USA Hardware Confusion -- Should/Can I Go HD?

[Pilot]

Regular QAM tuner cards like the HVR1600 etc do the tuning themselves, directly from the cable, and can only receive the channels that unencrypted. As pointed out above, this is only a subset of the digital channels - usually just the local channels. These cards do not have HDMI or Component video inputs, or any on-board HD encoder, so have no way to receive highdef output from your Comcast STB.

If you want to record the highdef output of a STB, pretty much your only option is to use a Hauppauge HD-PVR device, which has Component video inputs. This would allow you to capture analog 1080i/720p/480p/480i output from your STB, using the H.264 encoder to produce .ts files.

Okay, I'm starting to understand all this more, and definitely know what I need. I don't know why this has been so tough for me to grasp -- I'm usually "all over" this type of thing, which is what brought me to GBPVR in the first place.

So, at my old house with my old cable company where I could get just about every HD cable channel for free without using a STB, I would've been in HVR1600 heaven, right? Anything that the QAM tuner on the HDTVs could tune in, I could tune in on the HVR1600? Now that I'm at my new house (which is a wonderful upgrade in every way except for the cable company!) and have Comcasket (haha) cable TV, I have to use a STB for anything and everything HD, and therefore I would need the new HD PVR box from Hauppauge.

So, when everyone else talks about recording HD with GBPVR (or even in the Hauppauge HVR1600 description), they're just recording OTA and/or QAM, right? See, I thought some of you were going like close to 100% HD recording and leaving me back in the dark ages with "old" tuners.

So...this actually makes things a lot easier decision wise. I can try and see what local OTA HD stuff I can pick up just with an antenna and one of my HDTVs, and as long as I'm getting the typical local network affilates, can pick up a really cheap whitebox HVR1600 (that doesn't come with a remote or IR blaster) and record the regular network shows in HD. Then if I decide that I want to record more cable network channels (which I do), then I would need to get the Hauppauge HD-PVR box and go through my Comcast STB. Finally, a plan...and a dawn of realization!

Now it's time to go off and research how difficult it is to setup the Hauppauge HD PVR in GBPVR. One would think it wouldn't be difficult since it doesn't require any tuning, correct? I'm just using the IR blaster to change the channel on the STB. I would just need to verify that my TV Guide info was accurate. Okay...I'm done thinking out loud now. Haha.

Feel free to continue to correct me on any of my "thoughts" above, though!

[Pilot]

If they offer no clear QAM channels in HD, then a HD tuner card will be a waste of money for you. You will need something like the HD-PVR (HVR-1212) in order to record HD from the STB.

And they are correct that the law does not state they have to provide the local HD stations in the clear. If they provide it via unencrypted analog, they have met their requirements.

http://www.broadcastlawblog.com/archives...ments.html

I think the HD-PVR is the way I might go, but I still might get a whitebox HVR1600 for OTA stuff (which would allow me to record more than one HD channel at a time).

Yeah, I did my legal research on the HD broadcast thing. My old cable TV company provided every HD channel over their cable -- no STB needed. Because it was a new neighborhood, they even gave us HDHBO and HDCinemax for free (they probably stopped that by now though), and again we were getting that without a STB. So when we still owned the previous house, but had moved to the new one and encountered the Comcast HD nightmare, I contacted the old cable company's chief operations officer, and he was the one who told me that if the local affiliates were broadcasting in HD, the local cable company was required to provide that HD signal over their cable to every subscriber of basic cable. Apparently, they old cable company (1) Didn't have a very good legal department and (2) Were just very nice to their customers. Comcast seems to be the opposite.

[zed]

...
Now it's time to go off and research how difficult it is to setup the Hauppauge HD PVR in GBPVR. One would think it wouldn't be difficult since it doesn't require any tuning, correct? I'm just using the IR blaster to change the channel on the STB. I would just need to verify that my TV Guide info was accurate. ...

It took me about 15 minutes to install my HD-PVR. You'll still need the channel changer but you may be able to use the same blaster you're using now if it's a stand-alone (not connected to a capture card). You feed the component output and audio of the STB into the HD-PVR so GB-PVR still needs to be able to change the channel on the STB. Probably the most difficult part will be getting good playback...the right combo of decoder/renderer/etc. Or, you can just get a PCH (Popcorn Hour) box and let it do all that. I really like the HD-PVR/PCH combo and it works great with GB-PVR.

[whurlston]

If your STB has firewire ports, I recommend using that to change channels from GBPVR. The IR blaster on the HD-PVR isn't the best.

[mvallevand]

If your STB has firewire ports, I recommend using that to change channels from GBPVR. The IR blaster on the HD-PVR isn't the best.

Is anyone have success using firestb to transfer videos or is it only working well for changing channels. I tried for an hour on the weekend and only had success transfering one pixelated segment.

Martin

[whurlston]

Is anyone have success using firestb to transfer videos or is it only working well for changing channels. I tried for an hour on the weekend and only had success transfering one pixelated segment.

Martin

I didn't have any luck with it for transferring video but my problems were not with the FireSTB software. I gave up when I couldn't record Heroes from NBC due to a CCI flag.

[gazoo]

If your tv has a QAM tuner, use the autodiscovery on that to find the channels and then you'll know what you have before unnecessarily buying an HVR 1600.

[Pilot]

If your tv has a QAM tuner, use the autodiscovery on that to find the channels and then you'll know what you have before unnecessarily buying an HVR 1600.

I know I'm not getting any QAM channels over my lousy Comcast cable system. Won't I still need the HVR 1600 to get OTA HD?

[gazoo]

I know I'm not getting any QAM channels over my lousy Comcast cable system. Won't I still need the HVR 1600 to get OTA HD?

Yes, of course. If you'll be doing OTA, then the HVR 1600 is a good one. It's REALLY weird that you wouldn't be getting anything at all unencrypted, but it is Comcast:mad: after all.

[Pilot]

Yes, of course. If you'll be doing OTA, then the HVR 1600 is a good one. It's REALLY weird that you wouldn't be getting anything at all unencrypted, but it is Comcast:mad: after all.

Actually, all I had to say is "Comcast" and then "REALLY weird" should just be automatically implied. Haha. They are really bad. It will be interesting to see how their prices change (or not) when everything goes digital and more and more networks start broadcasting in HD as almost a standard. DVD companies can't keep charging a premium for DVDs, citing that VHS tapes are much less quality. When was the last time you saw a VHS tape? It's the same thing with HD. It's rapidly becoming commonplace for a network to broadcast in HD. Eventually, they can't continue to charge extra for the norm.