Another digital switchover newbie

[antialias]

I've seen a ton of posts with similar questions but am having trouble piecing together my exact situation and understanding what I should do to get a similar experience to what I had with analog.

Currently I've got 2 PVR 150s but we've just stopped using them since Comcast switched to the Digital converter boxes for channels over 31 mainly due to lack of time so far to mess with a new setup. I am looking at the HVR 2250 since it has dual tuners. I only need the extended basic channels (food network for the wife, cartoon network for the kids and a couple others mainly). With the clear QAM channels will I need to bother with an IR blaster or can I get all those channels directly off the cable line? I'm in Vancouver Washington on Comcast but I haven't seen any list of the clear QAM channels(though I've heard that all the channels available through the small box they give you are clear QAM)?

What's my best route for getting a dual recording setup with the least hassle? Is the 2250 the best option for what I need? Thanks!

[khaver]

I use a 2250 with Comcast in the Salem, OR area that has the same channel setup as you. I get all the extended basic channels plus a few more (History International, Science, G4 and a few others I don't watch) and the local HD channels all as clear QAM. Only rarely have I had to use the analog side of the tuner on 2-30. Using multirecord I'm usually able to record more than 2 channels at the same time with just the 2 digital tuners. The only problem is that my postprocessing.bat file sometimes doesn't run on some of the multirecorded shows. I asked Sub about this but he never posted back as to why.

[antialias]

That helps quite a bit I was worried about having to mess with the IR blaster. Upon further investigation it looks as if the 2250 is PCIe and I only have PCI in my current PVR box. Anybody know if 2 of the HVR 1600 pci cards would give the same result as a single 2250? With the multi record of QAM are 2 separate tuners really necessary?

[johnsonx42]

Anybody know if 2 of the HVR 1600 pci cards would give the same result as a single 2250?

Yes, but they may be overkill since you probably won't be using the analog side much any longer. If you're looking to keep costs down, you could look at a digital-only USB device like the HVR-950Q.

With the multi record of QAM are 2 separate tuners really necessary?

Probably still necessary. Multi-record won't ever work with LiveTV Preview mode, and does not work yet in LiveTV timeshift mode either (perhaps in GB-PVR 1.4, I don't know). So that means you need a separate tuner to watch live tv if something is recording. Second, even though Multi-record lets you record any program stream on the same frequency, there are still going to be several different frequencies to record.
You can see how your QAM channels are laid out here: http://www.silicondust.com/hdhomerun/channels_us