That is, does anybody know when I’ll get picture in picture for my Comcast cable? The remote has the buttons for it, but the instruction manual says it’s for when it’s available. So, they’re contemplating the picture in picture function, but don’t seem to have it available. Does any cable provider? It seems to be the only function missing from my hi-def tv.
(I assume the term “picture in picture” is self-evident, but I’m referring to the function that shows another channel on a little box on the screen, and is perfect for flipping back and forth between two channels, as when my wife and I are watching tv.)
Is it something already available by comcast but has to be set up on your television by you? Did you ask Comcast about it? PiP has been available for a long time (I remember people having it back in the 70’s), but whether Comcast offers it in your area (or at all) is something only they can answer.
Cablevision had this when I was using their DVR. It’s really sort of de rigueur since with a cablebox, the PIP that comes with your tv is useless. Of course this assumes that most cable co’s give a shit about what their customers expect. :smack: WHAT was I thinking!
Seems to me that the feature was implemented by Motorola (who designed the cable box and the remote) but comcast decided not to use it. The box has dual tuners, so its not a technical problem. I never cared enough to look into the matter, but you might get somehere with a phone call to Comcast.
Apocalypso: The comcast remote that the OP has is most likely this one. PIP control buttons are at the bottom, but at the moment, only the “swap” button does anything (swaps the output of the two tuners.)
Either your TV has 2 tuners for 2 inputs or your receiver has 2 tuners and can send a dual picture to your TV.
I have a dual DVR which can either send signals to 2 seperate TV’s or can display a PIP (actually, it’s more of a split screen) on one.
Most likely, your remote is universal for all models of your tuner and has buttons labelled for multiple functions whether it is capable of them or not.
Doing PIP is computationally & memory-use intensive, since the box has to do 2 simultaneous decodes of HD streams. Since most STBs are already pushed to the limit, due to pressure from the cable companies to save every penny on box costs, PIP is often sacrificed in favor of prettier graphics and various revenue producing applications on the box.
Most probably your 1999 TV had dual analog tuners and each could tune analog cable without a cable box.
Today, TVs (and signals) are digital and encrypted - meaning that you must have a cable box. As noted above, it is likely that the processing power in your cable box just isn’t there to do PIP very well (your cable box is a more powerful computer than the PC you had in 1999).
A few users of rooftop antennas could take advantage of PIP if TVs had two built in tuners, but that is probably too small a market to deal with.
It was a standard feature, now it is a rare feature. For some moronic reason, it is almost impossible to find a current TV with PIP. I know this because it is vital for one of my applications - DVB satellite tuning. In our use, we have the C/Ku satellite receiver’s interface on one side, the DVB satellite receiver’s interface on the other. We’ll be watching the signal level on the DVB as we adjust the east/west position and polarization of the C/Ku on the other.
