Beyond TV and the Digital Transition - June 12th, 2009

[myktek]

With the Digital Transition a few days away, I thought I would go ahead and start a thread for questions.

If you are choosing to stick with an analog tuner and antenna, you will have to purchase a digital converter box, a trainable IR Blaster(USB-UIRT is recommended) and a HD antenna if your current one is not compatible. Setting up a Digital Converter Box

Your other options are to go with a different TV service like cable or satellite which may require additional hardware like an IR Blaster or you can just go out and purchase a HDTV/ATSC TV tuner card. This is assuming that your antenna is capable of picking up over the air HDTV/ATSC signals.

If you have any questions, please post them here.

[vidiot1985]

Originally Posted by myktek

... Your other options are to go with a different TV service like cable or satellite which may require additional hardware like an IR Blaster or you can just go out and purchase a HDTV/ATSC TV tuner card. ...

Or something in between like an HDTV/QAM tuner card for unencrypted digital cable...

I keep hearing inklings of cable companies dropping analog and going with clear QAM for "standard cable" channels to free up bandwidth for more premium services. Maybe they've reached a crossover point with new customers due to the DTV transition that makes it worthwhile for them risk losing some revenue (or increasing costs from the free boxes they'd have to give out to some folks) from using more clear QAM vs. revenue gained from more premium services being available over the freed up bandwidth???

The more clear QAM there is, the more attractive BeyondTV is IMHO for those of us who want a better DVR than what we can get from the cable & satellite companies.

[DPR]

Our local Fox affiliate (WDKY, Lexington KY) is changing their OTA digital channel from 4 to 31 Friday night at midnight.

Will this somehow flow properly to the BTV guide?

I'm not sure what if anything I would need to do on Saturday. Perhaps just a guide update? Or would I perhaps need to go into the setup wizard and reset something?

I have an OTA only setup using 4 tuners.

[redlion4]

Guide updates are my concern as well, for OTA channels that are switching frequencies at the transition. When / how quickly will this data be pushed out?

[myktek]

our guide provider is Zap2it, the last time the supposedly digital transition happened, they were prepared for it and had all the changes, which still went through and some TV stations decided not to change yet, so they should be ready again for this round of changes again.

[RhythmDoctor]

Originally Posted by myktek

our guide provider is Zap2it, the last time the supposedly digital transition happened, they were prepared for it and had all the changes, which still went through and some TV stations decided not to change yet, so they should be ready again for this round of changes again.

Well, yes and no. In Philadelphia, the Feb. 11 channel changes were postponed, but for some reason Zap2it pushed out the new channel assignments on March 11. Since the postponement was supposed to be until June 12, I lost a bunch of recordings because the channels were remapped prematurely. I had to manually create a custom lineup to get things working. Zap2it undid their channel changes on March 19, so I was able to go back to their channel mappings. See details on this thread.

So now I have already created a custom lineup with the NEW mappings just in case Zap2it gets the timing wrong. I just need to know when to activate it.

So my question is, do these new channel mappings happen instantaneously with the digital changeover (tonight at 12:01 am), or at some other time? And if at some other time, when? After what happened last March, I am not sure I trust Zap2it to get the whole country changed over at precisely the right time.

[Darkk]

I would def wait till Saturday before re-scanning for new and changed channels.

[RhythmDoctor]

Originally Posted by Darkk

I would def wait till Saturday before re-scanning for new and changed channels.

I will wait, since analog TV is still transmitting right now. It was supposed to be turned off 6 hours ago, but someone in Philly apparently forgot to flip the switch.

As for "re-scanning," if you read the other topics on this subject, re-scanning cannot re-map the channels if Zap2it gets the assignments wrong. Setup just scans through the channels that Zap2it assigns - it cannot reassign different channels if Zap2it has the mappings wrong. You have to manually enter the assignments, because apparently re-scanning merely goes through the channels that Zap2it has assigned. See this thread on how to fix it by manually creating a custom channel lineup.

[Kamakzie]

Here in the Grand Rapids DMA the 2 channels switching frequencies aren't working. I had to do a manual rescan with no guide data. Hopefully they will fix it soon.

[billj214]

For myself in Phoenix AZ, I still have most of my channels working but 2 of them are not, Fox 10 and NBC 12. I did not recieve any Beyond TV notice that my lineup had changed so I assumed it has not yet changed. After a manual scan for guide updates there were still no changes.
So I guess we wait and see when Zap2it will send an update? Or if they did I would assume the 2 channels did not make the switch?

Just my 2 cents.


Update:
See http://www.fcc.gov/mb/engineering/maps/
Some channels are not switching until a few months later.

[koan00]

Originally Posted by vidiot1985

I keep hearing inklings of cable companies dropping analog and going with clear QAM for "standard cable" channels to free up bandwidth for more premium services. Maybe they've reached a crossover point with new customers due to the DTV transition that makes it worthwhile for them risk losing some revenue (or increasing costs from the free boxes they'd have to give out to some folks) from using more clear QAM vs. revenue gained from more premium services being available over the freed up bandwidth???

I think the users using premium services are far too few. They'd rather milk the sure thing and force everyone to use/rent a converter box. That is what RCN did in my area when the first digital transition deadline came close. I went from having 100+ clear qam (many HD) to having 3 SD clear qam.

[idontknow]

In the Chicago market, digital channel 2 and digital channel 7 have switched physical frequencies. The guide, even after a fresh download (1:30 P.M.), still maps to the old frequencies.

Michael Bui, when/how with this get refreshed?

[RhythmDoctor]

Well, Philly did the switchover, so all the analog stations are gone. I just got done re-mapping my channels manually, because Zap2It's supplied guide channels have not changed yet, and the ones they sent down three months ago had errors.

I started by having my Sony TV's tuner scan for station changes. Then I was able to use my TV's diagnostics menu to determine the new physical channels that each station is now transmitting. With a little effort, I now have all my OTA channels mapped properly using the diagnostics from my TV.

Although there we LOTS MORE frequency changes than I expected, the good news is all my stations that had unreliable reception now have been moved to frequencies that hopefully get better reception.

For those in the Philly area who are interested, here are a few of the new mappings:

3.1 stays at physical channel 26
6.x moves from physical channel 64 to 6
10.x moves from physical channel 67 to 34
12.x moves from physical 50 to 12
17.x moves from physical 54 to 17
35.x moves from physical 34 to 35

Perhaps none of you care about this, but if you're having problems, this gives you the exact mappings you need to do to fix it. Click the link I showed above for instructions on how to manually set up a custom channel lineup.

[RhythmDoctor]

Originally Posted by koan00

I think the users using premium services are far too few. They'd rather milk the sure thing and force everyone to use/rent a converter box. That is what RCN did in my area when the first digital transition deadline came close. I went from having 100+ clear qam (many HD) to having 3 SD clear qam.

The FCC requires all cable companies to transmit everything that's available OTA in the clear. If you have HD stations OTA (and everyone does now), they are required to provide the same stations via clear QAM. If they cut you down to only 3 SD stations in the clear, they are violating FCC rules. You should do some Google searches to find the regulation, and call and complain.

[koan00]

Originally Posted by RhythmDoctor

The FCC requires all cable companies to transmit everything that's available OTA in the clear. If you have HD stations OTA (and everyone does now), they are required to provide the same stations via clear QAM. If they cut you down to only 3 SD stations in the clear, they are violating FCC rules. You should do some Google searches to find the regulation, and call and complain.

Yes they do comply. They are only required to carry the stations. Not necessarily the HD versions of those stations.
Edit: And I meant 3 SD in addition to the SD broadcast stations.