Integrated Channel Mapping

For those of us still using cable, we caught this post from CableRant. It mentions a beta test of a feature called Integrated Channel Mapping by Cablevision in two communities on Long Island.

Integrated Channel means that if you go to channel 2, you will automatically get the HD version from channel 702 instead.  No more channel surfing between two sets of channels.

Sounds like a good feature to have. Once you adopt a high definition box, why shouldn’t the box, which already maps channels from their real to lineup numbers, hide the SD channels in favor of the HD ones for all channels that are identical except for the quality level?

We run our own DVR, using MythTV, and already do that, filtering out the SD channels for their simulcast versions. We find this a useful feature, and we think it should be available everywhere.