Question about using multiple tuners with STB.

[ikurtram]

Hello All,

I'm still a bit new to the world of HTPCs. So naturally, I have a few questions.

1. I've seen several posts where people are using multiple TV Tuners cards on their SageTV box. I can see how you can use multiple tuners with Analog cable. But how is this possible when you have a digital connection with a STB?

2. Do we need as many Set Top Boxes to make it work? Or are there specialized TV Tuner cards which will tune the digital channels?

3. If there are specialized TV Tuner cards, then how do I find if a particular card will work with my cable?

4. I also know that even if you have digital cable, the signal will still have the channels 1-99 in analog format. So, we can hook-up the cable from the wall directly to an analog tuner card and still tune channels 1-99. With the upcoming change to digital signal next year, does it mean that these bottom 1-99 channels in analog format will go away?

5. When using STB, we actually use the STB to tune the channel. Does this mean that we don't actually need a "Tuner" card. All we need is a Audio/Video Capture card that captures audio/video fed to it, right?

If you have the answer to any of these questions, please take some time and add your comments to this post.

Thank You,

[sleonard]

1, 2, and 5. - When using digital cable you use one STB per tuner card and it is connected to the s-video input. The onboard tuner is not used because the STB is used as the tuner.

3. There are some HDTV cards that can tune QAM which is the way digital channels are transmitted on cable systems but this will not work if the channel is encrypted so not likely to work with HBO or other premium content.

4. Next years analog shutoff has nothing to do with cable systems. Only over-the-air transmissions. (ABC, CBS, etc.) Each cable company can choose to keep the basic analog channels or go digital as they please.

S