stefan Wrote:You don't *need* three capture sources, but it can be helpful in some circumstances. Say, for example, that you have BBC1 and BBC2 on analogue only (bad example, I know, but I don't know which channels exist where you live ), and not on your STB. So, if you want to record something on BBC1 and BBC2 at the same time, you'd need to enable both your capture cards for analogue recording (that is, create three capture sources).
Actually the reverse is true for me ie I dont have any channels that are analog only, but I do have channels that are digital only. My STB provides digital as well as analog channels and my wall outlet provides analog channels only.
I am assuming that in order to enable a particular type of recording on a card, we first need to have that that source hooked up to that card. So since I have only a coax connection (from Wall outlet) to tuner 1 and a composite connection (from STB) to tuner 2, I suppose it wouldnt make any sense for me to create 3 sources.
I would have ideally wanted to record 2 digital channels simultaneously but for that I would need 2 STBs and I dont want to incur the extra montly expense. Right now I can however record and view 2 analog channels simultaneously or 1 digital and 1 analog channel. This is ok with me for now.
Let me see if I can help break it down. The channels coming from your STB are not digital only. The STB is just routing through the analogue channels that you would get anyways without the box but will descramble the digital channels that you could not get without the set top box.
As sub described, you would have 3 entries.
Capture source A/Device 1- internal cable tuner - channel guild set up for analogue channels only.
Capture source B/Device 1- Composite/Svideo external tuner - channel guide set up for the Digital channels ONLY. your cable company should have given you a list of what are channels on the "digital basic" or whatnot. If anything, these should just include the channels you would not get by just plugging the cable into your pvr500.
Capture source C/device 2 - internal cable tuner - channel guild set up for analogue channels only.
It has been a while since i completed my setup, but i believe these are my settings using 1 pvr150mce and 1 ati550pro. With this setup, it will use the set top box ONLY if I am recording something that cannot be seen without it (Digital Only Channels). This way if I am recording 2 analogue sources, I can still watch TV as I can just tune through my STB that is connected to a separate TV-in on my TV (all GBPVR stuff is through Video 2, I then can just switch the TV input to TV and watch whatever).
I think the confusion was coming down to the channel lineups and the term "digital". You are not getting digital feeds for channels 2-98 on a settop box, the box is just passing-through the analogue feed.