Comcast Is Now Encrypting Basic Cable Data

[HardOCP News]

Are there really that many people stealing basic cable? Seriously, this seems like a lot of money (encryption, new boxes, etc. etc.) just to keep people from stealing the channels nobody likes anyway.

Consumers who already use a Comcast-provided set-top box on all of their TV sets don’t have to worry, their service will continue to work as before. But if you have a TV in your den that’s hooked up to your cable outlet without a set-top box, then you’re going to have to get an adapter to keep it working.

 

[NeoGohan]

Correct me if I'm wrong but doesn't an antenna get you the same channels as basic cable?

 

[hazmatic]

Most TVs have built in digital tuners, you could pretty much take a bit of coax, hook it to the port, and then strip the other end a bit and put the copper in the window

 

[Terminus]

I can't wait till Comcast, AT&T and all the other classical telecoms and broadcasters are eating crowe once Google, Netflix and the rest of Silicon Valley start rolling out all that good, cheap, reliable fiber.

 

[Methadras]

so if they are encrypting basic cable, then why don't then encrypt their internet communications too?

 

[sundansx]

Short: This sux.

Long:
This has large implications for users that have HTPC's hooked up with QAM based capture cards so they can get live TV into their Media Center PC's. With this new change, I think all of their hardware will be useless. They will have to buy new cable card tuners like the Ceton and Homerun Prime devices to get this content (and pay a cable card fee).

 

[CounTDookU23]

Comcast in Norther Virginia has been doing so for a long time now. We used to be able to get 1-125 in HD just fine over the line that came in to the house....... then we split the signal to every tv in the house. All of them have the digital and hd tuner and picked up every channel perfectly. Then all of a sudden they made it so every tv in the house has to have a comcast cable decryption box....... the small tiny one. Just to see all those channels on each tv.

 

[1911Shootist]

Short: This sux.

Long:
This has large implications for users that have HTPC's hooked up with QAM based capture cards so they can get live TV into their Media Center PC's. With this new change, I think all of their hardware will be useless. They will have to buy new cable card tuners like the Ceton and Homerun Prime devices to get this content (and pay a cable card fee).

Exactly why I ditched Comcast for TV and went OTA. F'em. I can see most of the shows I watched before just by waiting until they come out on disc anyway.

 

[jhambi]

Ditto CounT. Where I live, comcast has been encrypted for almost 2 years now. As the post above mentioned, you have to go cableCard if you want to have a HTPC and record more than the standard OTA channels. It sucks, as they rolled it into the digital transition here and tried to make people think digital required the box for every TV, when really it was the encryption. Any modern HDTV, tuner card, etc can tune clear-QAM digital just fine. The service got progressively worse after the switch untill only about 5-10 of the channels would even tune (the others gave a black screen/service error). Comcast would never do anything about it, so I moved on. Hulu and netflix for me.

 

[Mike89]

This isn't news. Comcast has been doing this in my area for over a year now.

 

[Super-D]

How much longer until cable TV dies?

 

[TwiceOver]

I'd argue that the basic cable channels are what most people WANT.

I'd rather have NBC, CBS, Fox than most of the "premium"channels

 

[Brak710]

In Pittsburgh, they've moved to all digital and require a converter box on the standard cable hookups. It's a free adapter. Been like this for 2-3 years.

They added more HD channels shortly after, so the spectrum space saving was a legit reason.

 

[ekuest]

How much longer until cable TV dies?

but not soon enough.

 

[Ryokurin]

This isn't news. Comcast has been doing this in my area for over a year now.

People aren't grasping what exactly changed.

Yes most places are digital now, but you could still pick up local channels with a QAM receiver. The FCC forced them to keep those channels clear until the end of last year while they decided on the pros and cons of locking them down. Since the FCC is OK with the lock, Comcast is moving forward with locking all the channels.

 

[Sparky]

Hope they delay in Memphis as I am not paying for cable but for internet only and receive basic channels for free.

 

[farscapesg1]

Been using both an HDHR Prime with a tuner card and one without for QAM channels. The only reason for the QAM tuner was the local channels since they started locking everything else down. Stopped by the Comcast office today to return my rented cable modem (finally purchased one for a replacement) and asked about adding an additional cablecard. $10/month is ridiculous if they are going to require you have their equipment anyways...

 

[Jagger100]

People aren't grasping what exactly changed.

Yes most places are digital now, but you could still pick up local channels with a QAM receiver. The FCC forced them to keep those channels clear until the end of last year while they decided on the pros and cons of locking them down. Since the FCC is OK with the lock, Comcast is moving forward with locking all the channels.

