Will S3 work with unencrypted QAM?

[rsquared_34]

My cable company is a very small company in Pennsylvania, Wire Tele View. They say they don't offer cablecards. I have a Tivo S2 and a Mitsubishi WD-62927 DLP HDTV with a built-in DVR that can record HD channels. The HD channels are unencrypted QAM. ABC is 16-1, NBC is 64-2, PBS is 64-12, FOX is 65-3, and CBS is 65-13. The built-in DVR works fine and picks up all of the channels, but doesn't offer the nice features of the Tivo. I want to replace the Tivo S2 with a Tivo S3. Presently, on the Tivo S2 it shows programming info for these channels, but they are black because they are HD. Will I be able to get programming info and set up season passes for programs on these channels on a Tivo S3 without cablecards? If I can't, I'll have to just stay with my built-in DVR

[Mike Farrington]

If these channel numbers are published for your cable provider, then it will work. Otherwise, you will not get guide data and it will be rather useless. Go to zap2it.com and look at the available lineup. Check for the stations mentioned. If the channels aren't listed, you might have a hard time convincing TiVo to add them. You might need to get your cable company to publish the numbers in their lineup, or have them create a second lineup for their QAM channels.

In the end though, the easiest thing to do is get a $15 antenna and receive the locals OTA (over the air). Lots of people do this, it works great. Go to antennaweb.org to see how far you are from your station's transmission towers.