Add Comcast Basic Cable to Dish Network???

[beantown]

I am adding Comcast high speed internet at my house on Saturday. When I signed up it was cheaper for me to bundle my order with Comcast basic cable so that's what I ordered with the intention of just not using the basic cable side of things. Now I'm wondering if I can somehow use the basic cable in conjuction with my dish services as a sort of backup in case I ever have an outage due to weather or whatever. The primary tv I would like to do this on has a 622 connected and I have an OTA antenna. Can I somehow add the Comcast basic cable to this as well and how easy would it be?

Thanks

 

[Tampa8]

Sure, if Comcast is basic I am assuming it is SD, so just connect coax from Comcast to the TV directly. When you want to watch Comcast switch the TV input to Antenna. If you have a box for Comcast, use the RCA out (or Component if the box has it) again directly to the TV.

 

[beantown]

That sounds easy enough. I assume that would have to be a seperate coax cable carrying cable only and not split with the dish service.

 

[TG2]

That sounds easy enough. I assume that would have to be a seperate coax cable carrying cable only and not split with the dish service.

Correct.

Depending on how they provide the "basic" cable and if its not basic digital ... you may not have a "box" persay ... some cable systems are still hybrid analog under chanel 60 or so.. and digital above that.. so you'd just run the cable directly to the TV and the TV's NTSC tuner would take care of tuning channels.

I am surprised that it was cheaper.. in my neck of the woods... Comcast charges 21.95 for basic digital and requires digital if you get internet bundled. At that point the internet comes in at 49.00 ...

Well 49.00 plus 21.95 is 70.95 .... without the digital basic.. they charge 59.95 ... so not a deal in my area... as the bundle is still 11 dollars more.

 

[HanoverPretzel]

One thing to be careful about is that if you sign up for even a very basic lifeline cable type of service (i.e. mostly OTA channels through cable) through Comcast, you will be considered an existing customer and not eligible for many of their promotional deals if you want to switch from Dish to a higher tier of Comcast service later on. If you stick to Internet-only with Comcast, though, you could be eligible for an Internet-TV or Internet-TV-phone promotional bundle down the line if you reach a point where you want to ditch Dish for them temporarily or permanently.

I talked to a Comcast employee sort of "off the record" who told me very clearly not to sign up for anything but Internet, not even very basic tv service, if I wanted to try to get a promotional bundle down the line and be considered a "new customer".

Anyhow, not telling you not to get the cable tier. Don't know what your future plans are. But if you'd consider switching down the line to get a promotional rate from cable, you've got to work how you handle this stuff very carefully. All these cable and satellite companies sort of rig the system so they can pretend to offer you awesome deals and then tell you you're not eligible after they sort of hook you, hoping that by the time you're on the phone with them or whatever, you'll be sort of set on making the switch no matter what. It's sort of like a legal version of bait and switch. Anything they can do to not give you their best deal, they will. Like the way Dish won't give you their best deals if you don't pass their credit check, etc..

 

[beantown]

Thanks for all the info.

HanoverPretzel definitely makes a good point that I hadn't considered. I'll have to give that one some thought.

TG2, By signing up for Comcast Blast and Basic Cable I was able to save about $60 over the course of 2 years (and get faster internet) vs signing up for Comcast performance tier internet only. If you're interested in the details and how the cost breaks down shoot me a PM.

 

[dare2be]

Long ago I got Comcast HSI and bundled it with basic cable because basic cable was cheaper than the $15 upcharge for HSI by itself. Now that the lowest cable price is in the $20 range, I recently called to find out what I could do to lower my bill. I approached it as a customer on hard times looking to cut costs. After running through all the options with me I still wasn't satisfied and made it sound like I needed to cancel service. I was offered a $15 credit on my account for 6 months, at which time I will revisit my options.

 

[renegade734]

Have you considered using Comcast's digital voice service? Voice and data can be bundled in the same manner as data and video. That's what I did ... seemed to make more sense than paying for TV services twice.

 

[dare2be]

Have you considered using Comcast's digital voice service? Voice and data can be bundled in the same manner as data and video. That's what I did ... seemed to make more sense than paying for TV services twice.

Yeah, but I already have what I need with my cell phone plan. So, pay for TV twice, or pay for phone twice. Phone would be a lot more money doubled up than TV. At least, that's how it was back when I signed up.

