New Guide makes watching TV even better

Hello again Ms. John. I wanted to follow up on this issue. The team was able to uncover the source of the incorrect guide data listings and they should be accurate later this week.

Your area of Englewood, FL is considered out-of-market for Fox Sports Florida and the incorrect program listings were being shown in the guide (as you noted), Thanks for bringing this to my attention.

Hello Ms. John. I apologize that the guide listings for Fox Sports Florida are inaccurate in your area. Thanks for bringing this problem to my attention.

The local Comcast team in Florida is investigating and will work to correct this issue as soon as possible. I will keep you updated.

There is additional conversation and information on our Scientic Atlanta/Cisco (SA) areas happening here: http://blog.comcast.com/2010/05/new-guide-for-scientific-atlanta-cable-boxes.html

Hello Mr. Naugle and thanks for stopping by Comcast Voices. .

Unfortunately, the sleep timer functionality is a feature that is not supported in the new guide. Many television sets support this feature independently. The sleep timer and wake timer functionality are returning in a future version of this guide coming to may markets later this year. These are features that most other video providers also do not currently offer.

For your other question, your cable box likely has an AC outlet on the back panel for powering another device. You can plug the power cord from your TV set into that outlet (you probably have already done that).

One thing to check is that the AC power outlet on the back of the box is turned to switched.. Here is how to check that or turn it on. Using the silver Comcast remote control, press the Munu button twice, the select setup, then cable box setup, arrow down to AC outlet

If setting is set to Switched, the AC outlet on your cable box’s rear panel is on when your set-top is on, and off when your set-top is off, so any TV that is therefore receiving its power from this AC outlet will switch off when your set-top is turned off. If setting is set to Unswitched, the AC outlet is always on, so any TV that is receiving its power from this AC outlet will continue to receive power whether your set-top is switched on or off. It sounds like you would prefer this to be set to Switched.

Hello Mr. Bowles and thanks for sharing your feedback. I can appreciate that you don’t like seeing the ads in the guide grid.

The banner ads that are displayed at the bottom of each page in the guide grid are all related to TV content and are designed to aid in discovery of additional content available to you; some of it even free. In future versions of the guide, the ads are much less intrusive.
Something that you may have already discovered (and a tip I will share for others) is that you are able to skip through the ads in the guide (as in not land on them) by using the Page Up or Page Down key on your remote control while browsing the TV listings grid.

You are also able to modify the listings grid to show 5 channels at one time (the same number of channels displayed as the previous guide). Press the Menu button on your Comcast silver remote control twice, choose Set Up from the on-screen menu, then Guide Set Up, scroll down to the Grid Cell Height option and change Double Height (the default) to Single Height.

You don’t have to leave the DVR on to record. It will turn on and record if it is turned off.

You do need to leave the DVR on if there is a recording in progress. The previous on-screen guide software did allow you to turn the DVR box off (it actually went into standby) when you were recording a program, the new guide software does not. This is certainly a slight change in behavior and in line with what the majority of our customers are used to and have in their home today.

You can certainly leave the cable box on and the TV off when recording programs. If you leave your cable box off, it will turn on to record according to what you have scheduled.

With the new on-screen guide, when you attempt to turn off the cable box while a DVR recording is in progress, an on-screen message appears that says the following: "A recording is in progress. Turning off your cable box will stop all recordings in progress."

There are two options presented on-screen underneath this message.
1. Continue recording, leave cable box on
2. Stop recording, turn cable box off. You can chose one of those options.

If no selection is chosen the on-screen message will time out and the DVR will continue to record.

There is a slight power variance between the SA/Cisco box and other set top boxes being on and off (most consumer electronic equipment is never really all the way "off" unless it's physically unplugged.). The variance I see between power on mode and sleep mode on a Cisco HD set top is roughly 0.3 W.

http://www.energystar.gov/ia/products/prod_lists/set_top_boxes_prod_list.pdf

Leaving the box on allows for your cable box to easily get software and firmware updates as well as updated TV listings. This should not significantly impact the lifespan of the cable box or the hard drive. There are many more details on the new on-screen guide available at the link below: http://www.comcast.net/meetyourguide

Hello Ron G and thanks for your questions and comments.

