[ncxcstud]

So, I use Windows 7 Media Center to view and record clear QAM channels from Comcast in Huntsville, AL...needless to say, Comcast likes to switch which channel these cleared channels are on...


What I want to know, is there a way to get Media Center to automatically find and get the guide data of these channels (like my Samsung TV does) or do I really have to search for each channel when it changes manually?


I know this is the 'price one pays' for using ClearQAM channels...but there has to be an easier way to do this right? Right?



BTW - I don't wish to use any other program besides Media Center, it streams great to my XBOX360 in the living room for my recorded tv shows...


Thanks in advance y'all!

 

[Zagor]

No, you can't automatically detect these changes but you can manually add the new channel (assuming you know where it moved to) and just replace the old channel with the new one.

 

[jrwalte]

A big help is the silicon dust QAM channel lineup . But I also don't know of any way to get Media Center to automatically identify the other channels (besides the primary locals) for the guide.

 

[jlchavis0844]

Every once in a while why not just rerun your channel scan in Media Center? Media center will automatically scan for detected QAM channels and you're done. Easy Pessy Lemon Sqeezey.

 

[Derek K.]

I thought 7mc periodically did channel scans in the background to fix this issue?

 

[jrwalte]



Quote:
Originally Posted by jlchavis0844 /forum/post/18124068


Every once in a while why not just rerun your channel scan in Media Center? Media center will automatically scan for detected QAM channels and you're done. Easy Pessy Lemon Sqeezey.

It's not that easy, as 7MC doesn't know what the channel is to give it guide information. You have to update that manually and tell 7MC what channel it is.

 

[jlchavis0844]



Quote:
Originally Posted by jrwalte /forum/post/18125173


It's not that easy, as 7MC doesn't know what the channel is to give it guide information. You have to update that manually and tell 7MC what channel it is.

Um, no you don't. When you setup your QAM Tuner is ask for your cable provider and then scans for QAM Channels. The guide and channel ID's are sent digitally along with the signal so Media Center knows what chennel it is, and down loads the guide from that automatically. I Have Dual QAM Tuners (2250) running on my windows 7 box and I have never had to manually enter a QAM station so it might be different, but not for me. Windows Media Center will ignore duplicate channels as some companies pass SD clones of cable channels I already get from analog. Are those the listings you are talking about?

 

[walford]

Jr..., and jl.., You are both probably correct for your individaul cable company.

The only way MC can know what quide channel corresponds to what clearQAM channel is if the cable company provides as part of a channels PSIP data the "channel name" used by the actual broacaster such as "4-1". The cable companies are not required to provide the real channel name so some of them do not. And for the ones that do not you have to manually associate a QAM channel such as 108.5 with a broadcast channel such as "4-1".

 

[Zagor]

I would say that jlchavis is in the minority. It seems a lot of providers do something that causes media center to not recognize the channels during a scan. I am in Time-Warner territory and none of my clear QAM channels are recognized by media center. They are all picked up by the scan but none are recognized. What adds to the confusion is that my TVs recognize the channels when they scan so obviously the PSIP data is present but somehow it must not be in a format that media center can recognize. For example my CBS affiliate is on clear QAM channel 110.155 and its broadcast channel is "5-1" its assigned cable (virtual) channel is 105. All my TVs when scanning QAM pick this channel as "5-1" while media center sees it as 110.155 and of course it is disabled. I have to manually enable and assign the appropriate channel name and number. I don't have that many channels that are clear QAM in my area (about a dozen or so) so manually editing is not a big deal but I could see how this would be extremely annoying if I had a lot more channels to edit.

 

[jrwalte]

I have to set it up for about 80 channels, since I'm lucky enough that Comcast Atlanta broadcasts all its basic cable over ClearQAM. As stated in my first post here, 7MC can pick up a few of the major local HD channels, such as ABC, FOX, PBS, CBS, NBC, but all the other cable channels I had to manually update.