DTVPal MUST provide analog TVGOS
I agree with those posters that are saying the DTVPal DOES do what you analog TVGOS users have wanted.
If you read the DTVPal manual pages posted by Scott at the end of the very first post in this thread, I think you can tell that the DTVPal DOES, in fact, convert digital TVGOS to analog TVGOS. Or, if not that, it must at least convert collected PSIP data to analog TVGOS, although that seems like it would actually be MORE difficult and LESS likely than converting digital TVGOS data to analog TVGOS.
Look at page 25, under Set Up Your DTVPal:
Note that on the "Guide-enabled device," you set up the DTVPal as if it were an analog cable box. So, just as cable box users used to get TVGOS data from a local analog broadcast station through the analog output of the cable box, you now will be getting the TVGOS data from the analog output of the DTVPal.
Note: The Guide device CANNOT be getting its data from a broadcast analog TVGOS that is "passing through" the DTVPal; note that at the bottom of page 23 it says you can connect your DTVPal to the "Guide device" through the TV Set Out (RF) *OR* Audio/Video (composite), just as you could hook up an analog cable box either way. There is NO WAY "analog pass through" could provide any TVGOS data via if the DTVPal (or a cable box) is hooked up only via the composite cables, yet we are told this hookup will work. The DTVPal must provide analog TVGOS data through both its RF and composite outputs, since it can be connected to the Guide device either way.
But is this PSIP data that's converted to analog TVGOS, or is it digital TVGOS converted to analog TVGOS?
Look at page 26, under Completing Setup:
Quote: "To begin receiving listings, be sure to turn off the Guide-enabled device when not in use. . . Within 24 hours you will begin receiving TV show listings. It may take up to six days to receive the *full eight days* of initial show listings. . . Show listings are *updated several times per day*."
Now, I think that sounds like the DTVPal must be converting digital TVGOS data, but if not, it must at least be converting PSIP data to analog TVGOS.
Continuing. . . "Be sure to leave your DTVPal powered on to have the most updated listings information."
This reaffirms that the TVGOS data is coming FROM THE DTVPal, or it would not have to stay powered on.
Continuing. . . "It is normal for the DTVPal to change channels while the Guide-enabled device is powered off and is setting up or receiving data."
Now, that may sound like the DTVPal is scanning through channels to collect PSIP data, but remember, this setup is supposed to work like a cable box would. More likely, the Guide device is changing the channels on the DTVPal (via G-link cable) to find the channel that carries the TVGOS data. I think that when the Guide device tunes the DTVPal to the digital PBS or CBS station that carries the digital TVGOS data, it is converted to analog at the same time as the rest of the signal and passed to the Guide device.
Or, I suppose the DTVPal tuner chip could somehow be tuning in NTSC (analog) ONLY for the purpose of getting TVGOS data (Coupon converter boxes are forbidden to tune and display analog stations, but tuning to an analog station to collect data only might be something they could get away with), and if that's the case, the data would be collected in analog and be passed to the Guide device still in analog, and would quit working if the analog station shuts down at "digital transition" time. That approach seems extremely unlikely, however.
I think the DTVPal MUST be getting that TVGOS data (which it sends out through its analog outputs) from the ATSC (digital) stations that it is meant to tune, and therefore it should be able to keep an analog TVGOS device working well after the digital transition.
And remember, with this kind of hookup, you won't be looking at the DTVPal menus or guides much, if at all. And you won't be using the DTVPal's remote control much. Instead, you'll be looking at the Guide device's Guide and changing channels, etc., using the Guide device's remote control. And if your Guide device is a recording device, it will change the DTVPal channel for you when it records, as you'd expect.
Now, you may ask, if the DTVPal can collect, or at least convert, the digital TVGOS data, why doesn't it display it in its OWN guide (instead of the PSIP data), for people that are using the DTVPal with a regular "non-Guide" TV? Why does it ONLY provide TVGOS data for people who have "Guide devices"? I think this is where the licensing fees become an issue. People who have "Guide devices" are "entitled" to seeing this TVGOS data displayed, while people who have only the DTVPal alone are "not entitled."
It can't be too long before someone with a "Guide device" gets their hands on a DTVPal and tests this stuff.
