Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="chesh" data-source="post: 496363" data-attributes="member: 88249">I'm going to throw this out there for anyone that needs it.  I found a hopefully simpler way of going through all these QAM channels for Comcast users.  First off, it'll require the Digital Transport Adapter provided for free by Comcast (the little box that they're now telling you that you need to keep on getting your lower end analog channels....ya know, after they told you that you wouldn't need any type of box for the digital transition. Ya, that one. Pic of it <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/pj83f_yjyFfcwTrGFcElwA" target="_blank">here</a>.) Anyway, a user over at the AVS Forums found that the DTA has a hidden menu that gives ya some info on the QAM lineup it's tuning.  Here's the <a href="http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showpost.php?p=12470932&postcount=131" target="_blank">link</a>.  Scroll down to Tuning Comcast Cable-QAM channels for the explanation.  Now, I don't have this box yet, but will probably pick one up tonight as they're free to existing subscribers.  The way that I see it might have to work (now mind you, this is a theory as I don't have the box yet) is you'll have to scan your lineup for QAM channels, and then use that hidden menu in the box to give you the frequencies.  Then you can find those specific frequencies in the list and just rename them to the appropriate channel name/number.  I don't believe you'll be able to hand create the channels from the info, as I don't think it gives you the networkid, stationid, transportid, and PMTid.  If that info is there too, then you should be able to hand create all the channels.  Dunno, half a dozen one way or the other.  I'll post a follow-up as soon as I get time to try it out.Edit: Well, I've done some more digging around the AVS forums and it seems that when Comcast comes through your area and does a digital transition, kiss your clearQAM goodbye.  At that point, you'll only get the couple of local broadcast stations and their HD versions (essentially, all the OTA stuff).  You need the DTA converter box in order to receive the channels, as they have put a encryption on it (although, very weak.  Supposedly only a single DES public key) and the decrypt code is held in the firmware of the DTA box. It's a simple way for Comcast to save money and prevent you from having access to the other channels.  I'm still going to pick up one of these DTA boxes tonight and check anyway, but I'm not really hoping for much.Edit2: I got the DTA box last night.  There's not enough information covered in it to actually program Mediaportal with it.  If MP did only Major/Minor and not NetworkID, StationID, PMTID, etc., we'd be ok, but as it doesn't, you still have to run the scan and watch every channel.  As for that script mentioned by Milhouse, I've found that when I try to preview channels, I almost need to preview it 3-4 times before I get a signal on some of them.  I'd think it was weak signal, but I've plugged my HVR-1600 directly to the cable coming into the house (no splits in the line, direct from the pole) and I still have this issue.  It started happening in MP 1.0.2.  So, for now, I'm stuck checking each one multiple times until it's all figured out.  Anyone know if espirit's patch for 1.1.0 has been compiled for 1.0.2?  I'd really like to try it out as now I'm going to have to go through the whole scanning process again.</blockquote>

Verification