We do have plans to expand the capabilities of our AnyRoom DVR product to address the issues you raised. You should see a formal announcement, more details and timing in the coming months.

Hello Mr. Kramer and thanks for visiting Comcast Voices.

It sounds like you need to adjust your settings via the HD Wizard and User Settings so that the on-screen guide will fit better on your tv screen. Here is a link that should help to resolve that: http://por-img.cimcontent.net/ui/pdf/meetyourguide/HDTV_Setup_Guide.pdf

If you are still having trouble with that, please give us a call at 1-800-COMCAST.

Unfortunately, PIP functionality is a feature that is not supported in the new guide.
PIP is not currently on our feature roadmap. PIP was only ever available in our SA/Cisco DVRs. The PIP feature impacted a small percentage of our SA customers and an even smaller percentage (4%) of our overall customers; most of which have never had the PIP feature through their cable box. We did not make the decision to not retain the PIP feature lightly. The ability to keep this feature and incorporate it into phase one of the new guide would have significantly delayed this project and subsequent downstream projects even more - like the guide that we really want to get out in front of our customers later this year.

We also conducted extensive research around the importance of the PIP feature in the current guide and as a potential future feature in upcoming guides. In our on-going customer research, PIP continues to drop in ranking of importance of features that the majority of our current customers (and potential customers) use or want. PIP was only ever available with DVRs in our SA areas (a very small percentage).

I certainly understand that there is a passionate customer base for PIP. We also realize that there are some customers who will not be happy about this decision and even some customers who may choose another video service provider that offers the PIP feature.

A new feature that is available with the new guide is the Pause, Swap, Pause functionality, which allows a customer to pause a current program that they are watching (i.e. football game on one channel), swap tuners to another channel and watch the programming on that channel for five minutes, pause that channel and then swap back to the original channel (football game), which is still paused. Not meant to be a replacement for PIP, but a low tech full-screen alternative that may suffice in some cases.

No Volume on channel 76. Check your SAP or LANG button on your TV remote control (not the Comcast remote) and be sure that it is set to “channel default” or English. Also in the guide, please check your language settings. They can be accessed and modified by pressing the Menu button twice on the Comcast silver remote control, then choose Setup, then Audio setup. Here you can change the Default Audio Track. The choices are: Channel default, English, Spanish, French and Portuguese. Not all channels and programmers deliver SAP all the time and not all channels offer all of the presented options.

There are many more details on the new on-screen guide are available here: http://www.comcast.net/meetyourguide/

I have passed along your request for the Al Jazeera channel to the local management team that oversees your area. The channel lineup in each area is defined by many things including customer interest, cost and channels that are legally and contractually required to be offered.

Hello Mr. Overfield and thanks for your question.

Customers in Minnesota started to get the new on-screen guide last week.

Due to the large size of the Comcast area in the Minneapolis area, we need to deliver the guide on a rolling schedule by cable box type. Box types are currently scheduled weekly throughout this month. Impacted customers should have received notification and materials in the mail recently with additional details on this guide update.

For the MN areas listed below, the Cisco RNG 100, RNG 150 and RNG 200 cable box models received the new guide last week. The SA Explorer 8300 and 3250 box models are scheduled to get the new guide in Minnesota this week. The remaining box types are scheduled for the week of May 23.

MINNESOTA: Bloomington, Chaska, Eden Prairie, Edina, Fridley, Hopkins, Jordan, Madelia, Minneapolis, Minnetonka, Montrose, New Prague, New Ulm, Richfield, Shakopee, St Louis Park.

Schedules are subject to change. There are many more details on the new on-screen guide are available here: http://www.comcast.net/meetyourguide/

Hello Mr. Kunde. One more thing to try would be to do the outlined steps while tuned to an HD channel. If the settings don't stick after that, then yes, I would recommend that you swap out your DVR.

