"bud--" wrote in message
.. .
Paul wrote:
wrote in message
ups.com...
On Nov 14, 12:38 pm, "Paul" wrote:
I have Cablevision (New York, Westchester County) and my SOny Bravia
TV can get HDTV channels. However they seem to be in the 84.XXXX and
110.XXX ranges. I also get NON HDTV channels at the usual chanels
2,3,4 etc. up to about 74.
What confuses me is that say I want to watch House on HD. I do not tue
to channel 5 (FOX) but some other channel. In cablevision world it is
channel 705. But on my Bravia it is like 98.XXX or something. Finding
the HD TV channels is like a real challenge.
Am I missing something here, or is it always this difficult with HD
tv ....
Best, Mike.
Yes, it is that difficult when you're trying to receive "QAM" digital
cable
channels without using the cable company box. What's more infuriating
is
the cable companies move those channels around on their internal
frequencies
quite frequently, so at some time in the future you'll have to have
your
re-scan to memorize them again.

If your TV has a CableCard slot, you could get a CableCard from the
cable
company and you would see "normal" channel numbering and not have to
worry
about where the cable company moved a channel to on their system.
i.e., Fox
would always be "705", it wouldn't be 98-1 this week and change to
105-7 or
some other crazy number 6 months from now.

Check outwww.avsforum.comand look for your local New York HDTV
discussion
thread. You'll find LOTS of good info and advice there.

-- Paul
Yes, the essence of the OP's problem is that he's trying to receive a
digital cable signal without the cable box, cable card, etc. which
would have the necessary QAM tuner. Some newer TVs have a QAM
tuner built-in, but most do not.

The OP has a QAM tuner in his TV as evidenced by him saying on his Bravia
the channel is like "98.XXX or something" The problem is without a
CableCard there's no way for the TV to know what QAM frequency slot goes
with what Cablevision channel number. Another problem is most TV
manufacturers implement their QAM tuning scheme very poorly. I've seen
various TV's lock up and reboot themselves when tuned to certain QAM
channels, or not receive some QAM channels at all, or make no allowance
for directly tuning subchannels from the remote. In defense of the TV
manufacturers, they probably have a hard time making a one-size-fits-all
QAM tuner that works with the proprietary Scientific-Atlanta and Motorola
headends that most cable companies in the U.S. use.


Exactly what does a CableCard do for non-encoded (not HBO)?

The digital broadcast must include information on what channel to display.
For instance channel 5.000 is probably broadcast on UHF. Is there a source
that gives the actual broadcast channels? I haven't found much technical
information on how this all works.

The CableCard lets the TV display channel numbers just like the cable
company's cable box. Takes care of channel numbering for non-encrypted and
encrytped channels. Lets the cable company activate the various channel
"tiers" according to what you're paying for.

Now if you're talking about OTA digital TV, then the station sends out a bit
of digital info in the broadcast stream ("PSIP" data) that tells the TV to
show "WABC 5" on the display even though your TV is tuned to it's digital
cousin on say UHF channel 31. www.antennaweb.org lists all the
analog/digital cousins.

-- Paul