We have 4 cable boxes in our home with Comcast. 3 are regular digital boxes, while 1 is a HD box. The HD box works perfectly; however, the other 3 have intermittent problems with digital premium channels. It's basically hit or miss on whether some of the premium channels break up so much that the program is unwatchable or even broadcasts at all. We've called Comcast about the problem, but they gave us a song and dance about the locations of the boxes, which makes absolutely no sense to me. Is there any logical reason that these boxes are so temperamental in whether they will work or not? Is there something we can do to resolve this other than cancel the boxes? Thanks in advance for any help!
it is important to know if each of the 3 boxes are having the same problems on the same channels. Are the channels tiling? In other words do the channels look the same as if you are watching a badly scratched dvd? Do any channels have a black screen with the words "one moment please this channel will be available shortly"? Are you able to access VOD at all? If you get an error message on all 3 boxes when you try to access VOD and you are experiencing what I mentioned above on all 3 boxes on the same channels, then it sounds like a signal issue. If you want to give a more detailed description that would be helpful, but I recommend that you schedule a service call and have a technician come to your home. Based on what you have described the problem does not appear to be a digital cable box issue.
That's what is weird. Different boxes experience different inaccessibility problems on different premium channels at the same time. Yes, I experience the tiling issue at times and black screens/no sound at other times. I never get an error message except occasionally in the case of when I try to choose an On Demand program. In that case, I will typically get the tiling issue, but sometimes will get an "unable to tune" error. Note again that I never get an error when selecting non-On Demand programs.
I guess I can try with Comcast again, but don't have alot of faith that they will help, so I was hoping I might get some help here. However, I will continue to pursue Comcast if that is the recommended recourse.
Joyce- the channels are tiling because the signal being received by the cable boxes are weak. This is what I suggest: First look for a 3-way splitter that the cables are connected to or some other common connection. If you do locate a 3-way splitter that they are connected to, replace it. It is very possible for each box to exhibit the same problem but on different channels. The problem may be caused either by a wiring issue, a faulty splitter or a low downstream signal. You may need to schedule a service call regardless.