Former SD channels now in HD (TWC)

[Tivoman44]

It's been a while since I posted.

I still have my Tivo Series 3 HD.  Just got TWC back w/ multi stream cable card and Tuning Adapter.

 I've noticed that SD channels such as 6, 10, 30 appear to be in HD just like 1006, 1010 and 1301.  My tivo is set to Native to switch from 480i, 480p, 720p, or 1080i. On those regular SD channels the picture still looks great and the Tivo stays in either 720p or 1080i. Is this normal?  Loadstar, are you still around?

[LoadStar]

It's been a while since I posted.

I still have my Tivo Series 3 HD.  Just got TWC back w/ multi stream cable card and Tuning Adapter.

 I've noticed that SD channels such as 6, 10, 30 appear to be in HD just like 1006, 1010 and 1301.  My tivo is set to Native to switch from 480i, 480p, 720p, or 1080i. On those regular SD channels the picture still looks great and the Tivo stays in either 720p or 1080i. Is this normal?  Loadstar, are you still around?

Yup, I still check in every now and again. A shame this place became a bit of a ghost town.

Yes, what you describe is completely normal. Digital cable devices like CableCards or digital cable boxes receive a channel map that connects  the "virtual channels" (the channel numbers you enter, like 6 or 1006) to real QAM channels in the background. On Time Warner Cable, whether you tune to 6 or 1006, you end up being connected with the same QAM channel, which contains the HD version of the programming.

For a while, this only was at about 50%, but for probably a year now, nearly all (if not all) of the channels are setup to tune to the HD channel, if one exists.

The old SD channels still exist, but the only things that should be receiving those would be TVs without a cablebox or cablecard hooked up. Once Time Warner Cable MAXX (their big cable plant upgrade project) reaches this area, the analog channels go away, and everything will be in digital.

(I don't know when MAXX is scheduled to hit this area, and I suspect the timing of that will be highly dependent upon if/when the Charter merger occurs.