TV Notes

Some specific to Los Altos Hills Setup

Background

Before Digital: Old VHF/FM/UHF antenna used to tune analog broadcasts. Analog tuners in TiVo and Mitsubishi VCR used. TiVo understands analog broadcast programming and channel lineup in our area.

After Digital: New UHF antenna used to tune digital broadcasts. Channel Master digital tuner used. TiVo thinks we have AT&T cable channels and associated programming for our area. TiVo thinks the Channel Master digital tuner is to be used for tuning AT&T cable channels.

Analog programs are broadcast one to a channel, whereas there may be 1,2,3,4, or 5 digital programs broadcast on one digital channel. Analog channel numbers are whole numbers, like 2, 4, 5, ..., and digital channel numbers have dashes in them, like 2-1, 2-2, ... Until February 17, 2009 the same program broadcast on analog channel X is usually broadcast on digital channel X-1, for example: program on analog channel 2 is also broadcast digitally on channel 2-1.

After February 17, 2009 analog broadcasting will discontinue and the waves that used to carry analog channels 2 through 6 will be reallocated for other uses. The waves that used to carry analog channels 7-13 will be free for digital television but most of the present digital channels will stay put, channel 7 being the exception which will drop back to its old analog frequency for its digital broadcasting.

Setup (as of 2008-03-17)

Channel Master UHF antenna on roof is connected directly to Channel-Master digital tuner, which is also known as a digital-to-analog converter. TiVo is tuned internally to analog channel 3, and Channel-Master digital tuner outputs digital broadcasts on analog channel 3, after converting them to analog format. TiVo is able to issue change-channel commands to Channel-Master digital tuner via infrared cable positioned in front of the Channel-Master infrared remote control sensor. In order for this to work, I told TiVo the Channel Master box was a Pioneer Cable box, since TiVo did not (still does not??) support Digital Converter boxes (urgh...) and Channel Master uses same IR codes as Pioneer for channel setting.

Other Notes

www.tivo.com has program info for AT&T cable in this area (after you log in). www.titantv.com has over-the-air digital broadcast program info for this area. TiVo can only tune-to/record channels/programs it thinks you have (see www.tivo.com or the Guide on TiVo itself), whereas Channel-Master can tune to any digital broadcasts in this area (see www.titantv.com). TiVo "tunes" to channels by outputing infrared "bleeps" to the Channel-Master. TiVo will associate program-info with a recording based on what it thinks its tuned to (what it tried to tune to), actual show recorded will be whatever Channel-Master is actually tuned to.

 

Channel Mapping of Selected Channels

Please submit additions/corrections to Rob Cole.

Analog/TiVo/AT&T Cable Channel	Digital/Channel-Master Channel	Channel Name	Comments
2	2-1	KTVU/FOX
	2-2	KTVU/LATV
3	11-1	KNTV/NBC	TiVo will allow scheduling on this channel, but cannot tune to it. ***To record KNTV/NBC programs, schedule Channel 3 recording then tune manually to channel 11-1 using Channel-Master before program starts. This way, program info will be correct, even though channel number will not be correct.
4	4-1	KRON/MNT-SD
	4-2	KRON/MNT-HD	Same programming as KRON/MNT-SD, but in high-def. Video quality is better on high-def TV, audio quality is better on any TV.
5	5-1	KPIX/CBS
6	None		We can't tune to this channel because we don't get it. There are some other channels in this "boat", for example 8 & 10, but they are not on this list.
7	7-1	KGO/ABC
	7-2	KGO/ABC	Sometimes same program as 7-1, sometimes different program.
9	9-1	KQED/PBS	Usually same programming on analog and digital, but not always.
	9-2
	9-3
	11-1		(See analog channel 3 above)
	11-2	KNTV/NBC	Weather.
20	20-1	KBWB/IND
36	36-1	KICU/IND	TiVo will not allow programming or tuning to this channel because it thinks we don't get it. ***To record programs on this channel, schedule timed recording on channel 109 then tune manually to channel 36-1 using Channel-Master before program starts.
43	43-1	KCSM/PBS
	43-2	KCSM/PBS
	43-3	KCSM/PBS	JazzTV
44	45-1	KBCW/CW	TiVo will allow scheduling on this channel, but cannot tune to it. ***To record programs on this channel, schedule Channel 44 recording then tune manually to channel 45-1 using Channel-Master before program starts.
54	54-1	KETH
65	65-1	KKPX/ION
	65-3
109	None	Dunno - Some AT&T cable channel that we don't get.	TiVo will allow attempts to tune to and/or record this channel, but Channel-Master can't tune to it because we don't get it. You can tune TiVo to channel 109 to assure TiVo prompts to change channels when its time for a recording to start, or before; then you can change channels with the Channel-Master with less risk that TiVo will record the wrong channel. Also, you can tune TiVo to channel 109 to record programs on channel 36-1; the program info will be wrong no matter what you do since TiVo doesn't think we get 36, but at least the channel number serves as a hint that the recorded show is not what it says it is because we tuned manually to a different channel before recording.

*** You can also just hit the TiVo record button, but its still not a bad idea to tune TiVo to the "best-fit" channel before-hand, so programming info is correct or at least obviously incorrect.

The End