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mapping digital tv numbers like 65-5, 106-5 to the normal numbers found in tv listings? - Reveal my Identity? My digital enabled television has channel numbers that do not seem to map up to any TV guide (even the one provided by my cable provider on their web site). It has numbers like 65-5, 106-4, 106-5 and others. The channels also sometimes move around after I find them. Are there any tv listings that show these types of numbers? Is there maybe a mapping of some sort? The numbers that show up in the TV guides (both Yahoo, and Comcast, when I put in my zip code, and select Comcast digital cable) show disney as being on channel 41. But today it is on 65-5. A few weeks ago it was on 106-5.

Best Answer: You are apparently receiving digital cable directly on your TV versus using a cable set-top box. What you are getting is called clear QAM, which is the modulation system used with digital cable TV. If you had a cable box, the channel numbers would not be moving around, since the box maps the real frequency to a virtual channel number, like 701 or something. The cable companies are always adding and subtracting channels, so using the virtual mapping function lets them keep the channel numbers seen by box users consistent. If you're willing to live with the annoyance of channels moving around, using your TV's QAM tuner will save you from paying a monthly fee for a box, but you won't get electronic program guide data or any encrypted channels, like HBO. - link

Because the provider is moving them around, you won't find accurate listings for or mapping charts for them, if at all. To be reasonable accurate, it would need the map from the cable company, which they do not want to publically provide, and volunteers, which may not be timely, or there at all. - classicsat

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