clear qam automap

techpro2004 · 2022-07-11, 01:43 PM

Now that prime day is almost here, I was thinking of getting a clear qam tuner. I was wondering if I will have to manually map the channels. I am on verizon fios and have an active schedules direct subscription. Thanks.

mvallevand · (This post was last modified: 2022-07-11, 01:55 PM by mvallevand.)

Have you hooked you cable up to your TV to see if you even have clear QAM available to you? If so do the channel name look "normal" using the TV's channel info display?

Martin

techpro2004 · 2022-07-11, 02:38 PM

hooked up coax to tv running scan but it is taking a while. will report back.

techpro2004 · 2022-07-11, 03:13 PM

so the channel numbers have dashes in them, but there must be some metadata in the broadcast as they all have the correct channel name. I am thinking of getting 2 of these (https://www.amazon.com/HAUPPAUGE-WinTV-q...C43&sr=8-5) Are there any issues. Thanks.

***sub*** · 2022-07-11, 05:26 PM

QAM channels usually don't include the channel numbers or names, so there is no way for automap to work. You might have got lucky, by having one of few cable companies to include this 'optional' information...so you might get lucky on the automap, assuming the channel names match their names in the guide data.

techpro2004 · 2022-07-11, 07:00 PM

Assuming I got lucky, can nextpvr read this optional information from thee above tuner? thanks.

mvallevand · (This post was last modified: 2022-07-11, 07:13 PM by mvallevand.)

With clear QAM be aware that a few things can happen, automapping should be the least of your worries. Your provider doesn't have to even give supply these channels so they can turn them off anytime. They are doing the same thing with CableCard. Also the frequencies are static so they can move them around anytime forcing you to rescan (and potentially lost recordings). One other issue is you may only get SD versions of some channels.

Martin

techpro2004 · 2022-07-11, 07:47 PM

I am just doing this for locals and I thought by law locals had to be unencrypted. also on my samsung tv 2 was cbs 4 nbc 5 fox 7 abc, this is the same as on my tivo so I think I am good and they hopefully wont switch things up too much on me. I still have the network encoders for other channels. Honestly, I am doing this as I have 2 empty pcie slots in my rig that were colossus 2 cards.

mvallevand · 2022-07-11, 08:32 PM

No, those rules changed 10 years when CableCard was introduced and now that requirement has been drroped too.

Martin

pkscout · 2022-07-11, 08:34 PM

The regulations in the US always seem to be in flux, and they usually flux in favor of the cable monopolies. What you can get with a clear QAM tuner is going to vary from provider to provider, and there are actually two things at play. The encryption of the feed and the copy protection (CCI byte) applied to the channel. Regulatory changes awhile back mean that cable companies can now encrypt all transmissions, and many of them do. The local channels must still have a CCI byte setting that allows "copy freely," so NextPVR can record those (assuming you have a QAM tuner with a cablecard). On some providers all you can get is locals that way. On others you can get most channels to which you subscribe. When I was with Spectrum/TimeWarner all channels were encrypted and only the locals were marked "copy freely." So that's all I could get with NextPVR.

On Verizon FIOS (which I have now), I don't think you can get anything without a cable card (or maybe a few SD channels), but if you get a cable card everything except premium channels (like HBO) are copy freely. So I'm able to use NextPVR with a SiliconDust HDHR2/cablecard to record any channel in my package (since I get no premiums). I'm pretty sure the same is true for Comcast.