Digital Television

[lcurrie]

Hi All,

I'm building a box (okay, in fairness, I built it over the holidays in 2007, I just haven't implemented it yet) to run SageTV with OTA stations.

Question, will the tuner cards work with the new Digital TV signals that were just implemented or is new equipment needed?

Thanks,

Lynn

[carlgar]

You need to identify the tuner cards for a clear answer. If you bought something like a PVR-500 or PVR-250 then no they are useless for OTA. They are still good for cable users that still get analog signals. If you got a tuner like a HD Home Run then yes, they are good to go. If you still have the documentation for the cards, it should state what type of signals it receives. If analog, useless for OTA, if digital (ATSC I believe) then they are good for current use.

[lcurrie]

It's a WinTV-HVR-1600
http://www.hauppauge.com/site/produc...a_hvr1600.html

Looks like good news! I'm guessing that I plug the antenna into the ATSC/QAM in and am ready to roll.

Thanks for your help,

Lynn

[carlgar]

Yes, the ATSC/QAM connector is the one to use. The analog one is obsolete for OTA.

[pjpjpjpj]

Originally Posted by lcurrie

It's a WinTV-HVR-1600
http://www.hauppauge.com/site/produc...a_hvr1600.html

Looks like good news! I'm guessing that I plug the antenna into the ATSC/QAM in and am ready to roll.

Thanks for your help,

Lynn

FYI, before you totally abandon the analog NTSC tuner port on your card, try hooking up an antenna to it and doing a scan. Many local, low-power stations are still broadcasting in analog and are not required to switch. You might get one or two small local stations after all... which is better than just letting that tuner collect dust. Where I live, two local LP stations show some decent stuff... one recently jumped on the national "RetroTV" network (www.retrotv.org), and shows a lot of old classic movies and sitcoms.

On the other hand, you might have a hard time getting EPG data for the station(s) ... can't help you there...