Comcast rolling out Science, Disney and ABC Family HD channels
Comcast is stepping up its busy HD rollout (and channel squeezing) schedule, with several new channels spotted today in the Detroit and Chicago areas. Science HD, Disney HD and ABC Family HD are probably in your local channel guide -- Discovery HD is now listed DSCHD, while Disney is DISHD, confused yet? -- and word is they should hit many other areas Wednesday. Posters at AVSForum indicate more of the 3 channels-on-one-QAM compression tactics are afoot, take a look and let us know if having High School Musical 2 in HD still satisfies.[Thanks, Nathaniel]
Read - Detroit, MI HDTV
Read - Chicago, IL Comcast
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Dustin Burke @ Apr 2nd 2008 10:08PM
No sight of them in Atlanta, but Discovery HD has been renamed DSCHD, so I imagine they'll be here soon.
Blake H @ Apr 2nd 2008 10:23PM
No new channels in Knoxville yet, but Discovery HD has been renamed to DSCHD.
plozen @ Apr 2nd 2008 10:32PM
I live in Milan, Mich. (just south of Ann Arbor) and we had the new channels on Comcast yesterday. This gives us 24 base HD channels (not including VOD, locals, sports packages or pay channels).
Check out the full list of what I get here, as well as my comparison to what's available in my area.
http://philsplace.wordpress.com/2008/04/02/comcast-adds-four-hd-channels/
plozen @ Apr 2nd 2008 10:35PM
Is anyone else noticing channels like TLC HD, SciFi, etc. that are presenting shows in some odd combo of 4:3 and 16:9? Shows like Jon and Kate Plus 8 (I know, sue me, it's a great show) have pillar bars (side black bars) but they are nowhere near as wide as a normal 4:3 show. I'm guessing that they are zooming the picture slightly for the HD channel and not wanting to go to stretch-o-vision.
Anyone else seen this?
Dustin Burke @ Apr 3rd 2008 12:28AM
That's exactly what they're doing. It's especially evident on some commercials when the bottom and top have text that gets cut off by the zoom.
Matt @ Apr 2nd 2008 11:31PM
I'm in the Rockford, IL area and Comcast just added ABC Family HD and Dis HD. Come on, bring on the stuff I care about like WGNHD and Comcast Sports Net HD.
inferno1016 @ Apr 3rd 2008 12:09AM
I live in Roseville, CA (just minutes north of Sacramento) and was pleasantly suprised when I was channel surfing that they've added Science HD, ABC Family HD and Disney Channel HD. It looks like they've just added it very recently that they've got ABC Family and Disney mixed up on the onscreen channel guide. LOL.
And yes the HD channel squeezing has made the existing HD channel's quality take a nosedive. Just take a look at Universal HD and Discovery HD Theater for graininess, artifacting and blockiness. For the newly added channels, SciFi is not even in HD until at night. AMC HD has taken the TNT or A&E route and just stretched their SD movies. CNN and TLC was passable, with Animal Planet and Food Network the best of the bunch.
I've also noticed the slight black bars on some of the Discovery and TLC shows. It looks like its on just some shows but not all of them.
Comcast HD is certainly a mixed bag at the moment. I'm gonna do the wait and see approach with them. Definitely, if the quality gets worst, I'll switch to DirectTV, Dish Network or even ATT U-verse.
Dan @ Apr 3rd 2008 1:06AM
Will they just get us DOCSIS 3 if not fiber already? Otherwise, my money is going to another provider!
adabbott @ Apr 3rd 2008 9:28AM
Need to update the Comcast logo to their "new" one.
DanMacMan @ Apr 3rd 2008 10:31AM
I am in Lansing and I noticed AMC HD in addition to ABC Family. I haven't spotted the HD versions of Science or Disney, however.
Brian @ Apr 4th 2008 12:29AM
I'm out in Aurora and have found Disney HD (197), ABC Family HD (198), and AMC HD (171), none of which I had previously....no sign of Science HD at all though.
David B @ Apr 4th 2008 5:30PM
Come on COMCAST customers! Demand they add HDNet and HDNet Movies. Far and away better than the stretch-o-vision crap channels Comcast has BEEN adding all across the country.