Comcast is going to kick off their keynote at CES 2008 any minute now and we're here to bring you the latest from the world of the largest cable provider in the US.
9:08AM - Gary Shapiro takes the stage and is excited to have the first chief exec from a cable company. We start out with a little history about Comcast. Now they are the 4th largest phone company.
A video kicks off about the next generation of cable, Comcast 3.0, -- we must have missed 2.0 -- which can provide anything from 1000 HD channels to email communications.
9:13AM - Brian Roberts, Chairman and CEO of Comcast takes the stage. This is a moment of inflection point for cable TV. Initial cable deployment was Comcast 1.0; next was consolation and two way service, which also included high speed internet, which was Comcast 2.0; now the latest integration that will be provided is Comcast 3.0. Their advanced fiber networks would help them compete against satellite which is limited to one way services and telco's that are limited to regions and weren't focusing on videos.
9:17AM - Now they are talking up Comcast's desire to work with CE companies to help make Comcast 3.0 possible. Working very hard with CableLabs to make it work.
Comcast 3.0 is...
9:21AM - "Is content king or is distribution is king? The consumer is king." Give us a break already!
Here is how we are going to deliver, with open standards like the successful DOCSIS standard. So they think open standards to TV will be just as successful.
This is the new era of open two way, or tru2way. Brian goes on about how simple and easy tru2way. This is the same story about how the java based VM environment is the way to go, and why it's better than letting companies like TiVo design their own interface.
Now we see a list of those who love tru2way, like Panasonic, Samsung, LG, Motorola, Microsoft and TiVo -- some, under protest mind you. Brian looks forward to seeing the announced support from Microsoft on the Media Center and to extenders like the Xbox360.
9:27AM - One of the biggest participants in developing tru2way is Panasonic, so Toshihiro Sakamoto, from Panasonic takes the stage. He repeats Panny's announcement of the two new plasma HDTVs featuring tru2way. Which he says works great without a STB and without any more wires. Again we see the new portable tru2way portable DVR, AnyPlay. He spends a few minutes talking up the DVR/DVD and asks how everyone likes it, they all reluctantly clap.
9:31AM - Brian mentions his father is in the audience and everyone claps -- must be a great guy -- and continues on with the history.. The birth place of Comcast is also the birthplace of Elvis, and the system only offered five channels. The success of Comcast is about choice, "Choice Sells." And using Comcast on Demand they are able to provide even more choice to consumers, and quickly went from 250 choice to now over 10,000 choice every month. Which makes Comcast the largest on demand provider in the world and that 90% is free. Since 2003, they've had over 6 billion views.
We will but over 1000 HD choices in virtually every Comcast HD home. The new architecture will allow more than 6,000 on demand programs, it's called "Project Infinity." This will provide the "content hungry consumers dream." Then of course the required mention of user generated content.
9:38AM - There are over 4 million voice customers, due to the IP network. Caller ID to the TV is going to be a new feature -- you know like satellite has had for years -- next is smart zone which allows you to check your VM from anywhere. A clip of Dennis Miller demoing Smart Zone communications center, while at the same time pimping his show. Ultimately, it is just unified messaging, welcome to the 21st century Comcast! Hey at last Dennis is rolling with the jokes. Remote DVR programming is built into the interface.
9:43 - Brian introduces Ryan Seacrest, again pimping Comcast program. Ryan says being at CES is the most exciting thing he's ever done. Like us, Brian doesn't believe him and question his other great fun, but Ryan says it's like the worlds largest toy store for adults.
Brian and Ryan are introducing Fancast, which despite what it looks like is not just another video portal. They say its one site that links all content together, but we'll see. Ryan says "I'd actually live there, even if you weren't my boss," some laugh we don't. 3,000 hours of TV content, 10,00 movie trailers, 50,000 celebrity photos, and over 11 million pages of fan entertainment. Now we see a demo, which includes personalized recommendations. Ryan pulls up his fancast page, and what do you know every clip features him! The content is available online, but you can also access it on TV or On Demand or On DVD, no clue how that'd work. Findit also provides links to iTunes, Amazon and Netflix. "No one else lets you find, manage and watch all in one place." Comcast is available everywhere, but the remote DVR is offered by Comcast to other cable companies as well. Now for some HD video, online, or you can download it, the move is 4.7GB. They take this opportunity to talk up Comcast internet access and new Wideband -- which is bounding multiple QAM channels. This will be available to millions of home by the end of 2008. DOCSIS can boost up to 50x faster than we're used to today.
9:54AM - Now six degrees of Fancast will help you find hollywood news. So here we are with six degrees of Ryan Seacrest, so we are seeing celebrities that are connected by merging databases, so we can see all his connections and how he's connected. He references his SNL skit, something was in a box or something, only half the crowd got it.
