TWC - Odd SDV encounter

[DublinDoodah]

By accident, I noticed that my TW STB (8300HDC) was using its SDV tuner to receive MSNBC (57). The diagnostic pages show that the primary SDV tuner is active and the channel name shows MSNBCSDV. This prompted me to try tuning to channel 57 without going through the cable box. Sure enough, it showed me MSNBC.

What I find odd about this is that SDV is supposed to allow TW use their bandwidth more efficiently by eliminating the continual broadcast of the SDV channel. However, if I can tune to channel 57 without the STB, they're obviously not freeing up that piece of bandwidth.

Perhaps I'm seeing a preview of the next wave of SDV conversions. I didn't try every analog channel, but I did notice 3 or 4 other channels using the SDV tuner. What concerns me is that these are "Standard Service" stations that customers can expect to be able to tune to without a STB.

[csujjhoov]

TW actually does digital simulcast for digital cable customers, they send the actual digital signal out modulated over QAM for digital cable customers as it gives better picture and sound quality. What they may be doing is moving those digital simulcast streams to SDV. Your box, when you tune to a channel like 57, goes for the digital stream, not the analog that your tv does. That's what you are probably seeing.

[DublinDoodah]

TW actually does digital simulcast for digital cable customers, they send the actual digital signal out modulated over QAM for digital cable customers as it gives better picture and sound quality. What they may be doing is moving those digital simulcast streams to SDV. Your box, when you tune to a channel like 57, goes for the digital stream, not the analog that your tv does. That's what you are probably seeing.But that would not explain why the diagnostics identify 57 as an SDV stream nor why it doesn't show the same thing for all of the analog channels. Not to mention MSNBC is one of the lowest quality images of any of the channels.