Adding an HVR-1600

[SLR_65]

Hi Tony,

No, I haven't but that's because I was searching for HVR-1600 related posts. From what I gather the 1800 works much better. One poster said he was getting about 15% better signal level and about 3-4 more SNR db between the 1800 and 1600 installed in the same system and that he'd tried another 1600 with the same results. Interesting as I thought the 1800 was basically a 1600 with a pci-e interface.

What I did pick up was that the Silicon Dust HD Homerun seems to work pretty good.

I'll probably do a little more research as I would like to pick up the clear qams here, but I think the HVR-1600 is a bit too "high maintenace" for me (I should be able to run without an additional amplifier as the cable modem, cable boxes, and a qam tuner equipped tv have NO issues, only the 1600 does).

[dennit]

OK, today I played with a BIG amplifier I have on hand (a channel vision CVT-38bid). Running the amp I get about nothing for signal strength, if I turn the input attenuator down it comes up a bit, but not much. I added a couple 10db attentuators (for a total of 20) on the output and then I got some adjustability (I was most likely over driving the card). I got it up to a SNR of 30-32 for all channels and even picked up some I didn't get before - including the digital music channels (even get the logo graphic for the individual music channel). (this particular amplifier also has a "slope" adjustment that lets you adjust the amplification for the upper frequencies and adjusting it helped too)

Most of the channels come in rock solid, but I have a couple that still like to stutter occasionally.

Once I got some signal level to the thing then I could scan the channels in the config program - prior to the amp it would crash at around channel 85 while scanning.

All in all it's been a fun experiment, but I'm not impressed with the qam tuner in the HVR-1600 card.

Thanks for this info. I may buy the channel vision CVT-38bid just to get the control you have over the signal. I'd love the slope adjustment. I had to tweak the signal feed to the 1600 to get a good signal. I couldn't get any amplification that helped - tried 6 amps. I suspected I was overdriving but even adjustable output amps wouldn't help. Ultimately, I had to use one splitter on the feed for the 1600 and the other half of that splitter feeds all the rest of the house. I felt like I had to exactly tweak to get just enough signal for the high freq. channels. I love the 1600 now, but I'm literally afraid to touch my feeds in any way. They are currently strung across the basement loosely as I was in the middle of testing when I got it tweaked just right.

[SLR_65]

I got my amp cheap off of fleaBay - don't get in a hurry and one will turn up reasonably priced.

MCM electronics is a good place to get the hard to find stuff - taps, attenuators, etc. (taps are unequal splitters, i.e. the in/out leg usually only has a 1db or so drop but the tap leg can have about anything. Usually to use taps though you need more signal than is necessary as the less you drop on the tap leg the more equal the split gets and the more loss on the output leg. This is how the cable co sends their signals out - one big trunk line with a lot of signal and then they just tap off what each customer needs).

I am not happy with the qam tuner in the 1600 and there's really nothing on clear qam on our system that I care about that I can't get on the analog side of the cable, but I was suprised at the ota digital, it seemed to work well. I think I'm going to play with it a little more as there are some sub channels on the local stations that I don't get on cable and may enjoy.

Good luck - congrats on getting your unit actually working!

Steve

[dennit]

I got my amp cheap off of fleaBay - don't get in a hurry and one will turn up reasonably priced.

Mind if I ask how much I should pay if I'm willing to wait?

[StanO]

I wouldn't bother with the 1600 (or 1800 probably). I get all of the basics, local, plus a few others in HD, plus digitial sd stations too. The problem? PVRx2 refuses to find them, they all come through in low resolution.

I have recorded with WinTV (lame!), when it works it's nice, but it often messes up. Hopefully a card based system will come around. But even then everything will have to be HDCP compatible.

[dennit]

I wouldn't bother with the 1600 (or 1800 probably). I get all of the basics, local, plus a few others in HD, plus digitial sd stations too. The problem? PVRx2 refuses to find them, they all come through in low resolution.

I have recorded with WinTV (lame!), when it works it's nice, but it often messes up. Hopefully a card based system will come around. But even then everything will have to be HDCP compatible.

My 1600 has been stable for months and works great to record 1080i QAM. Yes, it was tricky to set up some of the higher frequency channels, but that was partly my own fault, as I had some RG59 in my cabling. All in all, it was definitely worth it for me. It worked great from the start for the lower freq. channels and is completely stable and reliable, so I'd buy it again. YMMV

[SLR_65]

Mind if I ask how much I should pay if I'm willing to wait?