9:59AM - Comcast is the official cable provider of the
Dark Knight, so now we watch a trailer for the movie.
10:01AM - Ryan makes his way down the isle to interview people. Larry from S. Florida VP of Brands Mart, where he gives a completely pre-rehearsed comment and question, about how great this all is and when will be available. Ryan continues to ask setup questions and making jokes we're sure are funny to someone.
10:05AM - Brian closes with why he thinks everyone should partner with Comcast based on all the reasons we've already heard today, "We're open for business, we're open for partnering." Ryan says goodbye with a few more plugs for his show and other Comcast content.
10:08AM - Jermain and Brett of Flight of the Concords takes the stage with a girlfriend wanted sign. They go on about about how they need to use the internet to get girls, cause there aren't many girls here. He says "there are actually more girls on the internet there there are in the world." Brett shows his invention, the "camera phone" which is a camera taped to a disposable phone. Now they bring out an old TV with and integrate it with tape as well. They continue to make jokes, which plug all the new Comcast technologies. "Is it tru2way", "no that's pretty much why I need a girlfriend." Now they kick off with the song "it's business time"
We gotta run to cover XStreamHD, so we're out!
posted Jan 8th 2008 11:57AM
Comcast seems a little late to the game when it comes to HD. I have had several conversations with Comcast in the last couple of years, where it started out with HD is a fad, to we are looking at HD, to we will have more HD channels that DirecTV. This story says thay plan to support 1000 HD channels, my current Comcast market has 30 HD channels.
If they are going to lead, thay have a chance to stay in business. If they are going to follow, they will fade into history.
If I were there, I would question the CEO and BOOO at their internet bandwidth policy and have him explain his definition of "unlimited"
@tom
I would ask them why I STILL can't upload in BT, months after that scandal broke and the lawsuits started.
I pay for the bandwitdh, don't tell me what I can and can't use it for.
their comment about 1000 hd channels, doesn't mean you'll have access to 1000 hd channels. It means that in all markets, it adds up to 1000, for instance, in houston they have about 5 local hd channels (that's it). In another city they may have 7, so that's 12 total so far. The 1000 comes from all the locals added up from every location, plus the few other cable hd channels they offer. It's just a play on the numbers. Comcast is finally out of my home with fios filling up the remaining gap.
good luck keeping up with satellite.
their comment about 1000 hd channels, doesn't mean you'll have access to 1000 hd channels. It means that in all markets, it adds up to 1000, for instance, in houston they have about 5 local hd channels (that's it). In another city they may have 7, so that's 12 total so far. The 1000 comes from all the locals added up from every location, plus the few other cable hd channels they offer. It's just a play on the numbers. Comcast is finally out of my home with fios filling up the remaining gap.
good luck keeping up with satellite.
@tom? moreso with tom...
I read through the comcast Acceptable Use Policy and contract on their website... It basically says that it can disconnect people as they see fit if it is causing lower quality of service for a larger number of customers... the great thing is that they never say there is a limit... but if you go over an unspecified amount (that is up to comcast to determine) they can cancel your service... I figured as long as I wasn't doing anything illegal or running business or hosting servers on their line I had 100% of that line 100% of the time... so I can download 6Mbp/s 24/7... not the case... so after the first "warning" phone call I just canceled and switched to FIOS... I am glad I had an option. Someone else later talks about monopoly... I second that statement. Comcast only servives because they have no competitions... FIOS is better, faster, more reliable... AND half the price!!!
pfft what ever comcast... kep trying to impress people but soon enough more people will realize that you are full of BS....
seriously? 1000 channels. am i the only one that thinks that may be overkill?
100 regular channels is overkill.
Everything is going to have to be HD sooner or later. 1000 sounds about right.
It's not 1000 channels, it's 1000 choices. The way Comcast is going with this, it's not normal channels, like CNN ,or ABC. It's more like the all Smallville channel, or the all Lost Channel. Each Channel plays a specific show via OnDamand in HD, it frees up alot of bandwidth doing it this way instead of trying to stream all of this live.
It's all apart of there "switcher" lifestyle they are going to change to this year and once Analog is dead, 1000 streams with only two streams only going to your Set Top Box at a time will be easy.
Comcast is the worst company ever, even if they had 1000 HD channels and the only reason they survive is because they exist in a monopolistic industry.
Is there a video feed?
