question about higher channels (100+)

[hairlesshobo]

At what point do the channels change from analog to digital? Are all digital channels considered clear QAM or does clear QAM only apply to high def stuff? I am kinda confused on all of this. I have a AVerMedia dual tuner cable/ATSC tuner that has clear QAM, however I know that BTV does not support it yet. Should I not expect to get over channel 100 until then? Also, I've heard about using IR blasters with cable boxes. How well does this work and how expensive is it to setup? If these are common/stupid question then I am sorry.

[queonda]

clear qam you can get HD but also SD. clear qam is unencrypted QAM.

Analog tuners only go from 2-1xx (xx i forget the number 21?). YOu need to hook up the cable box to get what the cable box offers.

BTV supports some IR blasters. Some users use to change channels on cable boxes. Sometimes you can control the cable box if the serial port is enabled.

[Ninety-9 SE-L]

I've got a related question. I don't quite understand how QAM is to deal with. I might consider a QAM tuner if snapstream can come up with more supported tuners (PCI).

First off, given the 'average' cable company, say Brighthouse, how many QAM stations would one expect to come with a basic cable subscription? Once again, on average, from someone on here that utilizes QAM.

Is the HD signal simulcast on the same frequency or how do you tune between the SD and HD versions of the same show? For example, let's say NBC is channel 4 where I live and I want to record both Conan and Leno. Now let's say I want to record Leno in HD and I'm running out of room, so I decide to record Conan in SD. Are both formats on the same channel or do I have to tune to a different channel to see HD-NBC, say channel 94. Assuming they're both sent on the same frequency, I assume the tuner is capable of switching from HD to SD and back depending on my needs...

[kandlg]

The first question is very cable co dependent. Many only carry the stations that broadcast OTA locally like ABC, NBC, FOX, CBS. Some will carry QAM, but not in high definition. The best way to tell would be to find a friend with an HDTV and see how many channels they can pick up over the cable without a cable box or cable card. I get the major networks in HD, but nothing else. For a while they had TNT, but they dropped it from clear QAM.

On the second - not sure how it works for everyone, but the digitals show up on a separate channel listing and the analogs are in my old lineup. In BTV, all the SDs are lower numbers (0-99) and the HDs are 1100+. So yes, you do have to change to a separate channel to select SD. To record it in SD instead of HD, I would have to cancel the HD one and add the SD recording. With the option to record on any available channel, you may be able to cancel the HD version and it might pick up the SD one by default.