Comments on: Comcast’s Oscar Fail

By: Minnesota Monday â€“ Communications Bloggers Posts From The Week Ending 03/14/10 | e-Strategy Internet Marketing Blog

Mon, 15 Mar 2010 11:03:57 +0000

[...] Steve Borsch comments on Comcast customer service in the wake of Oscar night service outages, then comments on the Minnesota Science & Tech Committee findings, and later examines the FCC broadband plan [...]

By: Petebar

Petebar — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 17:56:02 +0000

Because I had to work Sunday evening, I recorded the Oscars on glorious VHS tape. The signal was routed through my Comcast box on channel 5 to the VCR (did not use the VCR tuner). Watching the tape the next night I noticed some pixelation, similar to the effect of lightning in the area. Then, as Sigourney Weaver was about to award an Oscar, the audio went out. It never came back for the rest of the show.

I live in the middle of south Minneapolis. After reading this blog and a short report in the Strib, I’ll be giving Comcast a call.

Thanks for making this “fail” known.

By: Steve Borsch

Steve Borsch — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 18:59:13 +0000

Hi Jerry and thanks for reading!

Yesterday a guy from Comcast’s escalation group (the “XOC”) called me and let me know that engineering is actively working on the issue. He then gave me a phone number asking me to call *if* I saw this pixelation/audio stuttering problem occurring so they could see it in real-time.

Like you, I was experiencing the same issue, which occurred during the Oscars, last night so I called. After explaining which channel I was watching and where I lived he said, “Oh yeah. We’re all over that and it’s happening throughout your area.”

I think we all deserve something for compensation from our pals at Comcast, heh? One guy I know whined and received 3 months of his choice of a pay channel (I’d take HBO).

By: Jerry

Jerry — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 17:27:41 +0000

Thanks for your blog. I suffered through an almost unviewable HD Oscars broadcast last Sunday (March 7) in Mpls on my Comcast-issued Scientific Atlanta HD DVR (former Time Warner area). Symptoms are a classic match, as you describe. Wish it were limited to just that broadcast but for days, numerous HD programs have exhibited the same intermittent failure. I’m a 5-year HD subscriber here so by now it was reasonable to presume this sudden new occurrence of symptoms – with unusual horizontal banding of pixilated effect – could be a signal issue experienced by more than just me. I phoned it in to the tech last night and I asked specifically if this was a known issue (sadly, he denied knowing of such an issue).

By: Mike

Mike — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 14:08:41 +0000

We have standard cable in Eden Prairie. The video seemed to be ok 99% of the time, but the audio was definately having major problems during the awards show. I think I noticed the same audio problem earlier in the weekend on the golf channel, but not nearly as annoying as during the oscars.

By: Bill K

Bill K — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 04:19:45 +0000

We also had this problem in South Minneapolis. It was on a number of channels besides ABC as well. I think it might have been more widespread than the company is letting on.

By: Steve Borsch

Steve Borsch — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 02:34:16 +0000

Been seriously tempted to do that, especially since the Mac mini I have connected to my HDTV (with Boxee, etc.) gives me access to so much content.

By: Andy

Andy — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 01:47:35 +0000

You could keep a low cost indoor HDTV antenna around as a backup. Assuming you have an HD-tuner in your television (purchased within the last few years), over the air HD is generally described as higher quality than HD cable anyway, due to compression the cable company does on the signal you get sent. I have been running OTA HD for 3 years in Minneapolis (I live in the city) and am very happy with the quality.

http://www.amazon.com/Terk-Amplified-High-Definition-Antenna-Reception/dp/B0007MXZB2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1268099094&sr=8-1

By: Steve Borsch

Steve Borsch — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 22:55:12 +0000

Adam, you should definitely ping Comcast and tell them you want a discount!

By: Adam Zucchi

Adam Zucchi — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 22:39:46 +0000

I experienced the pixelation and the audio drop-outs in the Loring Park neighborhood of Minneapolis throughout the entire Academy Awards. My main issue with this is that nothing more is known now than what was last night. Steven, did they give you any word on whether or not they plan to discount their customer’s bills until this issue is resolved?

Thanks.

Adam