I live in East Texas, we were "transitioned" from Time Warner to Comcast about 8 months ago... and we have had non-stop problems since. They are so horrible here that I have spoken to multiple Comcast employees that have switched to Satellite. It's seriously pitiful when you can't keep people on your system that receive such a massive discount. I am considering just canceling all my services and going to "over the air"... because craptastic Comcast is my only choice (no view of southern sky).
You aren't kidding. I have had more problems/outages/issues in the last few months with Comcast than the previous ten years with TimeWarner. And don't get me started on what you have to go through to get someone on the phone with support...
That doesn't make sense. How would a company change cause problems? The network infrustructure should still be the same.
Well... lets be specific. Time warner was very conservative in their offerings. The infrastructure was powerful enough for much more than Time Warner was using... Comcast has maxed the thing out... so if you are on the fringes, you no longer are reliable in comparison to when there was slack in the network. I have buisness class internet service, and even mine is not reliable. When they changed from the Time Warner servers over to comcast servers (yes, they had to change IPs, DNS, etc) the system didn't respond to my cable modem because they technician in my area didn't know when the upgrade was going to occur (poor communications and planning)
They also have made repetitive changes in the software on our cable boxes, both major upgrades required that my cable box be replaced entirely. They enabled an untested fully digital portion of the network in my area, we have special boxes, special technicians and extra special pixelation every 5 minutes or so until they "get the bugs out of the system" as the 5th technician to look at my service told me.
Sure, i will admit it is alot easier to schedule an appointment, they offer 5 hour windows typically the next day... out of the 15 times (yes, 15 times) that I have had technicians at my house NONE OF THEM made it in the 5 hour window and most weren't there until 2-3 hours after the window. Yes, I called each time and got a $20 credit to my bill. Of course, each time you call you sit on hold for 45+ min because so many people are having problems or asking where their late technician is. Comcast is having real problems getting Customer service reps... to the point that when I call now I get outsourced vendors (they really don't care versus the comcast internal folks just kinda don't).
Add all this to the fact that my cable bill went up $15 a month and I lost my kids favorite channel when they took over... yeah... they are awful.
it doesn't say channels, it says choices. it's referring to video on demand. they have over 10,000 sd "choices" already and are planning on making 1000 hd "choices" available. sound a bit more reasonable now?
It says 1000 HD CHOICES not channels, comcast includes HD on demand content in this number.
Then: 5 channels
Now: 5 HD channels
Meh.
"He spends a few minutes talking up the DVR/DVD and asks how everyone likes it, they all reluctantly clap. "
Haha, I can picture it now: "I'm not moving on until everyone approves of my product. CLAP DAMN YOU!"
"He spends a few minutes talking up the DVR/DVD and asks how everyone likes it, they all reluctantly clap."
Haha, I can see it now: "I'm not moving on until everyone approves of my product. CLAP DAMN YOU!"
Sorry for the double post, comments are acting weird for me.
The huge question is how much more money is Comcast going to pump out of the consumer annually for these upgrades?
Personally, I was glad to get Sci-Fi HD. That alone is worth the price of my wife paying the cable bill.
What I want out of my internet provider is reliability and speed. What I want out of my cable provider is reliability, tons of HD channels, and a quality DVR box that I can rent. Right now, Comcast doesn't do either of these things better than the alternatives.
They can talk about openness and 3.0 and synergizing all they want, but they need to deliver. The Comcast Tivo took forever to come out and is just as laggy as their old system.
Why would I pay to receive hundreds upon hundreds of channels, when Comcast refuses to add the one that I want: the Big Ten Network. Comcast, if you're all about consumer choice, why can't I choose to receive (and pay for) the BTN and not receive (and not pay for) WE, Lifetime, etc?
Granted, I'm in a Charter area, but the argument is the same.
they are not refusing to add the big ten channel, the people who run the big ten channel refuse to let comcast put it into the sports entertainment package which basically everyone who like nfl soccer and some other sport that i dont know already have and like it. but comcast is actaully trying hard to get it in the lineup hell they even had a big ten channel placeholder for awhile
@Ryan Rose:
You seem to have missed my point, which is understandable since even I don't think I articulated it well.
Comcast (as well as Charter) often use "offering consumers choice" as their main argument for placing the BTN on the sports tier. What they fail to mention, however, is that consumers don't get that same choice to not pay for the many other channels on expanded basic.
What happens if I'm a die-hard science fiction fan? In order to get the SciFi channel, I have to pay upwards of $55 for an expanded basic package that includes 70 or more channels I don't want.
What happens if I'm a Wisconsin Badger fan (which happens to be the case)? If I want to see half of the basketball season, I'd have to shell out an extra $(god knows how much) to upgrade from expanded basic to a digital service and then add the sports tier... all so I can get a single channel. And even then, I still have to pay for myriad channels I don't want.