Yeah, this isn't their basic tier of 40 or 50 channels. This is essentially the same local channels you could get OTA. They were suppose to remain unencrypted.

Two things happen in a heavily regulated situation.
1) It kills the competition because dealing with regulation becomes more and more cumbersome it shuts out new upstarts or there are rules put in place that explicitly shut out upstarts
2) The Watchers and the Watched may have begun antagonistic but they ultimately start sleeping together.

After a long regulatory relationship, not only does the government not help you, ultimately is becomes complicit in screwing you. And the only thing that comes out of the situation from the situation before is stifled competition.

 

[timta2]

Most TVs have built in digital tuners, you could pretty much take a bit of coax, hook it to the port, and then strip the other end a bit and put the copper in the window

You would have to be very close to the transmission tower for that to work.

 

[Angry]

I absolutely refuse to use one of their crap boxes....

 

[/usr/sbin]

Short: This sux.

Long:
This has large implications for users that have HTPC's hooked up with QAM based capture cards so they can get live TV into their Media Center PC's. With this new change, I think all of their hardware will be useless. They will have to buy new cable card tuners like the Ceton and Homerun Prime devices to get this content (and pay a cable card fee).

So you make your money back in ~6 months.

Most cable companies charge ~$9 for a HD-DVR plus $9 for "DVR Service", so it works otu to $18 per month for a DVR. A HDHomerun is like $130 or less.

 

[Axehandler]

The Cable cards, 1st one is included. just like a cable box.. AND you get a 2.50$ credit

Personally I like the transition - I don't use those basic channels AND they just doubled my internet speed from 25meg to 50


Axe

 

[PornoSatan]

Cable TV is dead, and I hope the oligopoly of cable companies goes with it. I'd rather have Google take over it all

 

[kac77]

Two things happen in a heavily regulated situation.
1) It kills the competition because dealing with regulation becomes more and more cumbersome it shuts out new upstarts or there are rules put in place that explicitly shut out upstarts
2) The Watchers and the Watched may have begun antagonistic but they ultimately start sleeping together.

After a long regulatory relationship, not only does the government not help you, ultimately is becomes complicit in screwing you. And the only thing that comes out of the situation from the situation before is stifled competition.

Locking out competition isn't "regulation" but sanctioned monopolies. If Comcast was "regulated" the OTA signals would still be unencrypted.

 

[odditory]

Hope they delay in Memphis as I am not paying for cable but for internet only and receive basic channels for free.

^ Exhibit A why they're encrypting basic/locals -- all the people with internet-only service that they forgot to slap with a notch filter, or people multiple taps in the house -- they want end to end control.

 

[-Dragon-]

Cable theft is rampant in certain areas, people will climb poles and splice directly into the cable there. The problem being that cable is a shared "network" so when some asshat does a shitty splice it introduces all kinds of noise into that node, which causes problems for all the paying customers. So either they get to keep sending trucks out to disconnect spliced connections and repair the damage they did, or they encrypt the channels and most thieves give up because the equipment required to steal cable suddenly becomes much more expensive and technical.

They might be able to work it so they only encrypt it to the nodes where theft is the worst, but can you imagine the shit storm when people found out that Comcast was sending clear QAM to all the middle class to rich predominantly white neighborhoods and only encrypting TV to the lower income minority neighborhoods? Better to just encrypt everything.

 

[8du8]

People aren't grasping what exactly changed.

Yes most places are digital now, but you could still pick up local channels with a QAM receiver. The FCC forced them to keep those channels clear until the end of last year while they decided on the pros and cons of locking them down. Since the FCC is OK with the lock, Comcast is moving forward with locking all the channels.

No, they did this in my area as well. I was using a HTPC for awhile until suddenly I couldnt get any pickup any channels. This was like 2 years ago.

 

[FRAGizm]

Do you really think that if Google spread their fiber and/or cable goes away - that Comcast and others will die off...

Trust me, Comcast has tons of projects that makes them money then video.
Teams are always swamped with new projects that have nothing to do with cable vid.

 

[havand]

The funny part is everyone screaming down with cable TV.. They're going to make their money somewhere. If you stop paying for cable and start getting it all as downloadable content....Who provides that to you? Still Comcast. I'd imagine the internet bills will eventually rise to be the same price as cable and internet now. They're going to get their money one way or another.

 

[rand4505]

Time to reinvest in digital decrypters... oh wait!

 

[PornoSatan]

The funny part is everyone screaming down with cable TV.. They're going to make their money somewhere. If you stop paying for cable and start getting it all as downloadable content....Who provides that to you? Still Comcast. I'd imagine the internet bills will eventually rise to be the same price as cable and internet now. They're going to get their money one way or another.

