No Cable Card...But HD TV?

[hookbill]

I ran a channel scan on my S3 tonight and I see it picks up over 350 new channels. It asked me if I wanted to accept and I said yes.

So I start looking at these wierd channels and I start to recognize some. HD channels. No antenna, no cable card. I've got ABC, CBS, and NBC (so far). I haven't found FOX yet.

Now I can't record on these channels but this is more then I expected!

Whooo Hoooo!

[sjcbulldog]

You can record using manual time/channel recording. I did this while I waited for my appt. from comcast. I looked at the shows I wanted each night and did a manual record. It was a pain, but it was OK for the ten days between when I got my S3 and when comcast showed. It allowed my to watch all of my favorite shows in HD without the risks I have with OTA reception.

Sjcbulldog

[greenstork]

I thought all HD was digital and digital was encrypted, what am I missing here?

[HomieG]

I thought all HD was digital and digital was encrypted, what am I missing here?

Nope. Not all digital is encrypted. Especially not the locals.

[hookbill]

You can record using manual time/channel recording. I did this while I waited for my appt. from comcast. I looked at the shows I wanted each night and did a manual record. It was a pain, but it was OK for the ten days between when I got my S3 and when comcast showed. It allowed my to watch all of my favorite shows in HD without the risks I have with OTA reception.

Sjcbulldog

Thanks, I'll check that out. And football this Sunday in HD! (If I can find FOX).

[John949]

Now I can't record on these channels but this is more then I expected!

Yes you can record.

Go to channel setup and press select on the channels that correspond to the HD network broadcasts. If you do this then will you will able to see those channels in the list when you try to do a manual recording.

[greenstork]

Nope. Not all digital is encrypted. Especially not the locals.

Any difference in PQ between the OTA locals and cable HD locals?

I was planning to use an HD antenna to plugin my OTA signal, in addition to my two CableCARDs. I understood there to be advantages with this setup. Could someone enlighten me as to the pros and cons of viewing the network channels OTA vs cable?

[MScottC]

Do what I did, which with my panasonic set was very easy. Put your cable directly into your TV; Have your TV do a channel scan. Mine showed me all the QAM channels, and from there it was very easy to scroll thru them and figure out the QAM assignments. Those can then be entered in to view and manually record on your TiVo S3.

Now however, I'm cheating <grin>... using 2 cablecards, which came from comcast. $9.95 truck roll, no charge for the cards, no additional outlet fees, I'm paying for just Basic Preferred, which gives me HD on all the OTA channels, and digital simulcast on everything that is also available without a cablebox (about 70 channels). When I see how this is all reflected on my cable bill, I'll decide where I go regarding the digital tiers.

[HomieG]

Any difference in PQ between the OTA locals and cable HD locals?

I was planning to use an HD antenna to plugin my OTA signal, in addition to my two CableCARDs. I understood there to be advantages with this setup. Could someone enlighten me as to the pros and cons of viewing the network channels OTA vs cable?

We have both, and to be quite frank, to us the picture quality is more than acceptable both OTA and with Cable. I could make a case for the OTA being better, and they are, but it isn't even worth the energy to select ANT instead of Cable on my remote.

[greenstork]

Do what I did, which with my panasonic set was very easy. Put your cable directly into your TV; Have your TV do a channel scan. Mine showed me all the QAM channels, and from there it was very easy to scroll thru them and figure out the QAM assignments. Those can then be entered in to view and manually record on your TiVo S3.

Now however, I'm cheating <grin>... using 2 cablecards, which came from comcast. $9.95 truck roll, no charge for the cards, no additional outlet fees, I'm paying for just Basic Preferred, which gives me HD on all the OTA channels, and digital simulcast on everything that is also available without a cablebox (about 70 channels). When I see how this is all reflected on my cable bill, I'll decide where I go regarding the digital tiers.

I'll definitely check that out when my cable gets hooked up later this week, thanks, but I'm not sure you answered any of my questions.

[greenstork]

We have both, and to be quite frank, to us the picture quality is more than acceptable both OTA and with Cable. I could make a case for the OTA being better, and they are, but it isn't even worth the energy to select ANT instead of Cable on my remote.

So it doesn't sound like there's any extra recording functionality. I can still only record 2 tuners at the same time and watch a previously recorded program. I can't record two CableCARD channels at the same time and watch a 3rd OTA tuner, correct?

