Weird digital/HD channel numbers

 

New member
Username: Brl1986

Post Number: 3
Registered: Sep-06
I have a sony KD-30XS955 tv. The digital/hd channels I am receiving are coming in through odd channel numbers, such as channel 110.117. I looked through my TV user manual, but could not find anything about this. Is there any way to change these channel numbers to normal channel numbers. Please help! Thanks
 

Silver Member
Username: Cableguy

Deep in the ... U.S.

Post Number: 839
Registered: Mar-05
Brandon if you would do a little research you would find that any digital or HD channel being broadcast in the clear will show as a decimal number. This is normal operation for your digital tuning TV and should be left as it is.
 

New member
Username: Tech_junkie

Post Number: 1
Registered: Jan-07
I subscribe to Charter basic analog service and I just purchased a Sony KDS-55A2000 TV. During the auto-tuning, I got the same results. I wound up with 78 digital channels; 40+ music channels, a few 1080 and 720 HD channels, and about a dozen or so movie channels that seem to be On-Demand. In addition to VOD, I noticed that the programming on some channels switch from one progam to another.

Can anyone explain in more technical detail how all of this works? Or, point me to a web site where I could read up on this?

I just wish there was some way to figure out a schedule.......
 

Bronze Member
Username: Bobbythebeast

Post Number: 37
Registered: Mar-06
Tech Junkie,
Your cable company is not properly encrypting some of it's digital channels. I was with Adelphia before they were taken over by Time Warner Cable, and they did the same thing. They failed to encrypt the On-Demand movies that people ordered, and consequently when someone ordered one it could be seen by anyone with a QAM tuner. You could even see when they fast-forwarded or rewound, etc. and you had no control over it. When TWC took over they did some house cleaning, which will eventually happen at your cable company, especially if the "Adult Only" movies are going out to everyone like they were here. It only took a few complaints and now all of the VODs are encrypted. As more and more people get TVs with QAM tuners this will go away. Now your local HD channels are a different story. Chances are that your local stations have negotiated "retransmission agreements" with your cable company, which likely require your cable company to carry the local channels' digital transmissions in addition to the analog. TWC in Cincinnati carries all of the local SD and HD stations in-the-clear over their basic cable service. They carry them on those high odd frequencies as well, but they also duplicate the transmission on lower priority channels (ie. our CBS affiliate is channel 12 on the analog dial, and the digital transmission is carried on 114.23 but also on 12.1.
 

New member
Username: Tech_junkie

Post Number: 3
Registered: Jan-07
Thanks.

By the way, I just lost one of the HD local channels yesterday. There was a banner on that particular channel that stated "Charter Communications could no longer offer this channel...."

I guess I will just wait until the majority of the channels are encrypted or pulled before I break down and buy a dish.....

I might get a pair of rabbit ears and try my luck on the local channels.
 

Bronze Member
Username: Bobbythebeast

Post Number: 38
Registered: Mar-06
Chances are that you only lost that one channel because your cable company and that local station couldn't come to an agreement. So it's probably not encrypted, but rather dropped from their line-up. It's unlikely that most or all of your local stations would follow suit.
 

New member
Username: Waifer

Post Number: 4
Registered: Aug-06
I receive my local hi def channels via the Qam tuner in my Vizio television. All the channels have the channel number listed as "0" on the screen, therefore I cannot tell what channel is being shown.. Does anyone else have this problem?
Any suggestion on how to correct this?

I might add that I have another television with a Qam tuner and all the channels have a specific number on that set.

Cablevision analog service for both sets.
THANK YOU.
 

New member
Username: Tech_junkie

Post Number: 7
Registered: Jan-07
Have you tried Vizio's web site? Also, anything in the television's setup?
 

New member
Username: Waifer

Post Number: 5
Registered: Aug-06
Thank you, TECH JUNKIE.
Yes to both. The Vizio website doesn't offer an answer for me. I have emailed them several times to no avail. Tech support is not responsive.
There doesn't seem to be anything in the "set up" menu that addresses this problem.
I have tried to scan for the channels several times and it is always the same. I will, however, try that again. Perhaps it will correct itself.
 

New member
Username: Stubborn

Post Number: 2
Registered: Jan-07
I check Robert Hay:In Ventura local SD and HD channels are there. For instance KNBC SD is 80.18,HD 93.502. However I cannot find Discovery,Hallmark,the Military Channel, ....
all on the Variety Digital Tier. Are these
encrypted? so I need the cablebox in addition
to my digital cable + 1 Variety Tier subscription? Is TW forcing the use of their cablebox to make sense of digital TV? I can see encrypting HBO, premium channels but NOT National Geographic, Discovery......why are these
channels not carried as clear DT channels?
 

New member
Username: Tech_junkie

Post Number: 8
Registered: Jan-07
I have Charter cable and not been able to determine the logic behind channel encryption.

For now, I suppose that we just have to enjoy whatever we can get for the price (free).
 

Bronze Member
Username: Bobbythebeast

Post Number: 39
Registered: Mar-06
Almost every channel above the basic and standard (analog) tiers (usually above channel 99) will be encrypted. Your local digital channels (both HD and SD) may be the only exception. You may get a few random digital tier channels that aren't encrypted, but most will be, simply because most cable companies charge extra for digital cable packages. They're not going to let basic/standard cable users get digital cable for free. In a few years, when analog goes away entirely (it may be many years for cable stations), encryption of non-premium channels will probably go away too, because everyone who still has cable will have digital cable.
 

Bronze Member
Username: Bobbythebeast

Post Number: 40
Registered: Mar-06
...to continue, so yes, to get those digital tier channels like Hallmark, Military Channel, etc., you will have to get the cable box, or a cable card. Since you have a TV with a QAM tuner you can get the cable card from the cable company instead of the cable box. I've heard that some cable companies charge less for the cable card, and some charge the same or more. Most cable companies don't want you to use the card. I think they have a surplus of cable boxes, and don't want to be stuck with them.
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