Can only record "active" channel

[Nnyan]

Thanks for clearing up the confusion on my part about the s-video in.

Unfortunately I think most of the channels on the Comcast Digital cable are encoded. I test that out tonight. For my part most of the shows my girlfriend and I watch (would want recorded) are on premium channels (Deadwood, Carnival, etc...).

I think the solution you outlined (spliting the signal before the cable box) is going to be my best bet.

Now just to be clear, even if I do that shouldn't I be able to then record one digital and one analog channel and then TV/Video out (change inputs) and then watch a 3rd channel on my TV? Or will the PVR tuner that is getting the digital channel only record the channel that the cable box is tuned to?

If that is the case then I'm thinking of getting the 2nd cable box. Use the 1st one to watch live tv on (not via the PVR just change source to tv) and the 2nd one to feed the PVR via s-video (with a split prior to any box feeding the PVR via coax).

This way I can watch live tv outside the PVR and record two channels (one digital and one analog).

Is there a way to specify which PVR-500 tuner I want to record which shows? Not sure how I can make sure that the pvr tuner with the analog signal is going to record only the analog shows.

[sub]

Now just to be clear, even if I do that shouldn't I be able to then record one digital and one analog channel and then TV/Video out (change inputs) and then watch a 3rd channel on my TV? Or will the PVR tuner that is getting the digital channel only record the channel that the cable box is tuned to?

You'd be able to record one analog channel, and one digital channel. You could also watch the same digital channel on your tv, but the digital cable box is only able to tune in one show at at time so it couldn't be a different channel.

Is there a way to specify which PVR-500 tuner I want to record which shows? Not sure how I can make sure that the pvr tuner with the analog signal is going to record only the analog shows.

It chooses the tuner automatically, but you could disable the analog channels on the digital capture source, and disable the digital channels on the analog capture source. This would in effect dictate which capture source is used.

[Nnyan]

ok cool at least there is a way of doing that!

Since my post I've run into a few other people on other forums that basically ran into the same wall as I did and they ended up getting a second (in one case a 3rd) cable box.

Sketching this out has got me thinking of getting an 2nd PVR500 so that I can;

Record 2 analog channels (disable digital channels)
Record 1 digital channel (disable analog channels)
Watch and/or record 2nd digital channel (?)

Of course dicating the last tuner would be problematic (but only if the other tunners where busy). I would want to use that as my "view live tv" and have the ability to record what I'm watching. Can you somehow prioritize in which order it GB-PVR tries to "use" a tuner?