# map the SD channels to HD channel



## obeythelaw2004

Would really like to see the mapping of SD channels to their HD channel version. With large hard drives and multiple tuners, I'm sure the majority of people do not record SD programming when there is an HD version of the channel. Also, with hundreds of channels on the lineup, it is hard to remember which channels are HD and SD. It would be good to know if you hit a channel that it will automatically tune to the HD channel.


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## mikeyts

You could always remove all of the SD channels with HD versions from your list.


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## windracer

Some cable companies re-map the lower analog channels to the HD equivalents via the CableCARD. Brighthouse here started doing that earlier this year.


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## WhiskeyTango

Or you could just tune to the HD channel on your own. I guess that's too difficult though. Learning new channel numbers is hard.


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## ferrumpneuma

WhiskeyTango said:


> Or you could just tune to the HD channel on your own. I guess that's too difficult though. Learning new channel numbers is hard.


My grandmother watches channel 7 because that is where ABC has been for fifty years. She has an HDTV and an HD cable box but can't seem to tune 187 when she wants ABC.


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## jrtroo

I figured this is a feature that cablecos would hesitate to provide since it is not a requirement of the standard thus they can keep it to themselves for their own competing device.


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## Dan203

A lot of cable companies are starting to do this. Specifically because of people like ferrumpneuma's grandmother. Someone posted in the coffee house that this can be accomplished via a CableCARD so that it works with TiVo too, so this is not something TiVo needs to add it's just something your cable company needs to setup.


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## mikeyts

I doubt if ferrumpneuma's grandma actually gives a damn. I catch my housemate watching stuff on the SD channels--16x9 stuff with letterbox _and_ pillarbox bars--and when I call her on it she doesn't care and doesn't bother to change to the equivalent HD channel. Though she _is_ a grandma she's in her late 40s.


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## ferrumpneuma

mikeyts said:


> I doubt if ferrumpneuma's grandma actually gives a damn. ..


Correct, no damns are given by Gram.

I flip it to the HD channel when I visit.


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## Dan203

mikeyts said:


> I doubt if ferrumpneuma's grandma actually gives a damn. I catch my housemate watching stuff on the SD channels--16x9 stuff with letterbox _and_ pillarbox bars--and when I call her on it she doesn't care and doesn't bother to change to the equivalent HD channel. Though she _is_ a grandma she's in her late 40s.


My sister does this to. She leaves her TiVo in Full mode all the time. So if the show is SD 4:3 everyone is short and fat and if it's letterboxed 4:3 then there are black bars on the top/bottom AND everyone is short and fat. I've showed her multiple times how to adjust it and she just doesn't care.


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## lillevig

My cable company (Suddenlink) transmits the HD version, the digital SD version, and the analog SD version. You can, as was suggested, clear out the non-HD channels from the Tivo list but that still won't prevent grandma/spouse/housemate from directly punching in the channel numbers of those forbidden channels.


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## PaisanoRob

An automatic way to delete SD channels that have HD counterparts would help.

I sorted the Guide by channel name, looked for adjacent channels with duplicate shows, wrote down the SD channel number, then went into Channel list and deleted each of them. This takes a long time and is error-prone.


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## windracer

PaisanoRob said:


> I sorted the Guide by channel name, looked for adjacent channels with duplicate shows, wrote down the SD channel number, then went into Channel list and deleted each of them. This takes a long time and is error-prone.


In the Grid Guide, you can left arrow to select the channel name/number and it will bring up a menu with an option to remove the channel (or add it to Favorites, etc.) While this is still a long process, it's slightly easier than writing down a list and then going through the Channels I Receive screen.


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## unitron

Dan203 said:


> A lot of cable companies are starting to do this. Specifically because of people like ferrumpneuma's grandmother...


Whoever the ABC broadcast affiliate in her area is has probably spent a lot of money over the last 50 or 60 years getting people to associate them and the idea of "Channel 7", and is in no mood to have all of that undone and viewers confused about where to find them.

The switchover from analog to digital TV broadcasting seems to have been a carefully pre-planned disaster.


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## tomhorsley

It would sure be a nice feature to auto-remove the SD channels. Here in Boca/Delray on Comcast, the channel number assignments are utterly and completely random. Discovering which HD versus SD channels are really the same is a painful exercise. It took me about 6 hours one days to go through the list and manually remove all the SD channels.

Why bother? Because the stoopid TiVo would often record suggestions from the SD channels when the same show was in HD on the other channel. If, by some miracle, it was a useful suggestion, I would rather see it in HD.


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## SNJpage1

What Comcast has done in my area is to have the HD channel be similar to the sd channel number. For example channel 6 is ABC in sd. Channel 806 is the HD version of ABC. 801 to 899 are the HD version of the lower SD channels.


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## marklyn

My cableco (TWC) here in Austin does have a nice channel line up list that lists SD and HD channel equivalents (side by side) but it's only online. It would be very helpful to have that in electronic format so I could just go down the list and remove what I don't want (all sd's that have hd equiv).
They have no way of sending that in any other format other than online.


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## Dan203

My question is why have both versions at all? If they replaced all the boxes in the field with units capable of decoding HD, even if connected to an SDTV, then they could eliminate all the duplicate SD channels and just make the HD version the only option. Why waste bandwidth on having both an SD and HD version of the same channel?

On a similar note why do they have both the East and West feeds of some channels? For example we have both the East and West feeds of all of the premium channels. Why?


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## wmcbrine

Dan203 said:


> If they replaced all the boxes in the field with units capable of decoding HD


That would cost money, though.



> _On a similar note why do they have both the East and West feeds of some channels?_


I can think of a few reasons, but the real one is probably just to boost the channel count, without (I'm guessing) paying anything extra.


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## tiga31328

I have had scenarios where the HD version of the channel is having difficulty, but the SD channel is functioning. A good reason to still have access to them.

-Patrick



Dan203 said:


> My question is why have both versions at all? If they replaced all the boxes in the field with units capable of decoding HD, even if connected to an SDTV, then they could eliminate all the duplicate SD channels and just make the HD version the only option. Why waste bandwidth on having both an SD and HD version of the same channel?
> 
> On a similar note why do they have both the East and West feeds of some channels? For example we have both the East and West feeds of all of the premium channels. Why?


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