Hello Mr. Kunde. We have just updated the earlier link I posted to include an additional step with the the User Settings; those need to also be set.

Here is that link and the instructions posted below:

http://por-chr.cimcontent.net/ui/pdf/meetyourguide/High_Definition_TV_Setup_Guide.pdf

TV User Settings
This allows you to set up closed captioning and toggle between your video settings and resolution output.

1. To access user settings, turn OFF your set-top box; it will remain in standby mode.
2. Press GUIDE on your remote while the set-top box is in standby mode. OR press Channel Up + Channel Down simultaneously on the front panel of the set-top box.
3. From here you can set up your video settings and resolution
output.

Video Settings — Configure the settings to your TV type. 4:3 Letterbox, 4:3 PAN/SCAN or 16:9 wide-screen.

Resolution Output — Configure the HDMI/YPbPr output to either 480p std, 480i std, 1080i.

4:3 Override — Off, 480p, 480i, 1080i.

4. Use the arrow keys on your Comcast silver remote to select the appropriate settings.

You may have already tried this. Please let me know your results. Thanks.

Hi again Karen. Can you send me your address and account information so I can investigate this further? You can reach me via this link: http://blog.comcast.com/author/ted-hodgins/

Just click on E-MAIL ME box near the top left of the page. Thanks!

Hello Karen and thanks for your comments. I can certainly understand how you would not appreciate the new on-screen guide if it did not record your shows.

Below are some DVR highlights to address your immediate needs.

Record a series program
1. Press the Guide button on your remote to view the TV Listings.
2. Highlight the TV series you want to record and press the Record button on your remote twice and select the multiple red dot symbol. Or press and select the Record icon from the Program Information screen. Select the Set up a series recording icon (the multiple red dot) to specify your recording options.
3. Select the Record series with these settings icon (the wrench) to schedule the recording, or select the View all settings icon to access advanced setup features.

Additional links for DVR Help for the guide that you currently have can be found below:

DVR Brochure (covers the basics)
http://por-img.cimcontent.net/ui/pdf/meetyourguide/DVR_Brochure.pdf

DVR User Guide (16 pages with much more detail)
http://por-img.cimcontent.net/ui/pdf/meetyourguide/S25_DVR_0111.pdf

Please let me know if you continue to have this problem. Thanks.

Hello Mr. Senflt and thanks for your feedback.

The guide ads are less intrusive in future versions of the guide. This is the initial version of the guide, the foundation and the path to get additional features and improvements deployed more quickly.

The banner ads that are displayed at the bottom of each page in the guide grid are all related to TV content and are designed to aid in discovery of additional content available to you; some of it even free. In future versions of the guide, the ads are much less intrusive.

Ads are everywhere in most all products and businesses (magazines, movie theaters, newspapers, even my monthly train pass has an ad on it) and help to subsidize the associated recurring editorial and programming costs.

Something that you may have already discovered (and a tip I will share for others) is that you are able to skip through the ads in the guide (as in not land on them) by using the Page Up or Page Down key on your remote control while browsing the TV listings grid.

You are able to modify the listings grid to show 5 channels at one time (instead of 4 channels). Press the Menu button on your Comcast silver remote control twice, choose Set Up from the on-screen menu, then Guide Set Up, scroll down to the Grid Cell Height option and change Double Height (the default) to Single Height.

Thanks again for your comments and thanks for being a Comcast customer.

Hello Mr. Koury, Thanks for visiting Comcast Voices.

You can only access Closed Captioning through the Guide if you have an HD cable box connected with HDMI or component cables. Customers with non-HD cable boxes need to access Closed Captioning settings through your TV and should refer to the manufacturer’s instructions on how to enable this feature.

If you have an HD box: Press the Menu button twice on the silver Comcast remote control to view the Main Menu. Select Setup then Subtitle Setup to turn captions on or off, and adjust other closed caption settings. There is a lot more information about the new guide available here: http://www.comcast.net/meetyourguide/

Thanks again for your feedback and comments and thanks for being a Comcast customer.

