WMC + Time Warner Channel renumbering

[echo14612]

Can anybody tell me how Time Warner's channel renumbering affects WMC schedules? This is happening in our region tomorrow. I'm hoping somebody out there has already lived through it and can tell me what, if anything, I need to do to make sure my programing schedule works.

[barnabas1969]

If you have any recordings scheduled for a specific channel number, you will need to correct those schedules. But, if you've set all your recordings to "HD only", "HD preferred", "SD only", "SD preferred" or "Any channel", your recordings will be fine.

Beyond that, all you need to do is run the TV setup wizard again so Media Center will scan for the new channels.

[echo14612]

Thank you, barnabas! That's very useful information. The series recordings should fare all right, then. What about single recordings I chose from the guide by clicking on the appropriate box? Would that be channel NUMBER specific? I also have manual recordings - set to start and end at specific times on specific channels. I think I know what you'll say about those! Would it be safe to change THOSE to the new number?

[barnabas1969]

I'm not sure about single recordings from the guide. You should check/correct those after you run TV Setup. Same for the manual recordings.

[glugglug]

I've found re-running TV setup to be hit or miss -- almost half the time it will lose your scheduled recordings, so you probably want to make a list of them beforehand.

[barnabas1969]

I've found re-running TV setup to be hit or miss -- almost half the time it will lose your scheduled recordings, so you probably want to make a list of them beforehand.

Really? I've never had this happen. Does it only happen when scheduled recording was for a channel that no longer exists after the channel scan?

[echo14612]

Oh boy! Make a list? With pencil/paper? Print the schedule screens, one by one and use up all my blue ink? What's the most efficient way to do such a task? (I have 3 cable boxes on 3 pcs recording shows.)

Can anybody answer this one: When the "change" happens, do all the channels reorganize suddenly at 12:01am, or does it take a while (hours, days ...)? Will WMC recognize the changes immediately or will I have to keep rescanning the channels for hours, days weeks until it gets the updated info?

[blueiedgod]

(I have 3 cable boxes on 3 pcs recording shows.)

huh?

Why not use a single CableCARD?

[echo14612]

Time Warner copy protects everything you try to record from a cable card (except local broadcast stations). I like to archive whole seasons of series before I watch them, I like to use VideoReDo to check recordings to see if they're good. I don't want to be tied to watching a show on the computer I recorded it with. I DO have a Cable Card and record some things with it, but it's a decidedly inferior tool.

[jaimeknapp]

TWC in San Antonio, TX (with SDV) is about to renumber everything but 2-99. I found on Zap2it a completely different listing Time Warner Cable Digital Rebuild (San Antonio) that is populated starting at 4:00PM CDT today. Their current listing for TWC Digital Cable continues past the 10/15 or 10/17 (depending on which source you believe). I just checked and this new listing does not appear in WMC as an option under TV signal setup. I presume that this new list *may* appear separately, or as a replacement under signal setup, once the change has occurred.

With SDV, without any fixed channels map, is a restart of the TA necessary before launching the channel scan in signal setup? The last time there were channel changes, it took about 1-week for it to all sort out correctly. For the WAF, I need to streamline this as much as possible, so would appreciate others' experiences in this as well.

[echo14612]

So I awoke this morning at 5am to find my 3 cable boxes powered off. This happened sometime after 1am but before 5am. I had three shows scheduled to record between 5 and 8. All of them recorded off the wrong channels even though two of the were series defined by title and "HD preferred", not by station. I then put my copies of WMC through its set up signal/find channel routine. That took a long time, but the results appeared to be accurate and thorough. All the shows that were scheduled after I did the rescan were recorded off the correct channel.

[nick]

Just noticed the same thing in Rochester, NY this morning. Didn't realize the channel lineup changed and started rebooting everything and also called TWC (who didn't even bring up the channel lineup change).

I'll have to try rerunning the WMC TV setup again.

[barnabas1969]

I wonder... is TWC going "all digital"? I have Brighthouse, and they get their programming from TWC. My area is in transition to "all digital" (meaning that the analog channels are going away, and none/some/all of the clear QAM channels will be encrypted). See this post.

[nick]

I wonder... is TWC going "all digital"? I have Brighthouse, and they get their programming from TWC. My area is in transition to "all digital" (meaning that the analog channels are going away, and none/some/all of the clear QAM channels will be encrypted). See this post.

TWC in my area is all digital

[glugglug]

I've found re-running TV setup to be hit or miss -- almost half the time it will lose your scheduled recordings, so you probably want to make a list of them beforehand.

Really? I've never had this happen. Does it only happen when scheduled recording was for a channel that no longer exists after the channel scan?

Seems random. I've had it happen without any scheduled recordings to specific channels. Happened last month when FIOS added about 10 channels and changed to a new ZapToit listing, without any channel number changes.

[blueiedgod]

Time Warner copy protects everything you try to record from a cable card (except local broadcast stations). I like to archive whole seasons of series before I watch them, I like to use VideoReDo to check recordings to see if they're good. I don't want to be tied to watching a show on the computer I recorded it with. I DO have a Cable Card and record some things with it, but it's a decidedly inferior tool.

With the Cable boxes, aren't you limited to SD only recordings?

Recording series that are copyright protected for later viewing can still be achieved, just store them for later viewing. You can view them on any TV that is connected to the computer via an approved extender. Extenders allow you to view copyright protected content elsewhere on the network.

If you are paying $10/month for each cable box, $30/month for 3 of them, the cost of 3 cable box rentals for a few months will easily exceed the cost of an extender.

Dealing with IR blasters is "inferior tool" IMHO.

[xbob]

Any resolution on this issue yet? I have tried the channel update, have rerun setup and still have the old guide. The new guide is loadable on the Zap2it site, but it's apparently not being pushed out yet to WMC, where I need it.

I'm in San Antonio, the entire lineup changed eff 15 Oct.

xbob

[nymkin]

Sorry, I'm late here... I've been dealing with this too. If you haven't done so, There's a new lineup avail, It'll say upgrade at the end. Some channels aren't there, Smithsonian being one, you'll need to map it. I used GuideTool. Help that helps!

[1454]

Ok, thanks to this now the guide is all out of whack and all the recordings are missing. The guide on zap2it hasn't updated to reflect the new lineup so all my channels are still listed at their locations. Geez, why can't TWC just leave well enough alone. Is there anything I can do to get a working lineup?