Help with black screen and file size is zero

[mvallevand]

It seems to be the opinion of the people helping me here is this must be a cable encryption problem on my cable card. That the cable company has not unlocked it yet. Any advise on what I should tell them to fix it? Ask for a new cable card maybe? Or is there some technical term I can use?

Concerning channel 1-100, should I assume these channels maybe unencrypted analog type channels? Will the DCR-2650 not pick these up? Can you recommend a device I should acquire to get these channels?

IMO, yes it is between you and your cableco now. If your tv gets them 1-100 could be clear QAM but I suspect analog. Either way the DCR 2650 will not receive them.

Martin

[ttfitz]

It seems to be the opinion of the people helping me here is this must be a cable encryption problem on my cable card. That the cable company has not unlocked it yet. Any advise on what I should tell them to fix it? Ask for a new cable card maybe? Or is there some technical term I can use?

Concerning channel 1-100, should I assume these channels maybe unencrypted analog type channels? Will the DCR-2650 not pick these up? Can you recommend a device I should acquire to get these channels?

Have you tried this at all with Windows Media Center? If it works there, it might give some clues, and if it doesn't, you are more likely to get someone at the cable company who will understand what you tell them if it is not working under WMC.

And Martin is right, the DCR-2650 only tunes digital channels. Now, some cable companies duplicate those analog channels with a digital one, I don't know whether yours does or not.

[Zeb]

Concerning channel 1-100, should I assume these channels maybe unencrypted analog type channels?...Can you recommend a device I should acquire to get these channels?

I'm guessing that your PC didn't come with Windows Media Center; but if it did, then it probably came with a tuner card. If so, what model is the card? Maybe all you need is a splitter in that case.

I'm a firm believer in the Hauppauge brand; but before shopping for more hardware you should determine whether channels 1-100 are analog, clear QAM or a mixture. If you still have an analog TV, what channels can it get without a converter? If your HDTV has an analog tuner, is it possible to scan for analog channels only or QAM channels only? [Edit] Or does it identify channels as analog or digital?

If the channels are all analog, and if the ability to record two channels at once is important to you, then a dual analog tuner is called for; but keep in mind that when (not if) Charter goes all-digital in your area, any money spent on analog hardware will be money down the drain. In my area, Mediacom went all-digital in December, and I now have about 100 unencrypted QAM channels. If I were you, I would be reluctant to purchase any tuner without some QAM capability. However, the FCC has ruled that all-digital cable providers can encrypt even basic cable channels, in which case devices such as your DCR-2650 that work with a cablecard would be the only game in town for PC purposes.

NPVR is basically a digital TV application, but analog support can be added with the help of Hauppauge's WinTV software. If a CD came with your DCR-2650, better hang onto that!