don't know what to tell you. all three tvs without boxes pick up the cable channels just fine. one of them is even a crappy emerson that i bought 3 years ago.. prior to the digital changeover, they commercials even said that if you already have comcast you don't need a converter box.
It's just Comcast's way to get you to pay for those channels... you'll need the box. bolo (a.k.a. macalu), do you have Comcast "digital", which needs a box to watch HD, or do you have Comcast "regular" vanilla, which doesn't need a box? Maybe that's the difference between yours and his?
Digital Starter 04/29 - 05/28 Includes: Digital Cable Box, Standard Service, Music Choice, On Screen Program Guide, and Channel 1 On Demand HDTV Service Fee 04/29 - 05/28 that's what my bill says. i've only got one HD box.
The first time i did channel search on my Dynex TV I couldn't get all of the channels either. I have Comcast too. I just plugged in the coax cable into my tv directly from the wall. If you didn't do this already, change the channel setup in the menu from "air" to "cable". When I changed it the Cable I started getting all the basic channels... espn,cnn, etc. I don't have a comcast box.
What egghead said may be the solution. When I had comcast I didn't need a box either to pick up those channel you mentioned.