There is additional conversation and information on our Scientic Atlanta/Cisco (SA) areas happening here: http://blog.comcast.com/2010/05/new-guide-for-scientific-atlanta-cable-boxes.html

Hello again Lauren. I checked with the local team in Connecticut that oversees your area. Guilford, CT (which is part of our Branford system) does not yet have the AnyRoom DVR service available. There is one last technical piece that needs to be put in place and the current schedule shows that the AnyRoom DVR service should be available by this summer. Apologies for the delay and I appreciate your patience.

Hello Ms. Rothe and thanks for sharing your comments.

One of the key benefits of this new guide is that with a common platform, Comcast will be able to more quickly deliver new products and services to all of our customers. Once we get the initial version of this guide out to all of our SA customers, you will start to see more rapid deployments of improvements and enhancements to the SA platform. That is one of the major reasons for this new guide; to get to a fairly consistent guide platform and user experience across the county. This will allow us to develop, test, trial and implement and deliver products much more quickly on this new platform rather than rely on separate paths for our SA and Motorola areas. Our SA areas are already targeted to see additional service and product improvements this year - features like myDVR Manager (ability to schedule your DVR from a PC or phone), Caller ID to the TV, HSN shop by remote and other interactive TV applications.

This on-screen program guide is phase one of coordinated multi-phase feature enhancements scheduled for our SA markets. We have some significant enhancements and improvements to the on-screen guide already underway and coming to your area this year that I think you will be quite pleased with.

You are able to modify the listings grid to show 5 channels at one time (instead of 4 channels). Press the Menu button on your Comcast silver remote control twice, choose Set Up from the on-screen menu, then Guide Set Up, scroll down to the Grid Cell Height option and change Double Height (the default) to Single Height.

It's hard to escape advertising; it surrounds us - on TV, radio, magazines, online, on airplane banners on the beach, on highway billboards, on airline tray tables, on transit vehicles - my monthly/weekly train pass even has an advertisement on it. The Philadelphia Inquirer even has ads -- sometimes even on page 1. The banner ads that are displayed at the bottom of each page in the guide grid are all related to TV content and are designed to aid in discovery of additional content available to you. A tip I will share is that you are able to skip through the ads in the guide (as in not land on them) by using the Page Up or Page Down key on your remote control while browsing the TV listings grid.

Thanks fagain for your comments and thanks for being a Comcast customer.

Hello Mr. Hill and thanks for your comments and questions.

The on-screen guide does show you all of the available channels that are in the channel lineup, not just the ones that you are subscribed to.

You are able to set up a list of Favorite Channels and use that as your on-screen guide. In fact, you can set up multiple favorite lists for different people in your household or you can set up Favorites lists by genre (Movies, Sports, etc).

Here is how to set up a Favorites List: Using the silver Comcast remote control, press the Menu button twice, then select Setup, then Favorite List Setup. Select Set Up Favorite List and follow the on-screen instructions to add channels to your list. You can also name each list. After the Favorites List is created, you can access it and cycle through it by pressing the FAV button on the Comcast remote control (the FAV button is to the left of the channel up/down button).

Comcast is in the process of creating one Master Channel Lineup for all Comcast markets. This means that most networks will have the same channel number, regardless of what part of the country the Comcast subscriber lives in. This project is rolling out market by market in a phased approach.

Phase one of that project is that we are moving new and existing HD channels into the 1000's channel range and introducing 4 digit channel numbers.

Phase two will see the channels being re-aligned into genre-based locations.
Comcast continues to add new and exciting programming content to our digital video channel lineup, including HD channels made available through the “World of More” program.

To ensure customers get the full value of all programming content, Comcast is realigning channels into logical, genre based locations. This channel realignment will help customers find the content they want easier.

Thanks again for your comments and feedback and I hope the above is helpful.

