SpiceWare's Blog

Did you make your own antennae or buy it in the store?

Picked it up at the store. The prior two DVR Project entries are about the new antenna.

Hmm - looks like channels can change.

 

I've watched a few shows on RTV, which was on 34-2. Today I found The Cool TV there instead, its another music video channel (and much better quality than the other one I'd been watching). RTV was moved to 34-3.

 

The guide's confused though as the feed from TV Guide still thinks RTV is on 34-2. Wonder how long that'll take to shake out.

Yeah, it's not uncommon for sub-channels (especially those not controlled by the primary broadcaster) to come & go. Although it's strange they shifted RTV into a different sub-channel. Maybe a kind of free advertising so people notice the channel exists.

 

Guide data updates depends on where you're getting it from. Part of each ATSC datastream is the PSIP which can include guide data. Many TVs will show this automatically when you change channels. It's generally accurate, although it typically only provides data for a day or two in advance. (Unfortunately, it's not mandatory in Canada so isn't as useful to me.) Set top boxes & TVs which have a free guide typically use this data.

 

The other major source is a service provider which you may subscribe to (e.g. TiVo, schedulesdirect.org) or was included in the price of the software/device (e.g. Microsoft). In many cases the actual source of the data is Tribune Media Services. In this case there's sometimes a way to notify your provider of the change. How long before the change trickles down can be days or weeks.

The channel, KUVM, is owned by the company my sister works for so I asked her about it. The explanation she gave made sense, but I don't know if I can divulge it so I won't.

 

I'm running EyeTV, it came with a 1 year subscripion to TV Guide. I did figure out how to associate channel 34.3 with the data for 34.2, so I'm OK for now. It'll be interesting to see what happens when the feed from TV Guide starts using the new channel number.