I actually mentioned this the last few times. They are a business after all, they're not going to just roll over and die, they need someone like Google to help them.

 

[Prav]

Seriously, this seems like a lot of money (encryption, new boxes, etc. etc.) just to keep people from stealing the channels nobody likes anyway.

Not sure about new boxes but part of the law that allowed this states that all cable systems implementing this encryption have to provide one free cable box to subscribers. So if any of you are subject to this make sure you have any charges removed for your primary box. Additional television boxes in the home are not covered. The free box rule only lasts for two years if I am remembering correctly.

 

[havand]

I actually mentioned this the last few times. They are a business after all, they're not going to just roll over and die, they need someone like Google to help them.

That's a whole different issue.

Google gets your searches and e-mail now. Do you really want them knowing EVERY SINGLE THING delivered to you from the net? I know I don't.

I realize to a degree I have accepted this by having an android phone, but I don't think I could accept Google fiber. It is cheap for a reason. They too are making their money... just not upfront.

 

[Dekoth-E-]

It is just an inline filter for additional TV's, not another box. So this is just going to result in a little more "pocket change" for field techs.

Pointless.

 

[JohnleMVP]

They did this in my area two years ago. Before if you had comcast cable TV you could see the standard channels in HD without any box. You only needed the box for premium channels. Now they give you two SDTV boxes free. If you want HD you'll have to pay ~$10 per box. We switched to Directv, but to be honest it isn't any cheaper. You have to pay for additional receivers up front $99 and then $5 a month and you don't own them. They take them back if you cancel.

I'm tempted to just cut the TV service, use an antenna, netflix, and maybe only subscribe to cable during the NFL season (ESPN, Redzone).

 

[prndll]

This is NOT news.

Switching to all digital happened along time ago. I find it funny that so many people see those that refuse to upgrade to Win8 as luddites but can't grasp the same concept when it comes to cable. Just like I find it funny that so many people talk about going to Netflix in the same breath as "cutting cable". Just as I find it funny that so many people swear by the HTPC when that's pretty much what ANY computer is (give or take a tuner card).

People generally don't know the problems that get created as a result of cable theft. How often have any of you had to have a tech come to your home for a problem, only to be told that it was an issue on the main lines and not in your home? Noise and voltage backfeed are big problems for cable. Your next door neighbor could easily be backfeeding voltage into the main lines simply because they don't have their home properly grounded. People using those cheap "gold" splitters from the drug store or "switch boxes" contribute to the noise problem (even if the hookup is legit). Just like any use of cheaper RG59 type coax.

Your not going to have it both ways. If you want better technology...that comes with certain changes. Although Comcast could easily handle things better. Alot of people are asking for ala carte programming. There are only certain ways that it even could happen.

 

[svet-am]

People aren't grasping what exactly changed.

Yes most places are digital now, but you could still pick up local channels with a QAM receiver. The FCC forced them to keep those channels clear until the end of last year while they decided on the pros and cons of locking them down. Since the FCC is OK with the lock, Comcast is moving forward with locking all the channels.

The Denver metro area hasn't had _any_ clearQAM since ~mid-2011. Losing it was one of the reasons I left Comcast for OTA antenna. Even for the most basic cable in 480p (max), you had to have one of the Scientific Atlanta decoder boxes.

 

[harbingerofdoom]

been that way here for about 2 years.

girlfriend refuses to drop cable for anything else so we dropped it all down to one converter thats in her office and everything else is OTA... and i make her pay for the bill

the funniest part is that i have more channels to watch with OTA then she does

 

[Spidey329]

Not a smart move unless the new boxes are free. The whole advantage cable had over satellite is less-important rooms could get basic at no additional cost. Now, I assume, there will be additional equipment fees per month.

 

[Spidey329]

They did this in my area two years ago. Before if you had comcast cable TV you could see the standard channels in HD without any box. You only needed the box for premium channels. Now they give you two SDTV boxes free. If you want HD you'll have to pay ~$10 per box. We switched to Directv, but to be honest it isn't any cheaper. You have to pay for additional receivers up front $99 and then $5 a month and you don't own them. They take them back if you cancel.

I'm tempted to just cut the TV service, use an antenna, netflix, and maybe only subscribe to cable during the NFL season (ESPN, Redzone).

I switched from DTV to Dish because of the cost. DTV over the length of the contract (2 yrs) was $1800. Dish is $1300. DTV has better resolution (less compression) but not $500 better.