Will GB-PVR support QAM tuning a la Media Center TV Pack?

[bingho]

Hi,

Not sure if this is a wishlist, so much as a question. Will GB-PVR devs have enough information to implement the same in-the-clear QAM tuning method that the upcoming Microsoft TV Pack will have? It seems there's going to be a sea change and widespread support for unencrypted QAM once it's "official" from Microsoft.

[sub]

In theory it already does when you have bda.ini entries with the 'TUNING_SPECIAL=2' line. We'll have to wait and see how compatible various manufacturer's drivers are though. In reality, I think you're better off sticking with a Hauppauge devices, since you know the devices are common and well supported - rather than trying to save $10 on the price of a capture card and getting some oddball brand that comes with all sorts of quirks you cant fix and nobody seems to be interested in solving the problems.

[AndyPro]

Wha'ts different about the "new" windows way of doing things? I googled and googled, but couldn't find anything that it can do that my current hauppauge/GBPVR setup cant, aside form cablecard tuning but I dont have a cablecard tuner, so it's possible that works too.

What's so different?

--Andy

[mvallevand]

Here's a bit more information

http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/08/06/han...r-tv-pack/

Martin

[sub]

Wha'ts different about the "new" windows way of doing things? I googled and googled, but couldn't find anything that it can do that my current hauppauge/GBPVR setup cant, aside form cablecard tuning but I dont have a cablecard tuner, so it's possible that works too.

Until recently Microsoft did not define a way of doing QAM tuning in BDA drivers. Because of this, very few QAM tuners existed. The few that did used their own proprietary mechanism to do this tuning. About 18 months ago Microsoft updated their SDK to define how QAM tuning would be done (for a future version of MCE at that stage). Once this was defined, companies like Hauppauge etc jumped onboard and started producing devices with BDA drivers that supported the Microsoft recommended approach to QAM tuning.

So for owners of Hauppauge QAM capable devices, this means nothing different than what they have already been using.

[agidius]

are cablecard tuners out??

kinda been thinking about that.

[sub]

CableCard tuners have been out for about 18 months or so, but you can only get them with purchases of complete OEM systems, and those tuners are only usable in Vista Media Center (due to the DRM etc).

[agidius]

thats disappointing.

lets hope hauppauge somes out with one thats plug n play

[bingho]

In theory it already does when you have bda.ini entries with the 'TUNING_SPECIAL=2' line. We'll have to wait and see how compatible various manufacturer's drivers are though.

Does that mean with the QAM registry patch and the latest 6.2.100.12 drivers, the Vista View Saber DA-1N1-E would use TUNING_SPECIAL=2?

[sub]

Maybe, I dont really know anything about recent changes to the VistaView driver tuning. They previously required TUNING_SPECIAL=3 which told the app to use the proprietary VistaView tuning. If they have now implemented this more standard style of tuning then you might find TUNING_SPECIAL=2 also works.