New to the hardware/software

[fpefpe]

Hello -- I am new to this hardware and software -- I have the 950Q usb tuner -- When I do a digital scan (I have the unit connected to the cable wire directly), the scan results in numerous channels

If one can point me to what that values mean, ie

Unknown 113.202

comes up in the channel name column -- is this some sort of frequency? then in the
channel source column is

Clear QAM

What does this mean?

Lastly the preset column has a 4/5 digit number -- is that the way the digital channels are
labeled?

Thanks

[TheNewGuy]

'Clear QAM channels' is another name for 'unencrypted digital cable channels' (as used by cable companies in North America).

The FCC in the US made it mandatory for over-the-air digital transmissions to carry channel names and numbers, so if you were scanning with an antenna you'd get nice channel names and numbers. Unfortunately they made it optional on digital cable networks, and very very few cable companies transmit this info. Sometimes the info is present, and you'll get nice names/numbers, the rest of the time the application just generates some made up name/number (since their is no way for the application to know the real info).

In "Unknown 113.202", "113" is the physical channel number the digital channel was found on, and "202" is the program number. Sometimes this "202" is the same as the number the cable companies use on their set top boxes, but it doesnt have to be. They can use any number they want.