Upgrading to a set top box

[Mortanis]

Currently I have comcast expanded basic, with no set top box, split to my two tuners. I'm thinking of finally getting some of the higher channels, which will come with a set top box. What do I need to have happen to make this work?

I'll need to buy a USB-UIRT, I assume. Right now I'm only planning on getting the one box - I can still pipe normal cable from coaxial into the other tuner and record my normal expanded basic channels, correct? Can the USB-UIRT replace my now failing Hauppage 35 button remote, if I buy a newer, nicer remote?

If I decide to be able to record two instances of higher level channels, I'll need a second set top box, correct? I assume the USB-UIRT can manage both of them through IR at once without any extra work.

And one final question: Using Sage and a Set Top Box - is it possible to record Pay Per View events easily? I'd like to be able to timeshift UFC's.

[ke6guj]

Originally Posted by Mortanis

I'll need to buy a USB-UIRT, I assume. Right now I'm only planning on getting the one box - I can still pipe normal cable from coaxial into the other tuner and record my normal expanded basic channels, correct?

Yup, you can record normal cable via coax on one tuner and record off the STB off the other tuner. The USB-UIRT is one option, probably the easiest, to setup Sage so that it can automatically control the STB. Serial and Firewire tuning are other more complicated but more reliable ways of controlling the STB.

Can the USB-UIRT replace my now failing Hauppage 35 button remote, if I buy a newer, nicer remote?

Well, the UIRT isn't a remote, so it can't actually replace the Hauppuage remote, but it will allow you to use just about any other remote you want to use in order to replace the Hauppauge remote. The UIRT is an IR receiver that receives IR signals from a IR remote, and is also an IR blaster that will send the IR signals to the STB.

If I decide to be able to record two instances of higher level channels, I'll need a second set top box, correct? I assume the USB-UIRT can manage both of them through IR at once without any extra work.

Yup, need 2 STBs if you want to record 2 STB'ed channels. Yes, the UIRT can do up to 3 identical STBs with no problems.

And one final question: Using Sage and a Set Top Box - is it possible to record Pay Per View events easily? I'd like to be able to timeshift UFC's.

Sage doesn't do PPV easily. It can't send the commands to "buy" a PPV or do On-Demand. People do get it to work by setting up sage to record channel 1 and then manually sending the PPV commands to the STB via remote.

[Mortanis]

Kinda figured something like that with the PPV. A bit of a problem, but it won't be a show stopper for me. I assume Sage can't be programmed to do that because the method for it is different for every company/box/system. Feh.

Thanks for the heads up. Time to buy some hardware.