schedule we usually only watch one movie a weekend. Given this we still get 4 movies a month for a cost of about $2.25 a movie.
Compare that to Comcast On Demand's cost of 4.99 a movie and the choice was pretty simple for us to stick with Netflix. The one advantage that Comcast On Demand has over Netflix is that you can order using your remote rather than needing to mail the DVD back. But to me that is only a minor advantage. The only way Comcast On Demand is going to compete with Netflix is if they offer some kind of monthly plan structure similar to Netflix where you get 4 OnDemand movies for around $10/month, 5 movies for $12/month etc. I am sure Comcast has thought about this and my guess is the movie studios are preventing them from doing it. Another hurdle may be that they would need to rewrite the cable box software to allow for the operation of a plan structure. So something like this is probably a way off but in my opinion it is the only way On Demand is going to gain market share form Netflix. I look forward to what the future holds for Comcast On Demand but for now I am staying a Netflix customer.
Monday, June 1, 2009
Comcast DVR with TIVO New Features
I got a postcard in the mail today from Comcast regarding some new and upcoming features on the Comcast Tivo DVR.
- Reminder to Pad Live Recordings - When you schedule a recording for a live program, you will now get a reminder to add extra recording time in case the game or event runs long. I guess this is a nice feature but I think it may get a little annoying to be reminded every time I schedule a recording.
- Recently Deleted Folder - If you accidentally delete a recording you can now recover it from the recently deleted folder. I noticed this folder a couple weeks ago. Nice feature but it is pretty difficult to accidentally delete something with the TIVO interface.
- Saved On Demand Programs - If you find an On Demand program that you want to watch later you can just save it to the Saved On Demand folder in the Tivo Recording List. This is should be a pretty useful feature as it will save time navigating through the menus to get to Saved On Demand
- TIVO Online scheduler - Soon you can schedule your recordings away from home - even manage your Recording schedule and Season Pass Priorities. This is the feature that I am pretty excited about. On a couple occasions I have forgot to record something and was not home in time to set it. This is a feature that the full-blown TIVO has so it is about time that Comcast gets it out there. There is no time frame on the postcard regarding when it will be available. It just says that an email will be sent to my Comcast Account. Based on previous rollout schedules I have to assume that the feature will be available within the next couple months. There is also a website link http://comcast.net/tivo but it just says that the feature is coming soon.
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