I got mine for $30 to $40 with shipping (I don't quite remember now). It's been about a year and half though, but at the time the little Motorola 15db and clones were going for about the same money but the Channel Vision is a monster compared to those and is a much better buy (well, if you need that much amplification, which I did with my tap system. It has an input attenuator that lets you move the signal level up and down a bit, but you still have 36 db min coming out of it so it very well may over drive your equipment - you can get attenuators to put on the output to adjust that, again eBay is your friend here, keep and eye out and you can get a nice selection cheap. If you're in a hurry then order them from MCM). At the time there were several on eBay and I missed a couple but eventually got one. I also got a deal on some really nice Channel Vision splitters - they were mounted on some panels but were never installed and some landloard got them after a business failed and left them in the building. I paid $10 plus shipping (don't recall what it was, but it was reasonable) and got 4 dozen of them! I quickly made my money back selling the extras! (I ran a main trunk and tapped off for each drop, then split the drops with a splitter to give a TV and VCR drop so I needed a few splitters).

Oh, I forgot to mention that on one of the boards with the splitters was another amp! So I ended up with an extra one. A friend has the same issues I was having (low signal and no real good way to do a homerun system) so I've held on to the extra amp to use at his place once he gets the motivation to do the upgrades . . . now he may not get it if I need it for qam!

Anyway, Though I'm not a huge eBay fan (ever try to use their customer service? It's a joke!) they are your friend for this sort of stuff it seems. I got some T&B Snap-n-seal compression fittings dirt cheap off there, got a Phillips tool to install those fittings and the coax stripper off there cheap too and they work fine. Splitters, taps, attenuators, grounding blocks, 75 ohm terminators (you should always put a 75 ohm terminator on any unused ports! Lemme know if you need some of those -> I got a boatload of them for little of nothing!), etc. all show up there frequently. The problem is that usually you don't think about these things until you need them and then you want them right NOW so you go and pay exorbitant prices at Radio Shack, etc.. I bought a cheap plastic tool box to store the cable stuff in and bought most of my stuff off eBay and I have more stuff than I will probably ever need, but when I need something on Sunday or in the middle of the night I have it!

[SLR_65]

I wouldn't bother with the 1600 (or 1800 probably). I get all of the basics, local, plus a few others in HD, plus digitial sd stations too. The problem? PVRx2 refuses to find them, they all come through in low resolution.

I have recorded with WinTV (lame!), when it works it's nice, but it often messes up. Hopefully a card based system will come around. But even then everything will have to be HDCP compatible.

From what I've read the 1800 is a better card, but that's just what I've read so I don't really know.

I know several on here are doing HD with GBPVR, so I think it can be done. I'm not worried about HD right now as I don't have an HD TV nor do I plan on a new TV any time soon.

I'm hoping clear qam takes over for clear analog. I may be shooting for blue sky though! I do know one of the cable installers though and he says they've heard nothing of dropping analog anytime soon (they have installed equipment to convert the digital feeds to analog so they can continue analog past February) and they don't seem to mind the newer tvs with clear qam tuners, in fact they have cheat sheets they use when doing new installs that tell them how to setup some of the more popular TVs - they are told even if the TV has an analog tuner that they also want them to setup the clear qam for the customers (they don't spend a lot of time on it though, if it's not in the cheat sheets they pretty much don't mess with it).

We'll just have to see what shakes out as time goes on . . . in the uh, er, less "savory" forums I've heard some discussion of hacking the new cable card adapters. I don't have the specifics, but basically from what I gather they are working out what it takes to use them on non-approved systems. The system looks pretty tough, but I guess so was the DTV and Dish systems and at various times they've been hacked to death so I imagine this struggle will continue on. In this case the cable cos don't have a real motivation to actively seek out a hacked adapter as though the adapter is compromised all it does it let the cable card work and the cable company makes their money on renting the card so something that makes the cards work on more systems isn't really a bad thing for them.

[TonyXL]

I'm hoping clear qam takes over for clear analog.

Boy, that would be nice. I don't get/want premiums like HBO, I just watch locals, ESPN, Food Network, Nick/Disney for the kids, etc. If they put those on clear qam I could get rid of my cable box. I hate that extra layer of the cable box.

[pcostanza]

If you're in the states, go here -http://www.silicondust.com/hdhomerun/channels - and put in your zip code to find out what is suppose to be offered in your area in QAM. Cox New Orleans says they offer QAM but when I called them, I got the third degree.....why was I asking......how do you know about it.....what do you want it for????? Because I pay for it!
Anyway, I have Vista with TVPack and cable card tuners that are most definitely QAMable (I just made that word up) and I get zip, zero, nada. The same with WinTV and GBPVR. Friends who use Cox in San Diego and Oklahoma state it's a signal issue but my signals have been checked and are fine. And, calling a tech out to work with it is not an option as it's not something they advertise therefore, 'you're not really paying for it'.
Just to add that I also tried with both an HVR1600 and HVR2250 so with 2 different tuners, I've gotten no where with QAM.
Finally, someone else told me a tech told him that when the switch happens in Feb. 09, there's no guarantee anyone will continue QAM due to bandwidth needs.