VENTING: TWC and QAM

[ydekmekji]

Today, a few of my shows didn't record because TWC rearranged all the QAM codes. NPVR is a great software that will adapt, but I'm human and am frustrated. That's an extra hour of reconfiguration... and, some of my beloved channels got moved to frequencies that don't come in as strong [espn]

Yes, the cable companies exist to make our lives more miserable!

[pcostanza]

I think cable companies make it hard because they'd rather you not use QAM devices and instead, rent their $10-$15 boxes instead. So, they do these things often enough to tick us off. I don't expect things to do anything but get worse.

[obiwan]

Time for a plug-in that auto scans for QAM changes

[smajor]

At least you have the option. Where I am, we have NO CHOICE but to "rent" TWCs cable boxes.

[sub]

Time for a plug-in that auto scans for QAM changes

On many QAM cable network that would not be possible, with no identifiers in the stream saying which channel is which, and when the cable company moves channels its often impossible to know what changes have happened.

If anyone wonders how the cable boxes manage it, they're able to do it because they have a special 'out of band' tuner to receiver proprietary channel maps, EPG etc, from a special frequency. PC tuner cards have no visibility of that data.

[soccerdad]

... and, some of my beloved channels got moved to frequencies that don't come in as strong [espn]

At least you have clear ESPN, we only have the big 4 clear hear, and you can get them ota for free. It is getting close to where Playon, Hulu, Netflix, etc will be the combination to get what ever you want. Then we will just have to get the internet access, which if it goes the way TWC wants, you will pay per byte used. So instead of having a $140 cable and internet bill, you will have a $150 internet bill.

Progress....

[wtg]

Time for a plug-in that auto scans for QAM changes

My cable company was rearranging the QAM channels so much, I created a script that runs the HDHomeRun's command-line channel scanner once day and diff's it with the prior day's output. If it finds a change, it emails me. About the time I did that, the cable company finally started leaving things alone.

[ydekmekji]

My cable company was rearranging the QAM channels so much, I created a script that runs the HDHomeRun's command-line channel scanner once day and diff's it with the prior day's output. If it finds a change, it emails me. About the time I did that, the cable company finally started leaving things alone.

you gonna share that script with the rest of us?

[wtg]

I was afraid you'd ask me that I need to clean it up some but I'll try to do that soon. The wife just left town for a couple days so I should have some free time tonight.

[dvrguy]

I'd be interested in your script as well!