SIR-TS 160 Channel banners and information icons

[Long John]

I have my TS160 connected both to satellite dish and OTA antenna. When viewing high def channels from Directv (ie. HDNET) the Channel Banner displays the Information icon "HD", but when watching an OTA channel (ie. NBC,etc) this "HD" icon does not show. Is this normal? When viewing PBS from the OTA, the station itself has a logo in the corner that reads "KCET-HD" and I'm pretty sure when watching Jay Leno that I'm looking at a high def picture. Has anyone else with this STB noticed this?

[Lowpro]

This is normal. A digital broadcast may not always be showing HD programming. Even though the SIR-TS160 integrates your OTA programming the OSD HD icon is not part of the equation for these channels. Only with DIRECTV Digital Broadcasts will you see a HD icon during true HD programs, but even that is not always correct. I've seen the HD icon when programs were clearly not in HD so. :-P It should be clearly evident when you are watching HD programming and when you are not. Just wing it. :-) That's what I do.

[Long John]

Thanks, Lowpro. On a related note, I setup my Samsung to scan all available OTA channels, both analog and digital. After it integrated them into the Guide, I noticed that the digital channel numbers were named exactly like the analog ones, only with a -1 after them. For example, CBS analog is channel 2 (in Los Angeles), and CBS digital is channel 2-1; NBC analog is channel 4 and NBC digital is channel 4-1, etc. However, according to antennaweb.org, CBS digital (again in LA) should be channel 60 and NBC digital should be channel 36. Just curious as I want to verify I'm receiving HDTV transmissions. Does it do something similar in your area?

[Lowpro]

Does the same in my area. There are several channels the OTA tuner on my unit brings in as well that are not the same as the channel number listings like TitanTV gives for my zip code for example. Regardless of the channel numbers I do bring in all the networks out of both tv markets in my area, so I am very pleased. If it is a digital broadcast it will be designated with a "-1,-2" and so on.