HD channel tunes to SD

[kmp14]

I just realized that there is an hd channel for a channel that I previously thought was only in SD on Xfinity. Went into epg123 and the hd channel was already selected in my lineup, so I went into wmc and added the hd channel to my guide. When I tune to the newly added hd channel in wmc it shows the SD version of the channel. I also have an X1 Xfinity dvr and confirmed that the channel is really an hd channel. Any idea why wmc is somehow tuning the SD channel?

[Space]

Each channel in the guide is mapped to one or more physical channels (this is called "merging"). When you tune to a guide channel, it tries each of the physical channels, in order, until it gets one that has good reception. Sometimes WMC will merge channels together that it should not. I've seen this happen when channels are moved from one logical channel to another, and it leaves the old merged channels behind.

In any case, this may be what is happening to you, you might have both the SD and HD version of the channel merged in to the same logical channel (and the SD version for each of your tuners have higher priority than the HD ones, so they are the only ones you see).

You can uncheck/disable any of the merged channels by using "Edit Sources" within WMC. This thread has some info on how to do this.

If you highlight each source it will show the physical channel it is tuning on the bottom, any one that is tuning the SD version should be unchecked.

[kmp14]

Thanks! I will check to see if that's what's happening.

[kmp14]

Well, I checked and it's definitely not that. All sources show the correct channel. This is with a cable card and not OTA. Is it possible that schedules direct somehow has the information for this channel wrong?

[Space]

I don't know much about Xfinity, but it is possible for a cable company owned box to tune to different channels behind your back.

For instance, I have FiOS, and for the most part, the channels from 1-499 are SD and the ones from 500-999 are HD. To get the HD version of the SD channel you add 500 to the channel number, so the HD version of the SD channel 2 is channel 502. There is a setting in the cable box that lets you set it to "HD mode", which means when you type in "2" on your remote, it actually tunes to "502". Now, on this box, it will actually display "502" so you know, but there may be cable boxes out there that hide the fact you are actually viewing channel "502" by just displaying "2". Note that for some SD channels, there is no HD version, so in that case the cable box really does tune to the <500 channel number you enter. The cable box knows which channels have HD versions so it knows which ones to redirect to the HD channel and which ones to not.

So, when you say you tune to this channel on your Xfinity DVR, you may not actually be tuning to the same channel you are tuning in WMC.

You did not mention if you have a HDHomeRun Prime or some other cable card device, but I have the Prime and you can connect to it with a web browser and see the channel map for the CableCard (http://{ip_address}/lineup.html). In this way you can see all the channels you have available to you, and their channel numbers.
You can also look at the log (http://{ip_address}/log.html) and see every time a channel has been tuned, so you can double-check to make sure WMC is sending the correct channel number.

It's possible that the lineup from Schedules Direct does not have the correct channel number for the HD version. Looking at the CableCard channel map is a good way to see what the channel numbers are and what each channel is.

[kmp14]

Thanks for that detailed post. I have ceton tuners, not sure if they have a page for the lineup. I will check for that.

[kmp14]

I contacted schedules direct and they said that their info is correct and that the guide data has nothing to do with how Media Center tunes in a channel and told me to come back here and ask, so I am asking again. Any idea why a cable channel that is HD is getting somehow tuned to the SD channel? Game Show Network SD channel is 161, and the HD channel is 1425. On my xfinity X1 dvr, when I tune to 1425 I get the HD channel, but on my Media Center with EPG123, I have added 1425, but for some reason it is in SD. Any idea what could be going on? P.S. I also noticed that TV Land (1426) does the same thing.

[stuartm]

It may be that the HD version of the channel is an IP channel and your Xfinity box knows to stream it when tuned to the HD channel number. Xfinity seems to be doing that more lately where they only put the SD version on traditional cable. I have several channels like that in my Xfinity lineup.

[kmp14]

Thanks for the info... If that is the case, that sucks.

[Space]

There is usually a "maintenance menu" or "diagnostics menu" option on cable boxes that allow you to see additional information (for instance on my FiOS box, I can go in to a menu that allows to see signal strength on each channel, etc.).

It is usually some button press combination on the box itself or on the remote that allows you to enter the special mode. I don't know what cable box you have, but there may be a way to tell if the channel you are tuned to is QAM or some other type of stream using this.

[kmp14]

Thanks, I will check for that.