Adding an OTA HDTV Card to My "Analog" Setup

[ww4397]

I'm thinking of adding an OTA HDTV card to my current system that consists of 2 analog cards (PVR150 and M150).

How should I setup/config GBPVR and/or Zap2it so that the programming data for HD channels are obtained and merged into the EPG? Currently, with the analog tuners, I have one Zap2it account that has my local analog cable lineup. Do I need to setup a second Zap2it account to get the local OTA HDTV broadcast lineup? Will this result in two databases of programming information? What happens when the same show is on both the cable (SD) and OTA (HDTV) at the same time? How about Zapimport? I'm using that too.

I'm kind of confused about this.

Thanks.

[sub]

How should I setup/config GBPVR and/or Zap2it so that the programming data for HD channels are obtained and merged into the EPG? Currently, with the analog tuners, I have one Zap2it account that has my local analog cable lineup. Do I need to setup a second Zap2it account to get the local OTA HDTV broadcast lineup?

You can either use one zap2it account that contains the superset of channels, and only enable the appropriate channels for each capture sources, or create two zap2it accounts. Either will work.

Will this result in two databases of programming information?

No, it'll just be one combined set.

What happens when the same show is on both the cable (SD) and OTA (HDTV) at the same time?

GB-PVR will pick one. If its a recording, it'll usually pick the first capture source listed in the config app. If its for live tv, it'll usually pick the last capture source.

How about Zapimport?

I dont know anything about this plugin, so cant help with this question.

[ww4397]

GB-PVR will pick one. If its a recording, it'll usually pick the first capture source listed in the config app. If its for live tv, it'll usually pick the last capture source.

Thanks for the reply.

This is still confusing me. I thought the HDTV channel was a sub-channel of the "main" channel. For example, if the "main" SD channel number is 6, then the HD broadcast of the same channel would be 6.1. Would GBPVR see these as different channels (i.e. separate lines in the TV Guide) and, therefore, allow me the schedule the HD "version" of the show on channel 6.1 (as opposed to 6 for SD) thus using the HD card?

[sub]

GB-PVR doesnt really know anything about the major/minor numbers, since this is a USA'ism. When you're setting up on of these devices, it first imports the EPG, then does a HDTV channel scan, and you map each of these channels found to the channels in the EPG. If you have both the digital and analog channels, both mapped to the same EPG channel, then they're treated as the same channel available from two sources, from which GB-PVR pick one when it needs to do a recording of view live tv.

[Braklet]

I thought the HDTV channel was a sub-channel of the "main" channel. For example, if the "main" SD channel number is 6, then the HD broadcast of the same channel would be 6.1. Would GBPVR see these as different channels (i.e. separate lines in the TV Guide) and, therefore, allow me the schedule the HD "version" of the show on channel 6.1 (as opposed to 6 for SD) thus using the HD card?

For the purposes of zap2it and GB-PVR, ATSC subchannels are simply separate sources of program information. So the answer to your final question(s) is Yes.

I recently added an AVerHDTV A180 card and it works fine with sub's latest tuning assistant scan tool. I ended up using two zap2it subscriptions because when I set all this up I couldn't figure out how to limit the EPG import by selectively enabling channels in the Program Source config.

I no longer even attempt to use NTSC. ATSC is so much better it is a real shock.

[ww4397]

GB-PVR doesnt really know anything about the major/minor numbers, since this is a USA'ism. When you're setting up on of these devices, it first imports the EPG, then does a HDTV channel scan, and you map each of these channels found to the channels in the EPG. If you have both the digital and analog channels, both mapped to the same EPG channel, then they're treated as the same channel available from two sources, from which GB-PVR pick one when it needs to do a recording of view live tv.

I've got an ATI HDTV Wonder card. Will this card's issue requiring the manual input of channel tuning data effect this process? Specifically, the part where GBPVR "does a HDTV channel scan..."?

[sub]

Yeah, you'd need to manually enter the tuning information in this case.

(damn ATI HDTV Wonder...grumble grumble...)

[ww4397]

For the purposes of zap2it and GB-PVR, ATSC subchannels are simply separate sources of program information. So the answer to your final question(s) is Yes.

Thanks, Braklet.

I no longer even attempt to use NTSC. ATSC is so much better it is a real shock.

Yes, the difference is almost like night and day. The only thing is that I watch most of my shows via MVP and it doesn't do HD. So, I still do need to capture in NTSC. I can only experience the wonder of HD if I'm sitting at my computer.

[bckappen]

Sub,
While we are on the subject, would you consider adding an option to the recording prompt to select a "preferred" capture source? The default option can be "let GBPVR choose". This would let the user record some shows in HD consistently (if one has a mix of analog and HD cards).

[sub]

Sorry, no I wont be. I dont want the use to chose which capture source is used for a recording.