said by glowboyVT:I don't blame you for doubting this. I would have doubted it too. I did in fact tune in SDV channels previously using 1020 WESH and 1286 SyFy. If I get time this weekend I will dig into my cabinet and perform a controlled test using verified SDV channels as published on the BHN website.
The way SDV works is if there is already a stream started by another user in the serving group then you would "leach" on to that stream (not requiring 2way of your own).
Typically, this doesn't work with tivo units BUT since you JUST unplugged it and already had the most up to date channel plan (channel plan is updated every time a new stream is started to let every other 2way device in that serving group know what frequency to tune to to get that specific channel) maybe you were able to leach on to existing streams.
this is just my theory on how it may have worked.