S3: Unable to watch channel x.x (Santa Cruz, CA: Comcast)

[b55er]

Hi.

The cable installer installed 2 CableCards into my new TiVo S3 yesterday. All the channels work as expected BUT I am unable to receive any of the x.x channels. For example, on my Sony KDL-40XBR2 TV I receive channel 7.1 (KGO-HD, abc affiliate). The TiVo states "Channel not available".

Is this a limitation with the TiVo's tuners? QAM issue?

S3 is 8.0.1c. I have Comcast cable only, no antenna.

Comcast is clueless. They reset both cards, no effect.


Any thoughts?

[hiker]

The x.x designation is for OTA ATSC channels and for QAM without cablecard. The digital and analog channels are on the same numbers as a STB that is provided by your cable provider. For example, KGO-HD is on channel 707 in the bay area.

[b55er]

In Santa Cruz, CA channel 707 is not in the line up.

Is there anyway I can get KGO-HD? Why would my Sony XBR2 TV receive 7.1 over cable and not the TiVO?

Thanks in advance.

-SD

[hiker]

If Comcast CSR can't tell you on the phone, go to Comcast.com and check on your lineup for channel numbers. You could also go to your local Comcast office and get a printed list. I'm slightly surprised the installer didn't give you the lineup. The S3 guide should also show you the channels.

[b55er]

The installer gave me the lineup card. 707 is not on the list. Nor is it on the Comcast.com's lineup for 95060. The S3 says "channel not available" when on 707.

So while my TV gets 7.1 KGO-HD via cable, I seem to be unable to receive KGO-HD on the S3.

Is it that the S3 can not receive QAM over cable if CableCards are installed?

I also tried going though guided setup again and selected ant & cable. Thinking that I could put my cable line into the antenna jack on the S3 to and tune to 7.1. No dice.

Does that mean if I want to watch 7.1 that I can not use my TiVO? I also get the KGO DT channels on my TV as well; 7.2, 7.3

Thanks again.

[hiker]

You might find some info over at AVS here (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=210692). And you have no antenna for OTA?

[b55er]

You might find some info over at AVS here (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=210692). And you have no antenna for OTA?


No OTA antenna. Just Comcast cable.

TIA.

[hiker]

Maybe your cable carries ATSC signals? When you tried the cable into the antenna connection did you do a scan on the S3? If that finds channels then you would have to use a splitter and connect to cable and antenna input on the S3.

[b55er]

Maybe your cable carries ATSC signals? When you tried the cable into the antenna connection did you do a scan on the S3? If that finds channels then you would have to use a splitter and connect to cable and antenna input on the S3.


That's what I thought. But when I tried that (going though guided setup for Ant & Cable), nothing showed up for 7.1.

I'll try again and report back.

Thanks for your help!

-SD

[hiker]

The only other thing I can think of is that the Sony TV has a builtin antenna and is picking up 7.1 OTA. Do you have an indoor antenna to try on the S3?

[hiker]

Someone replied to your other thread in the Help Center and says that 7.1 (and others) are on Santa Cruz cable system but the STB and cablecard won't map. Maybe rerun guided setup and tell the S3 that you have a zip code that is considered by Comcast to be in the SF area.

[jmemmott]

Someone replied to your other thread in the Help Center and says that 7.1 (and others) are on Santa Cruz cable system but the STB and cablecard won't map. Maybe rerun guided setup and tell the S3 that you have a zip code that is considered by Comcast to be in the SF area.

I don't think that will do any good. As I noted in the other thread that we are not in the "Bay Area" and that causes Comcast, Dish and many others some problems if they want to carry the "local" channels signals in our area. Our "local" signals come out of Monterey. When Comcast remaps KGO to STB channel 7, it is only the analog signal that is remapped into the STB channels. Although the full ATSC signal is present, this means that Comcast is only redistributing the analog channel. If you have a QAM tuner, you can pick out the rest of the signal. Since the STB and cable cards rely on the cable mappings not the presence of the signal, they wil never see it. There are other channels besides 7 that work this way. In some cases (e.g. KQED - 9 ), Comcast has agreements and remaps them to several different numbers 9, 189, 190,... If Comcast doesn't remap them, only the QAM tuners can find them.

[Roderigo]

This really annoys me about the Santa Cruz headend... The RF is on the cable, but you can't view it with a STB or Cablecard device. If you pull the Cablecard and do a channel scan, you'll get 7-1, just like your TV. Likewise, if you put a cablecard into your TV, it wouldn't show the channel. The Cablecard spec specifically prohibits using any information obtained via a channel scan when a Cablecard is inserted. This also means that lying to Guided Setup won't help. The only way you can tune to a cable channel (with cablecards) is if the cablecard tells the S3 the channel exists.

You can also get KNTV without cablecards (though, last time I pulled my cards and did a scan, it was at one of the funky numbers).

My guess is Comcast added KGODT when the Superbowl was on there (I saw an old avsforum post about this). Instead of completely removing all the equipment to get the channel, they just took it out of the lineup. There's probably some Comcast engineer that wants to watch it, so he left it on :-).

And, just a clarification on concepts: QAM is the modulation method for digital cable channels. With a cablecard, you're still receiving QAM. People use Clear QAM to describe digital cable channels that are unencrypted (in the clear). The key thing here is "CLEAR" not the "QAM"

[b55er]

That's what I thought. But when I tried that (going though guided setup for Ant & Cable), nothing showed up for 7.1.

I'll try again and report back.

Thanks for your help!

-SD

No dice..

I split the Comcast cable and now have inputs going to CABLE and ANTENNA.

I re-ran Guided Setup and specified Antenna & Cable.

I then ran Channel Scan, and it came up with 12 channels.

Now, when I enter 7.1 (KGO-HD abc), I do get the correct guide/program data, but no video. On screen: "Searching for signal on: Antenna In". Black screen, no audio or video. Same thing occurs for 7.2, 7.3, 7.4. The S3 displays "KGODT 7-1 ANT"

I receive from the antenna input non decimal channels.

My Sony KDL-40XBR2 television receives 7.1 just fine.

Thanks for your assistance and input.

-SD