Manually adding Clear QAM channels in 7MC.

[TastesLikeChicken]

For the most part 7MC had been great. It auto-detected nearly every every Clear QAM and analog channel chanel available from my cable provider. However, there was one glaring omission on my system. It would not detect NBC as unencrypted Clear QAM in HD even though that channel existed.

Trying to manually add the channel in 7MC was futile because the channel was 104.2608 and the MC interface limits you to a three digit sub-channel, which is a ridiculous oversight by the MS 7MC software engineers because many subchannels are 4 or even 5 digits. I've been searching for workarounds for weeks. Today I ran across a piece of donate-ware called Guide Tool. While it has many other functions that are nice for controlling guide options in 7MC, it has one particular function that permits you to manually add Clear QAM channels that have 4- and 5-digit subchannels. Finally, I now have NBC in glorious HD in MCE.

For the 2 or 3 others that might be having this same issue, here is the link to Guide Tool:

http://1geek1tool.com/guidetool

 

[Modelworks]

It isn't an oversight. It is your cable system not adhering to the official standards of the ATSC. The frequency they are using for that channel is considered out of band and most software will not work with it without changes.

 

[TastesLikeChicken]

Interesting. I did some reading up on it and apparently cable operators can get away with not adhering to ATSC standards because they use QAM. While QAM kind of conforms to the ATCS standard, there is no standard that officially regulates QAM so the cable folks (and Verizon FIOS) can basically do whatever the hell they please.

Maybe the biggest shocker is Microsoft adhering to a standard in their software? I got a laugh out of that.

 

[Modelworks]

Interesting. I did some reading up on it and apparently cable operators can get away with not adhering to ATSC standards because they use QAM. While QAM kind of conforms to the ATCS standard, there is no standard that officially regulates QAM so the cable folks (and Verizon FIOS) can basically do whatever the hell they please.

Maybe the biggest shocker is Microsoft adhering to a standard in their software? I got a laugh out of that.

Cable gets by because they they told the ATSC that they would be using their own boxes so there was no need to adhere. The topic of people using their own tuners not got much attention. I guess because cable expects everyone to pay rental fees for boxes.

 

[cg-realms]

How did you get Guide Tool to add the four-digit QAM subchannel? When I try adding a channel, it only lets me list whole numbers.

This problem has been bugging me for a long time, so any tips you can provide would be greatly appreciated!

 

[TastesLikeChicken]

How did you get Guide Tool to add the four-digit QAM subchannel? When I try adding a channel, it only lets me list whole numbers.

This problem has been bugging me for a long time, so any tips you can provide would be greatly appreciated!

I had to play with it at first to figure it out because it's not real intuitive the way they have it set up.

Click Tuners, select a QAM tuner, then click Add Channel (which you probably already know). In the dialog box enter the station call sign (Wxxx). In Number:, enter the channel and subchannel; for example 102.2604. For ATSC/QAM Parameters - Physical Channel just add the primary channel number, though it really doesn't seem to make a difference what you put in there. Click OK. Go into the Guide and you should see the channel listed.

Note that if you have dual-QAM tuners you need to set up the same channel for each tuner.

 

[wirednuts]

this is a good thread. i didnt even know there were 4 and 5 digit subchannels. i wonder if comcast has been hiding some on me.. although i already get about 20 free channels which includes all the possible local channels.

 

[cg-realms]

Thanks for the info and the quick response! Unfortunately, it didn't work for me. The channel shows up in WMC, but there's no picture -- even though the same channel works fine in the TV tuner's proprietary program.

 

[TastesLikeChicken]

It may have to do with the QAM modulation type. I'm not sure but I think Guide Tool can only add QAM256 channels, not QAM64, so if the channel uses QAM64 you're likely out of luck because there's no way to edit the modulation type afaik.

 

[Emulex]

i thought you mapped up to 72 channels in the hdhomerun software to standard digital mappings and that was that. i get alot more than the auto mapper