 

[Mr Tony]

one other thing is (at least in my neck of the woods in Minneapolis) is on Comcast lifeline all the channels are also in QAM which is clearer than analog
Also the main nets are in HD (here above channel 23 you need a box)

 

[satjay]

Ii have Comcast for internet as where live I dont have any other high speed options, it bugs me that to get a bit of a cheaper internet package I have to sub to the "limited basic" which runs almost 20 bucks on its own

 

[Juan]

In the "olden days" I was able to run my Comcast basic ANALOG cable directly to my 301 and the 301 would integrate the channels in my guide.. (option located under scan local)..i dont know if the newer receivers would do the same thing

 

[gatekeeper]

I have done that also.I have Charter internet and I connected basic cable to my tv also.This is a great because when the satellite goes out I can still watch tv.I get all of the networks CBS,NBC,FOX,abc IN HD and sd.I also get about 20 or so music channels.I get ME-TV and a few other channels.I have to frequently scan for digital channels every couple of weeks or so as they move channels around.Not to big of a deal though.

 

[Mr Tony]

In the "olden days" I was able to run my Comcast basic ANALOG cable directly to my 301 and the 301 would integrate the channels in my guide.. (option located under scan local)..i dont know if the newer receivers would do the same thing

wrong model number. The 301 has no OTA option and its a antenna pasthrough
Maybe the 5000? That had an analog tuner in it

 

[Peter Parker]

In anyt event the current DISH tuners will not work with most cable systems. in fact Ia m persaonnlly unawre of any cable system they wil work with. Has anyone seen an example where they will work?

 

[Juan]

wrong model number. The 301 has no OTA option and its a antenna pasthrough
Maybe the 5000? That had an analog tuner in it

I might be having a 811 flashback instead..thanks

 

[chuckster_dude]

I kept the $12 Basic cable package for Time Warner which provides a little redundancy on the local channel side during DISH outages. The main reason I keep it is to get Canadian stations CBC and CTV out of Toronto, PBS in HD, YNN and local sports on Time Warner sports network....and every once in awhile, I find Sabres games on the upper channel numbers leaking through.

The cable is fed right into my TV via Coaxial cable into the ANT on the back of the TV so I just toggle the input of the TV. A little fine tuning in the TV and I get local HD.

One of these days, I may go to an OTA setup through the 722K or just buy an indoor antenna and see what I get there. This works for now but if cable goes up every year like it normally does, I may not be able to justify the cost.

 

[JayStil]

Comcast basic lifeline is clear QAM here. When I first hooked it up a few years ago I got pretty much everything except premiums (HBO, etc.). Even got PPV's that other people in the neighborhood ordered. It was weird to be watching a movie and have it pause/rewind etc. Not bad for $7 a month.

Those were the good old days. They've since scrambled most channels. I still get around 30, including all the nets (ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC, PBS, WB?or whatever it is these days) in HD. Price has more than doubled to around $15 now.

Depending on your TV you should be able to just hookup the Comcast cable to your "ANT" input and do a channel scan. The channel numbers will probably be strange, but you'll figure em' out. As was said Comcast likes to change things around so it doesn't hurt to do a channel scan at least once a month, or whenever you're missing a channel you got before.

 

[pjsjeep]

okay question??? If this is possible, then you should be able to record 2 shows via DISH and watch the "cable" channels? I have Charter HSI and get basic with it. I never thought of hooking to the TV, but I am going to try. I will need to split and run another cable to TV though. Easy enought. I have been getting alot of signal losses lately and this will help.

 

[Tampa8]

Think of it this way, changing inputs on the TV has nothing to do with what the Dish receiver is doing. So if you are recording two (or three with OTA) channels they will record. It's no different than you being away while it is recording and the TV is off. So, yes it would allow you to watch a third (or fourth) channel.
If you are splitting the cable, I am assuming you do not have a Charter box, otherwise whatever the box is on will be what you see. With no box, the TV can change channels to what you want, as well as the Dish receiver changing the Charter channels.

Just to give a complete answer, there are some times when changing the input on the TV will make a difference, but not with a Dish receiver. My Blu-Ray disc player is linked to my TV, both made by the same company. When I turn on the Blu-Ray player, it changes the input on the TV automatically to the correct one to see the Blu-Ray player. If I change inputs back to the Dish receiver, or to anything else, the Blu-Ray player stops and eventually turns off. This has no effect on what you want to do however.