[HomieG]

So it doesn't sound like there's any extra recording functionality. I can still only record 2 tuners at the same time and watch a previously recorded program. I can't record two CableCARD channels at the same time and watch a 3rd OTA tuner, correct?

I don't have an S3, but I don't think it has that capability. Other's will correct me, I'm sure, if that's wrong.

However, if your TV has an ATSC/DTV HD tuner, then you should split the OTA to the S3 and the TV. That way you could record two shows on the S3 from cable, and use the TV's tuner to watch OTA.

[bkdtv]

I was planning to use an HD antenna to plugin my OTA signal, in addition to my two CableCARDs. I understood there to be advantages with this setup. Could someone enlighten me as to the pros and cons of viewing the network channels over OTA vs cable?
Some cable providers use increased levels of compression to fit more high-def channels on their systems. Charter, TWC, and a few others do this. The amount of compression may vary depending on how bandwidth-constrained your particular cable system is, and the differences may not be noticeable on all content or at all times.

These cable providers re-compress high-def channels with dynamic bandwidth allocation. An ATSC OTA feed can consume up to 19.4Mbps, but film-sourced content (like sitcoms) rarely requires more than 12-14Mbps, so what some of these cable providers do is put 3-4 HDTV channels on every ~38Mbps channel, using equipment that dynamically allocates bandwidth between them as needed. Degradation is most apparent when several of these channels are running bandwidth-intensive video content like sports at the same time (as with football on Sundays). This degradation usually takes the form of macroblocking, pixelization, reduced shadow detail, etc.

By using OTA, you get the original signal signal your cable company receives from the local broadcaster without any extra compression or degradation.

[mattack]

We have both, and to be quite frank, to us the picture quality is more than acceptable both OTA and with Cable. I could make a case for the OTA being better, and they are, but it isn't even worth the energy to select ANT instead of Cable on my remote.

Aah, so you have to manually switch between ANT and Cable on the S3 (when viewing live TV that is)? I didn't think of that.. I thought maybe it cycled through the channels (e.g. maybe showed OTA, then when you channel-upped past the end, it went to cable channels..)

[hookbill]

I also fouind TNT HD, Discovery HD, and Sports Time Ohio HD. Still haven't found FOX though.

[cmaasfamily]

I also fouind TNT HD, Discovery HD, and Sports Time Ohio HD. Still haven't found FOX though.

So are you just guessing or have you found any pattern?

I ran the channel scan and it come up with 450 channels. I haven't spent much time with it yet, but I was really hoping for a pattern - like local HD's clustered together, or somehow related to their analog channel number. I found nothing like that. Just gobs of random, unknown content.

I really just want to find the two or three that I'll actually record from before Comcast gets here with my cards (two weeks down, two weeks to go).

[Blackforge]

Aah, so you have to manually switch between ANT and Cable on the S3 (when viewing live TV that is)? I didn't think of that.. I thought maybe it cycled through the channels (e.g. maybe showed OTA, then when you channel-upped past the end, it went to cable channels..)


You don't have to switch, it puts them all in the same channel/guide list. You'll see either ant or cbl next to the channels when flipping through them.

[SueAnn]

So it doesn't sound like there's any extra recording functionality. I can still only record 2 tuners at the same time and watch a previously recorded program. I can't record two CableCARD channels at the same time and watch a 3rd OTA tuner, correct?


Only if you have the third cable card installed in the tv ... THANKS BILL & AMY for letting me know about this trick !

[hookbill]

So are you just guessing or have you found any pattern?

I ran the channel scan and it come up with 450 channels. I haven't spent much time with it yet, but I was really hoping for a pattern - like local HD's clustered together, or somehow related to their analog channel number. I found nothing like that. Just gobs of random, unknown content.

I really just want to find the two or three that I'll actually record from before Comcast gets here with my cards (two weeks down, two weeks to go).

The patterns are simple. The HD channels are .1 (like 5.1) of their OTA broadcast. And no, I'm not using OTA. Discovery, TNT, they are up there in the 700's where my HD usually is.

Accept FOX. Still can't find that. Must be encrypted.

[Necro]

It's definitely possible. When I bought my HDTV, I hooked the cable directly into the TV. It found some funky channels like 703.1 and 703.2. Those were in HD and I didn't have any HD service at all. I stayed up all night watching. :)