TV Upgrades: What will it mean for my Sage?

[wirecreative]

So, I currently have two different Sage boxes, each with two analog tuners, and the most basic of Comcast cable.

I love it.

But we have some TV upgrades happening soon, and I'm dreading them insofar as it means I'll have to mess with each Sage system to get everything to play along nicely.

First, we're going to upgrade to digital cable. I've read some of the other threads discussing Firewire, Serial and IRT controls of STBs, and it sounds like a nightmare to get working while never nearing the ease of using the bare TV tuners.

Any new tech developments on this end? Does Comcast now offer their own Tuner Cards (I wish)? What is the ideal set-up for this without too much hacking (I'm usually very slow on getting some of these workaround apps to work). Would we be better off with a satellite system that will plug-in seamlessly to my PC? Are there any CableCard tuners that don't require Vista and MCE?

Second, we'll be getting an HDTV during the Christmas price wars. So I'll need to add an HD tuner card or somesuch to one system. Will this affect how I should approach the changes resulting from the Digital Cable upgrade? Should I get HD ready first?

My main Sage system is a pretty new Core Duo with XP Pro, so it should be ready for HD once I get the right hardware inside of it.

Any suggestions? Warnings?

Thanks.

[reggie14]

Originally Posted by wirecreative

First, we're going to upgrade to digital cable. I've read some of the other threads discussing Firewire, Serial and IRT controls of STBs, and it sounds like a nightmare to get working while never nearing the ease of using the bare TV tuners.

Those are pretty much your only options at this point for digital TV. Most channels won't be digital though, so you could continue to just have your tuners plugged directly into the cable line.

If you want to go HD, I'd recommend getting a HVR-1600, or one of the other QAM-capable tuners. Then you can just plug those into the cable line and you'll get the HD local channels, but probably nothing else.

Any new tech developments on this end? Does Comcast now offer their own Tuner Cards (I wish)?

Nope, and I highly doubt they ever will. The cable companies want you to use their DVRs.

What is the ideal set-up for this without too much hacking (I'm usually very slow on getting some of these workaround apps to work). Would we be better off with a satellite system that will plug-in seamlessly to my PC?

The easiest setup for getting all your subscribed channels is Sage is probably to get an r5000 box, but that's pretty expensive and certainly not worth it unless you want to get some non-local HD channels. Your best bet is probably to just plug one or two set-top boxes into your tuners. I think a lot of the new tuners come with the IR blasters you would need.

The satellite systems don't "plug-in" to Sage any easier than the cable set-top boxes. But its not any harder either.

Are there any CableCard tuners that don't require Vista and MCE?

Nope, and I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for one either.

Second, we'll be getting an HDTV during the Christmas price wars. So I'll need to add an HD tuner card or somesuch to one system. Will this affect how I should approach the changes resulting from the Digital Cable upgrade? Should I get HD ready first?

I don't think you need to. Your HD options are pretty limited. As I said, if all you need are the HD locals, then just get an HVR-1600 next time they go on sale for $60-$70. Otherwise you probably need to r5000 mod a cable box. I guess some people have had luck using firewire, but it sounds like you still usually can't get anything beyond the local HD channels.

Any suggestions? Warnings?

Depending on the price and capabilities, you'll probably want to get one of the upcoming HD extenders rather than using TV-out on your PC.

[CollinR]

Get a USBUIRT and pay attention when you buy your new TV. Read it's specs and become educated before you buy something. Really you should probably already have a part# in mind.

[matt91]

I'm in the same boat as you in terms of basic comcast only.

I guess it depends on how you watch TV, but we got a HDTV with a QAM tuner. That way, we get the locals in HD - as long as we're willing to watch them live, with commercials...ugh.

We certainly aren't audio/video-philes, so we're happy watching recorded SD content via the MVP on our HDTV set. I might get the HD extender when they come out, though, and see if that makes it even better. (at least it'll raise the 'weak link in the chain' to be the content itself, rather than the cable between the MVP and the HDTV -- or so I tell myself.)

Matt

[stroths]

I have Comcast cable plugged straight into the tuners with no external tuner boxes or IR blasters. I get local HD channels OTA via my 1600. This setup works really well and I don't look forward to setting up IR blasters, worrying about the cable box going down, losing recordings as well as paying for several tuner boxes.
I have contemplated going with a DVR from either FIOS, Time Warner or Dish/DirecTV, but I love the features of SageTV and I have spent a lot of money on hardware.
If there was a PCI tuner or cablecard solution that would work with these providers and SageTV I would be very happy.

[wirecreative]

Thanks for everyone's input. Here's what I'm leaning toward right now:

1. Upgrading to digital cable, with the R5000 mod (which really isn't that expensive once you're already paying for the cable.)
2. Upgrading one of my analog tuners to an HRV1800 as a second source of the clearQAM channels from the box
3. Leaving one of my analog tuners to pick up the scraps during recording conflicts (until I can't stand it any longer and upgrade that one also).

Unless I'm missing something (which is likely), this will give me three tuners in Sage with a mixture of HD and SD.

I really can't see upgrading the cable without making it Sage-friendly.

[mikesm]

Originally Posted by wirecreative

Thanks for everyone's input. Here's what I'm leaning toward right now:

1. Upgrading to digital cable, with the R5000 mod (which really isn't that expensive once you're already paying for the cable.)
2. Upgrading one of my analog tuners to an HRV1800 as a second source of the clearQAM channels from the box
3. Leaving one of my analog tuners to pick up the scraps during recording conflicts (until I can't stand it any longer and upgrade that one also).

Unless I'm missing something (which is likely), this will give me three tuners in Sage with a mixture of HD and SD.

I really can't see upgrading the cable without making it Sage-friendly.

This is similar to what works for me. I have an R5000-HD for cable, a HDHomerun, which gives 2 clear QAM tuners, and 2 ATI tuners hooked to STB's to give me a couple extra analog tuners for conflict avoidance. The analog picture through the ATI tuner connected via Svideo is quite good actually.

I may convery one of the STB's to a HD version and do a firewire connect if it turns out I my expanded basic channels are available without 5C and/or I have a few more HD channels without 5C, to help augment the R5000.

I have the HDhomerun tuners set to the highest merit, then the R5000, then the analog tuners...

It works pretty well.

Thanks,
Mike