Talk:Program and System Information Protocol
PSIP for dummies, please
Please, would someone explain to me, simplified, why a TV station needs to have a "virtual channel", and how it works.
Okay, for example WGPR-TV Detroit, Channel 62 analogue. When analogue shuts off early in 2009, it will be on Channel 44, but it will be identified as 62.
So, if I punch in 62 on my TV remote, I should get a blank channel and snow, right? But if the TV is programmed to go to 44 instead, but show 62, then what if I move to Los Angeles, another city that used to have a Channel 62, but in that city, the station is now on Channel 35, but PSIPed as 62? Therefore, the set will go to 44 and find nothing, right? I'd have to reprogram it to find 62 on 35 instead of finding 62 on 44. It sounds so stupid. GBC (talk) 08:24, 2 November 2008 (UTC)