Hello Todd. Thanks for your question and apologies to you for not getting complete information from our agents at 1-800-COMCAST about AnyRoom DVR.

I checked with your local Comcast team and AnyRoom DVR is available now in your area. I have asked that someone on the local team reach out to you directly. You should hear from someone shortly. There is more information on AnyRoom DVR here: http://www.comcast.com/anyroomdvr

Hello David and Happy New Year!

There is additional conversation and information on our SA areas happening here: http://blog.comcast.com/2010/05/new-guide-for-scientific-atlanta-cable-boxes.html

We do have this on-screen guide deployed to customers in CT, NH and PA - about 15% of our Scientific Atlanta/Cisco (SA) footprint. The remainder of the SA sites are scheduled to receive the new guide in early 2011. We have every intention of doing so and then some.

Once we get closer to the upcoming customer launch dates, we will communicate those locations. Impacted customers will also get notified directly.

After the initial guide roll-out, we have even more significant enhancements and improvements targeted for the on-screen guide coming in 2011 for our SA markets that I think you will be quite pleased with.

We are also in the process of rolling out a nationwide initiative called "World of More" that will enable us to bring customers access to more innovative products and services, including many more HD channels. This is rolling out neighborhood by neighborhood. We will be sure to communicate early and often with customers as these additional services come to their area. The "World of More" is already happening in several of our SA areas. More info on that initiative is available here http://digitalnow.comcast.com/ and here http://digitalnow.comcast.com/About_Digital_Update.aspx

Thanks again for your comments and thanks for your patience.

Hello Mr. Huff and thanks for your comments.

The first item that you described is a new feature introduced with this new guide. The feature is called DVR Auto-Correction referenced here: http://www.comcast.net/newguide/#DVR%20Auto-Correction

As you fast forward or rewind a DVR recording, this feature will automatically adjust for that split-second delay between hand-eye coordination and the stopping point. Depending on how fast you are fast forwarding or rewinding, your DVR will add or subtract a tad of time to auto-correct to what it determines is the logical spot to resume playback.

Based on focus groups with current customers, we have received mostly favorable reviews on this feature. In future versions of the guide, this feature will be able to be turned off or on by customers at each cable box. The default for this feature will be “on”.

The second issue is one that is most likely caused by the networks themselves going slightly over the scheduled time on programs on purpose with the desire of maintaining the viewership flow of one program into the next. DVR customers are the unfortunate victims of this industry practice. We continue to work with our network partners (including the cable networks owned by Comcast) to instruct them on the impact this practice has on all DVR customers.

Hello Mr. Bruce. Thanks for your comments and your interest. The AnyRoom DVR service is scheduled to be available in your area the week of December 6.

We have some additional information on this service available here: http://www.comcast.com/anyroomdvr/

Hello Mr. Demers. I am pleased to report that AnyRoom DVR is now available in Seattle. I appreciate your patience. Please let me know your experience with this service.

Hi Rick -
This link should help http://www.comcast.com/anyroomdvr/.

Hello Sharon - Thanks for your comments. It sounds like you are in an SA area (Scientific Atlanta). The conversation and discussion on that guide is happening over here.

http://blog.comcast.com/2010/05/new-guide-for-scientific-atlanta-cable-boxes.html

Thanks!

Hello Patrick - the Ethernet port on the back of many of our cable boxes is not currently active. This may be a port that we could make active in the future.

The two-way cable plant allows for the addition of iTV applications like HSN Shop By Remote and Caller ID to the TV that are already available to most of our customers. Other Interactive TV applications on the cable box are expected to be more broadly deployed in early 2011.

Hello Lauren - This was totally my fault and I apologize. I gave you some incorrect information. I checked again with the CT team and your area needs one more step before the AnyRoom DVR product can be available. The expected time frame for AnyRoom DVR to be available in your area is in the first half of 2011.

Hello Robert. Please let me know what kind of cable box you have now and where you are geographically located and I can put our local team in touch with you directly.