Another QAM Question

[SuperGnome]

I've been searching/reading and haven't quite found the answer I'm looking for. I see a lot of people talking about WinTV6 when using the HVR-1600 for QAM.

Question 1: With the HVR-1600 (74021 or 74041) can you just play QAM right through GBPVR to an exteran TV or are you guys messing with WinTV first?

Question 2: With the new TV Wonder 650/600 cards, can you watch straight QAM through them to GBPVR?

Question 2a: Are these really restricted to QAM only under Vista?

I know HTPC stuff isn't ever simple, but I'm trying to get HD/Digital in the mix as I have the TV, just no built-in tuner. I would like the analog/QAM to be relatively seamless and not have to go into the other room to mess around everytime I want to watch a game from the QAM source.

Thanks

[sub]

Question 1: With the HVR-1600 (74021 or 74041) can you just play QAM right through GBPVR to an exteran TV

yes.

Question 2: With the new TV Wonder 650/600 cards, can you watch straight QAM through them to GBPVR?

I dont know. I dont think anyone has tried QAM with one of these on GB-PVR.

Question 2a: Are these really restricted to QAM only under Vista?

I dont know. ATI have certainly indicated the feature is only available on Vista.

[SuperGnome]

Thanks sub

[SuperGnome]

I might pick up an HVR-1600 on the way home and give it a shot. Wrong version = return (unless everyone there is already open boxed). It'll mess with my htpc setup for a while though.

I have a nice upscaling DVD player using my DVI, so that'd have to go component and lose the upscaling. That frees up the DVI on the TV for my computer (currently using PVR-350 video out). Then I'd get to reprogram my Harmony remote.

Ugh, maybe I won't yet.

*edit* I dont' use the PC for my player because they're in different rooms.

[SuperGnome]

Nabbed the HVR-1600 (74041) at Circuit City here (they have 2 more). Currently scanning for QAM and it's finding quite a few, but we'll have to see how many work. They actually list QAM as a function of the two chipsets of their HVR-1600's now, and have some handy dandy instructions:

http://www.hauppauge.com/pages/support/s...driver_34c

[SuperGnome]

oh my... they all seem to work. Time to play around!

*later*
Well, I get abotu 40 QAM channels.. maybe 50, but the numbering scheme used would require me to count and I'm not that bored.
I get CBS, ABC, NBC, PBS, as well as a few other channels without the symbol telling me what they are. I also get a bunch of home shopping channels, local access, a few religious channels, some news channels, and then it gets strange. I get people's on-demand and PPV programming. I had a couple Fargo's, Cars, Blood Diamond, a bunch of others, and even some porn. heh It's kind of cool, but obviously there's no way to tell what'll be on those channels if anything, and it FFW/Rewinds when they do. Not at all ideal, but interesting none the less.

I don't subscribe to digital at all.

Unfortunately, due to problems with the IR plug for my PVR-350 I couldn't control anything from the room with the TV so I didn't get to play around with GBPVR at all. I use a Harmony remote and it wouldn't talk to the 1600 (different codes than 350?) so the project is on hold until Saturday. *8(

[Anthony]

Supergnome,

I have two HVR-1600's in my PC. After a lot of effort, I was finally able to scan for QAM channels in GBPVR, and found all the major networks and a few others as well.

Unfortunately, while the signal strength was quite high, I wasn't having much luck recording shows. Some channels came out completely scrambled and unwatchable, while GBPVR would sometimes crash with others.

Thinking it might just be a signal strength issue, I bought an RF amplifier to overcome the losses of my cable splitters. It helped, but didn't solve the problems. There was apparently something odd about the signals coming from my cable company. The signal was strong, GBPVR would record without errors, and yet many of the shows were unwatchable.

So, out of curiosity, I decided to hook up an indoor antenna, with the RF amplifier, and use the ATSC tuning of the HVR-1600's. Signal strength is a bit lower than it was with cable, but so far every show I have tried recording has turned out perfectly. It's promising enough that I just ordered a better antenna in hopes of boosting my signal a little, though it's running just fine on the small indoor antenna too.

I still think there's a problem with either the HVR-1600 or the drivers, because my Samsung plasma TV has no problem tuning in the digital QAM stations. But, as long as I can get all the major network stations over-the-air, I'm satisfied.

On a related note, I have had the best luck with the ATI MUX. I didn't like the odd files produced by the DVR-MS MUX, and I had audio/video sync issues with the Cyberlink MUX. So far, every show I have recorded with the ATI MUX is in sync and recorded directly to MPG.

Anthony

[SuperGnome]

Great info, thanks!

I just need to sort to sort out my remote control issues to test recording. I was going to get it all done last night, but there is some physically damage issue with my 350 and IR receiver meet. Fiddling with it means I have to crawl under my desk, mess with it, then go into another room to test it. Saturday I'm going to try the IR from teh 1600. If I can't record from the 1600, i'll send her back and wait for the ati 650's to show up Best Buy.

[ram4x4nut]

Would the type of splitter keep QAM from showing up? I get QAM on my tv but not through my HVR. The only difference is that the splitter is a 1K splitter at the pc. The main splitter outside the house is a 5K. I'm not able to see any QAM at all on my hvr-1600.

[whurlston]

A 1Ghz (1000Mhz) splitter is fine for QAM. All cable frequencies are below that. Satellite TV uses higher frequencies.