Firewire and S-Video out of a single cable box

[waters10]

I have a question about using a cable box for firewire and s-video at the same time.

Right now, I have firewire running and I can only get local HD channels. I can't get analog or digital cable channels through firewire.

I also use a PVR-150 to tune and record analog channels. I was thinking about using S-video instead, so I can at least get a 480i signal out of the encrypted hd channels, as well as the digital cable channels (125-199).

Now, is it possible to configure Sage, to combine these two tuners, or treat them as one? This way, when it sees a recording on the firewire tuner and a recording on the s-video tuner, it treats as a conflict. Or when you're recording, say a firewire channel, and you try to tune a channel on the s-video side, you get a warning.

I'd also need a solution to switch channels. I've used EXEtuner and girder to change channels before. Could I use EXEtuner for both tuners?

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks

[Conejo]

SageTV works under the assumption that multiple tuners are independent, that it can use all available tuners for scheduled recordings.

I was thinking about using S-video instead, so I can at least get a 480i signal out of the encrypted hd channels, as well as the digital cable channels (125-199)

What you're purposing is *possible* but not practical.
1) You *could* take your STB and set up TWO TUNERS (Firewire and S-Video) in SageTV
2) Make sure your logical channels don't overlap with any Analog channels
3) Make sure to schedule ONLY ONE PROGRAM to record at any given time on either the Firewire or S-Video tuner.
(There is no way I know of to have a conflict check here because SageTV will act as if both tuners are independent)

Adding any additional digital tuners will negate this jerry-rig.

You might also think about getting an additional BASIC Cable Box (STB) and using it to deliver the s-video feed. Some cable companies are now providing these basic boxes free of monthly charges (or extremely low monthly charges). This would give you your Firewire Tuner, a basic STB tuner via s-video and your analog tuner with the ability to record independently and access to live tv.

If you want to record the HD Channels that you can't get via Firewire then you'd have to spring for another HD STB at cost ($5 to $10 per mo.)

[waters10]

Thanks for the reply.

What you're purposing is *possible* but not practical.

Yeah. I thought about your suggestion. The problem is, like you said, it's not practical at all. I would not be able to add favorites, or I'd have to be very careful with that, so it doesn't create conflicts that Sage wouldn't alert me.

Adding any additional digital tuners will negate this jerry-rig.

What do you mean by that? This was going to be in addition to a Hauppauge 1600, that I'd use to get clear QAM channels. Would this apply and why?

Another solution, would be to get the 1600 card, use clear QAM and S-video out of the box, and just drop firewire altogether. I would not be able to record two HD channels at once, but I'd be able to get one HD channel and one very good 480i signal at once and also being able to get digital cable channels.

[Conejo]

Originally Posted by waters10

What do you mean by that? This was going to be in addition to a Hauppauge 1600, that I'd use to get clear QAM channels. Would this apply and why?

I'm not sure what I was thinking. The only issue would be when scheduled recordings attempted to use both tuners tied to the same STB source (you'd get the recordings but one would be incorrect). Any additional HD cards added would work fine, and would help to avoid the conflict especially if you set their tuner merits higher so they get picked first.

I think I remember reading about a few users who actually have their systems running this way.

Another solution, would be to get the 1600 card, use clear QAM and S-video out of the box, and just drop firewire altogether.

Some people get more channels via firewire than via clear QAM. But I agree with your logic. This should work.

There have been *some* issues with the HVR-1x00 cards with dual recording HD and SD if the SD starts recording first. I'm not sure it this has been resolved.