Another thread asking for setup advice

[DwarF]

Howdy again. I have been around for years, but I haven't been able to touch the setup for a while (I finish school in 1 week Yeeeeeeehaaaaaw), and I wanted to get back to improving my setup.

I am going to upgrade the software version of Sage to the latest release. I have Time Warner Cable in Austin with the STB, and the Happauge 500 on Windows XP, and Girder.

I do not have the STB connected currently because I do not have an IR blaster. I have the coaxle cable coming into the room split with a screw-in type splitter and coax to each input on the HP 500.

I want to improve the picture. I would really like to get HD now that more interesting shows are being broadcast in it too now.

What is the best way to get TWC HD signal onto my TV screen? I don't mind upgrading equipment. I have read a lot of options and do not expect you to do all the legwork for me, and I do not want to lead the question too much with my understanding. But, is there some capture-card that can take this signal directly into the computer? Is my best option QAM with IR Blaster to the STB? The STB can only "stream" one channel at a time right? If I want to maintain the dual tuner functionality, do I have to have 2 STBs?

Thank you for your advice,
DwarF

[bialio]

HDHomeRun is a pretty good option for getting the basic HD channels from TWC. I get all the locals plus Discovery and TNT HD here in dallas, just plugging the HDHR directly into the feed from TWC. These are all broadcast in unencrypted (clear) QAM.

There are some tuner cards out there that have a QAM capability. I don't have any experience with them.

A quite costly route you can explore for HD is the R5000 mod - it gets HD signals directly from the STB. It is not cheap.

btl.

[DwarF]

I do not have the premium channels. So, I should be able to take the HP 500 MCE out and plug in the HDHomeRun install the software and I'm off to the races? That seems easy enough.

Thanks for the advice,
D

[fyodor]

If you're using QAM you don't need a STB. It bypasses it. If you want to use the box's firewire output, which is also digital, and often, but not always, provides a wider channel selection, you need STBs.

I ditto the hdhomerun for QAM. It's got pretty broad compatibility, in the event that you wish to use something other than Sage in the future.

Do we have an FAQ on this? If not, we should put together a sticky on this issue.

[bialio]

What you should do is get a decent applified splitter - and take your incoming signal and split it 3 ways - two for the HDHomerun, 1 for the MCE500.

The HD Home Run will only get a few channels - they will be digital and HD, but all the normal cable channels you will still need to get from your HP 500 MCE.

[Protoman]

Originally Posted by DwarF

I do not have the premium channels. So, I should be able to take the HP 500 MCE out and plug in the HDHomeRun install the software and I'm off to the races? That seems easy enough.

Thanks for the advice,
D

Slow down, partner. The HDHomeRun is a network device you plug into your network... Keep the HP 500 MCE in the computer to record the analog channels 1-99. If you want you could hook up the STB to the PVR 500 and use USB-UIRT to change those channels. I use a similar setup to this.

Thanks,
Protoman

[padre]

Originally Posted by Protoman

Slow down, partner. The HDHomeRun is a network device you plug into your network... Keep the HP 500 MCE in the computer to record the analog channels 1-99. If you want you could hook up the STB to the PVR 500 and use USB-UIRT to change those channels. I use a similar setup to this.

Thanks,
Protoman

That's the setup I have now. I have a Hauppauge PVR250 setup for the analog channels, and the dual tunner HDHomeRun for the QAM (HDTV) channels. Works great!

[DwarF]

Why would I want to use a STB with the PVR 500? I don't use one now and it seems to work just fine.

[DwarF]

Is this what you mean by amplified splitter? http://store.snapstream.com/c-0314.html

Is there a cheaper alternative?

[DwarF]

Ok, I have done some more investigation. I plugged the cable directly into the TV and had it search for digital channels. It could only see a few more, most of which were pretty worthless. There are another hundred or so available.

My understanding is that this means if I want to tune in these channels, I would have to hook up the STB, control it via IR and have the output from the STB going into something like a HDHomeRun to receive all of the additional channels?

I have a circa 2004 Scientific Atlanta STB that looks pretty minimal from their website. I couldn't even replace this with a different STB because it doesn't have the encryption coded into it?

Thanks for your patience

[ke6guj]

Originally Posted by DwarF

Ok, I have done some more investigation. I plugged the cable directly into the TV and had it search for digital channels. It could only see a few more, most of which were pretty worthless. There are another hundred or so available.

if your TV has a QAM tuner, then those digital channels that came in would be the channels you'd be able to get on a QAM tuner like hte HDHomerun.

My understanding is that this means if I want to tune in these channels, I would have to hook up the STB, control it via IR and have the output from the STB going into something like a HDHomeRun to receive all of the additional channels?

If there are digital channels you want to record that are not unscrambled to the QAM tuner, then you would need an STB to unscramble them. You'd need to control it via IR (or serial or firewire, if your STB supports it) and then output the tuned signal from either the coax, composite, or s-video connectors to your PVR-500. That output is gonna be SD. There is no current way to capture HD from the component or DVI/HDMI ports of the STB into the PC with a consumer-grade HD capture device.

Hooking the STB into the HDHR will do no good. The HDHR needs a straight from the wall cable connection to tune in the QAM channels.

I have a circa 2004 Scientific Atlanta STB that looks pretty minimal from their website. I couldn't even replace this with a different STB because it doesn't have the encryption coded into it?

huh? encryption coded into it?

To further clarify, if you want to capture HD content in actual HD, and not down-converted SD, you only have 3 options right now in a cable environment.

The first way is with a QAM tuner like the HDHR. Usually limited to local channels and maybe some other digital channels like TNTHD.

Second way is with a firewire-equipped HD STB. Also may be limited to a small range of channels, or may allow you to record all paid content that you get in your cable package. No way to find out without testing it. And the available channels you get via unscrambled QAM may not match the list of available unencrypted, non-5C'ed channels that you can get from an firewired STB.

Third way is with a STB that has been modified with an R5000HD. Will get all channels you pay for, but is $$$. You can either modify a cable-company owned compatable HD STB by sending it to the R5000 people, and then sending it back to the R5000 people to remove the mod before returning the STB. Or else, you can get your own, personally-owned STB modified, assuming that your cable company will obey the law and provision your STB.

[bialio]

In general, this is what you are looking at via the various sources:

No STB :
1) normal analog cable channels (2 thru 99 likely) These are all Standard Definition. Also scanning for Analog channels via your TV would pick up these as well. Your HP 500 MCE is where you would get these channels for use in Sage.
2) Unencrypted (Clear) QAM - These are the channels you picked up when you asked your TV to scan for digital channels. You won't get many "good" channels here - what the big benefit for most TV viewers is with Clear QAM is the locals in HD. You will probably see a few other HD channels as well - TWC tends to send DiscoveryHD and TNT-HD in clear QAM. HDHomeRun and Other clear QAM tuners will pick up these channels for use in Sage.

With STB:
1) All of the normal analog cable channels (same as 1 above)
2) Digital cable channels - these are what come in in the digital packages that TWC offers. Varies depending on the package.
3) HD - local channels and premium channels (HBO HD) will be available on the STB as well.

As far as using a STB with Sage, the post before this one has a very good synopsis of what your options are. Basically, though, you have to control the STB (usually with IR Blaster of some sort) and then capture it's output with some capture card (like your HP 500).

btl.