I've come full circle... unfortunately!

[ctjr]

Years ago I had Comcast. Then, I got a Tivo. Later, I moved to DirecTV and a few years after that, Dish. Now, due to the economy and some other factors, I find myself back with Comcast.

All I can say is, "Wow." And not a good "wow," either.

I knew going in the SA 8300HD was not on the level of the offerings from Dish and Direct and Tivo. What I did NOT know, is that it looks and acts like it was designed in the late 80's! Cumbersome, unintuitve, and a user inteface that makes Space Invaders appear cutting edge. Un-Freakin-Believable.

Then, there is the PQ. My wife sits beside me for our shakedown cruise of the new install. As we are watching a few minutes if American Chopper, she turns to me and says, " Don't they have this in HD?" Of course, we were WATCHING HD! There was so much picture softness, artifacting and banding. Again , totally U-F-B! At least they don't seem to do too much to the network HD feed. I guess that's something.

Now, let's talk about the boxes themselves. They looked like someone had stopped on the roadside and had a quick Rugby session with them. Scratched up, dented and dirty. Nice. Ah, for that new DVR smell....

Now, for the positives: the technician was on time, polite, helpful and knowledgeable-- a big plus. Also, I'll save quite a bit of money this year, as I have internet through them as well. I'll save next year as well, though not as much. And... well, that's it for the positives.

I'm a big boy, and no one made me switch. But, damn! Does it have to suck THIS much?

 

[berck]

Hmm, I had comcast a little over a year ago. Our HD PQ was superior to both DirecTV and Dish. The DVR box on the other hand was a joke. From what I can tell, each Comcast area is held to different standards. I'm also under the impression that they maybe over compressing now in many areas to get more HD channels out.

 

[dishrich]

I knew going in the SA 8300HD was not on the level of the offerings from Dish and Direct and Tivo. What I did NOT know, is that it looks and acts like it was designed in the late 80's! Cumbersome, unintuitve, and a user inteface that makes Space Invaders appear cutting edge. Un-Freakin-Believable.

You're still in BETTER shape than us stuck with the POS Moto units & of all THEIR bugs...

Now, let's talk about the boxes themselves. They looked like someone had stopped on the roadside and had a quick Rugby session with them. Scratched up, dented and dirty.

CC here is STILL using old DCT2000's in droves - yes for NEW customer installs. These are SO old they have the GI name on them, as well as the old phone line return connectors on them, which haven't been used here in over 15 YEARS!
CC is definitely going to get their money's worth out of their boxes!