"Offering consumers choice" is a bogus argument. It holds no water.
"This will be available to millions of home by the end of 2008."
Sure, just like Comcast/TiVo will be available to all subscribers 'soon'.
Those of us who were part of the Adelphia changeover are just sitting here, reading all this, shaking our heads, and thinking, "it'll be so nice when my grandkids can enjoy this, because it sure as hell isn't going to be coming to my house before I die".
Lets all hope that with Comcast 3.0 comes Customer Service 3.0. Cause 1.0 and 2.0 SUCKED.
Did he announce that they were going to get their customers a DVR that can handle fast forwarding or rewinding without locking up and then deleting everything on the drive? Cause that would just be super.
You Americans have no idea how good you have it. Even if "1000 HD on-demand choices" counts individual episodes of television series, that's still far better than we could ever hope for in Canada.
Open Standard? Well, unless I am able to use these services regardless of operating system (GNU/Linux, etc.), I will not consider it Open. Something tells me, CableLabs and Comcast aren't going to really be "open." We shall see though. They are welcome to prove me wrong.
Ok, I'm far from a cable fan, using Dish Network myself, but it sure seems like you put a reporter who hates cable on a Comcast assignment. Perhaps that wasn't the best move. This is one of the most negative reports I've ever read. I would figure the person reporting this would at least tout the information as interesting, instead of deriding it all the way down. Perhaps they really are a cable fan, and just are super disappointed in what is being presented. I donno, but I doubt it.
Again, not defending cable by any means, but man you guys chose the wrong person to report on this. Unless of course the entire Engadget staff at CES hates cable...
if your up to date you'll know about their packet shaping. comcast isnt exactly popular with technology enthusiasts...
1000 HD choices at 3-5 minutes each.
There is almost nothing good on HD ON DEMAND, most of the new choices are 3 - 5 minutes.
I gues by breaking up longer episodes into micro-episodes they can claim more "choice", but how stupid do they think their customers are?
I do love my Comcast though, when they are treating me like scum.
1000 HD Choices? That's good because right now they don't have any. I've downloaded videos that have less compression artifacts than any of Comcast's HD channels. I'd switch to satellite in a second if I could get OTA channels where I live. Don't even get me started on Comcast's customer service.
It is great to see how many comcast haters there are out there. Their customer service sucks, choice would be ala' cart TV not 1000 Sh**y channels for too much money. Even engadget was down on them, now I know i am not alone.
So, how many of the poeple here complaining about Comcast are actually Comcast customers? Why are you still Comcast customers? (hint: because for all the things that they do wrong, they still do a lot of things right too ...) I view this announcement with a heavy degree of skeptisicm, but in my area (Minneapolis) Comcast is the fastest broadbast option by a wide margin, plus they don't make me sign up for MSN like Qwest does. Digital phone is actually working very well, and is competitively priced, and they just added about 15 new HD . I just checked out fancast.com, and there are some good shows up on there for free. On demand has been great for finding programs for my kids to watch. It is probably the single feature that kept me from switching to satellite over the whole BTN thing. On the downside, the DVR really does suck monkey poo, and if I don't get the Big Ten Network before next football season I will scream at them like a banshee. Oh, and no IMAP support on the email server...hello...21st century calling comcast...
Will they just screw the DIOCSIS for the lower end and let the higher end customers bump it up to fiber!
I LOVE COMCAST. They've help make my dish bill so low. Everytime someone comes over and see's our selection of HD compared to their pathetic selection, not to mention a great DVR, good hardware and even better software, they are practically begging to know more. I just keep whipping out my "refer a friend" coupons from dish and getting my extra $5/month discount per signup. I'm saving $25/month for being smart enough to not use Comcast.
COMCAST is a rip off....I pay over a $100 dollars a month for cable and broadband. What I get is 95% commercials unless I pay even extra for content. Who in the world allows these f#$%^&& to rip us off just like that. I partially blame us for being so stupid for allowing this to happen...the same as the war, apathy and money are our Gods...but they have a monopoly pretty much. Someday, when the quality improves, I will turn the TV off and go youtube all the way... Let's not mention how they raise the volume of the commercials... I hate it!!!!!!!!!!
Does Comcast go out on your roof to fix your dish when there is a storm, too? Satellite blows, and Fios is not available everywhere. Comcast is great here in Philly, the cust service sucks but I never have reception or speed probs. I get broadband, dig phone, and HD service w/ on demand, DVR, 100 reg chnls, 100 dig chnls, 80 hd channels for $130/mo. And this is outside of the 4th biggest city in the US, so I know it's cheaper in the middle of nowhere.