HDHomerun does not find many cable channels

[davephan]

I am trying to setup my HDHomeRun with Comcast cable. I tried hooking up a SD TV to the cable and can receive about 70 channels, up to channel 70 without a cable box. The HDHomeRun can only find the "Basic 1" channels and non of the "Basic 2" channels. The HDHomeRun works fine for receiving local over-the-air digital broadcasts on the other tuner.

I am assuming that if a SD TV without a cable box can receive the cable channel, then the HDHomeRun should also be able to receive the same channel. Is this assumption correct? If so, then there is something else causing the problem.

Dave

[carlgar]

Originally Posted by davephan

I am assuming that if a SD TV without a cable box can receive the cable channel, then the HDHomeRun should also be able to receive the same channel. Is this assumption correct? If so, then there is something else causing the problem.

That is a bad assumption. your SD TV can see analog channels. The HDHR does not see any analog channels at all. The HDHR will only receive digital channels which is why OTA works as expected. You should still be able to see the clear QAM channels from cable, but the number of channels vary with providers. I would expect you to get at least everything you can get OTA, but may not because your cable provider is still broadcasting them in analog. My cable provider broadcast mine in both analog and digital form.

[davephan]

Thanks for your response Carlgar. My local provider, Comcast probably has very few clear QAM channels.

I will configure both HDHomeRun tuners back to over-the-air digital and maybe purchase a dual tuner card for the analog cable channels.

Dave

[waynedunham]

Davephan,

Did you use the HDHR utility to scan for channels outside of SageTv when hooked up to Comcast cable?

The reason I ask it that's how I've been using my HDHR and my Comcast cable since December of 2006. (WOW, didn't realize the thing had even been out that long!)

Up until recently I could get all of the "locals", i.e. ABC, NBC, FOX, CW, TBS, PBS, etc. I could get both the HD and digital SD broadcasts. Plus I could also get a few special channels NECN (New England Cable News) the local access channels, etc.

Within the last couple months as Comcast started preparing for moving much of the analog tier over to digital in August (here in the Avon CT area anyway) I started also receiving most, if not all, of the old analog tier in clear QAM. Now I can get USA, TNT, TLC, HISTORY, CNN, ESPN, etc, etc over my HDHR.

Now "Your Mileage May Vary" because I hear it is not the same everywhere.

So run that channel scan in the HDHR utilities and see what you can actually get. I don't recall if the options are still in there for scanning only OTA, only Cable, etc but make sure you've got it set to cable (Qam256).

There is also a reasonably good database of what you should be able to receive over at Silicon Dust. On that page, insert your zip code and click search. Now it will probably come up with the digital antenna lineup. Up at the top of that page there's a dropbox to switch it to the Comcast lineup.
I'll bet you get more than you think.

Oh, and make sure you verify all of the channels as being what the HDHR software thinks they are. On my lineup there are a bunch of errors I have to correct manually by verifying what channel is where.

Good luck and happy QAM hunting!

[davephan]

I did a scan in the HDHomeRun and did not get many cable channels. Mainly the locals, community access, and CSpan channels. I switched from DirecTV to Comcast cable. There are advantages and disadvantages. Comcast cable does not have many HD channels. However, they include a lot more SD channels and premium movie channels that have been included on a higher DirecTV programming line up. Consolidating telephone, Internet, and TV with Comcast does not save much money, but does include some extra channels at no cost. In two years, when Comcast jacks up the rate, I will switch to DirecTV or Dish Network. I think I might get a Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-2250 dual ATSC/NTSC/QAM TV tuner board to reduce the recording conflicts on cable, and use the HDHomeRun only for digital over-the-air locals.

Dave