Help me upgrade to digital cards please?

[heavylee]

Hi all,

I'm not very active in the forums, but I've been a happy and loyal user of SageTV for about 6 years. Way back when, I purchase SageTV's Blackbird Bundle (2 Hauppauge encoder cards, SageTV 2.0.20 and a StreamZap remote) and I've been using that ever since; I love it.

Now, my cable provider - Comcast - has been removing the analog channels from it's line up. I have both tuners connected directly to coax from the wall. So I hardly get any channels on SageTV now. I'm hoping that I can simply upgrade the tuner cards to digital cards and be on my merry way.

So my question that I hope I can get a definitive answer for is; what cards can I buy and just through in there (with driver installation of course)? I saw the current card being sold, the WinTV-HVR-1600 Card. Would this work in the way that I'm asking? If so, great. However, it may be a little overkill because I don't need the HD capabilities. So that brings me to the second part of my question; what would be an Standard Def card I could buy that would work with my remote and my current software version. The more information you can provide me, the quicker I can get the wife off my back to 'get her DVR back'.

I know there is much more modern and feature-rich versions of the software available, but I know this version very well, it's tremendously stable, and does everything I want. So if it ain't broke.......

I appreciate all helpful comments and links.

[toricred]

So what version of Sage are you running right now?

[Fuzzy]

You may not be able to ust plug a digital card into the wall. It depends on whether the QAM (digital cable) channels in your market are Clear, or encrypted. If they are clear, you'd be able to use the 1600 (or, I'd actually recommend a Dual-Tuner HDHomeRun.. on sale now at many places.. $99 at radioshack.com i think i read). If it is encrypted, you will not be able to receive it digitally (would require a STB and either your current capture card in SD, or an HD-PVR for HD).

[heavylee]

Originally Posted by toricred

So what version of Sage are you running right now?

I still have 2.0.20 and am quite happy with it.

Originally Posted by Fuzzy

You may not be able to ust plug a digital card into the wall. It depends on whether the QAM (digital cable) channels in your market are Clear, or encrypted. If they are clear, you'd be able to use the 1600 (or, I'd actually recommend a Dual-Tuner HDHomeRun.. on sale now at many places.. $99 at radioshack.com i think i read). If it is encrypted, you will not be able to receive it digitally (would require a STB and either your current capture card in SD, or an HD-PVR for HD).

Thanks Fuzzy. How do I determine if Comcast in my area is clear or encrypted?

[toricred]

If you're using a version that old then the HD-PVR won't be an option. I'm not even certain about QAM. There has been a lot of support added for newer hardware in the new versions as well. Not just bells and whistles. By staying with that old of a version you are probably severely limiting what hardware you can use since the digital transition.

[heavylee]

Thanks for your reply. So if I were to buy a new software version, I'd still need to determine if my signal is clear or encrypted, correct?

[carlgar]

You only need to upgrade http://store.sagetv.com/mm5/merchant...tegory_Code=SS, you do not need to purchase a whole new version.

You can get an idea of what clear QAM channels are currently available at http://www.silicondust.com/hdhomerun/channels_us after you enter your zip code be sure to select the provider. The default provider is Digital Antenna, you want something like Comcast Cable. The channels are subject to change, I just lost 2 channels that were Clear QAM. I have lost before but then I found them again after a week or so.

[Clift]

Originally Posted by heavylee

Hi all,

I'm not very active in the forums, but I've been a happy and loyal user of SageTV for about 6 years. Way back when, I purchase SageTV's Blackbird Bundle (2 Hauppauge encoder cards, SageTV 2.0.20 and a StreamZap remote) and I've been using that ever since; I love it.

Now, my cable provider - Comcast - has been removing the analog channels from it's line up. I have both tuners connected directly to coax from the wall. So I hardly get any channels on SageTV now. I'm hoping that I can simply upgrade the tuner cards to digital cards and be on my merry way.

So my question that I hope I can get a definitive answer for is; what cards can I buy and just through in there (with driver installation of course)? I saw the current card being sold, the WinTV-HVR-1600 Card. Would this work in the way that I'm asking? If so, great. However, it may be a little overkill because I don't need the HD capabilities. So that brings me to the second part of my question; what would be an Standard Def card I could buy that would work with my remote and my current software version. The more information you can provide me, the quicker I can get the wife off my back to 'get her DVR back'.

I know there is much more modern and feature-rich versions of the software available, but I know this version very well, it's tremendously stable, and does everything I want. So if it ain't broke.......

I appreciate all helpful comments and links.

Heavylee,

It sounds like you just need to call comcast and have them send you some DTA's (google the term), then get yourself a USB-UIRT and set it up to control the DTA's. Some folks on here have the IR file you will need. Then you will have your tuner card just tune to channel 3 (or 4) and the DTA's will send the cable to your tuner card and the channel changing will be handled by the USB-UIRT. A digital tuner card will only tune ClearQAM, and thatis usually (almost always) just the local channels and the PBS's. If you enjoy recording SyFy, USA, TNT, MTV, TBS, etc, then you should just get Comcast to front you a couple of DTA's. From what I hear/read, the first couple will be free of charge anyway.

[davephan]

I started SageTV with version 1.4. Version 2 was a big improvement. Although the current version is drastic improvement over version 2. You would be very impressed with the improvements since version 2. There will a small upgrade cost, but it would be worth it. The support on the forum would also be better since a lot of people started long after version 2.

What is the brand and model of the tuner cards you have now?

There are others on the forum in the Philly area. They will probably know if the cable systems in that area have clear QAM, or you could try using the Silcondust link. If you have clear QAM, then you don't have to use a set top cable box for each tuner. If you don't have clear QAM, then you do have to use set top cable boxes. I have Comcast and it still has analog, but very little clear QAM. I suppose the analog will eventually go away on the Comcast system here too.

Some of the newer tuner cards use PCI-e slots, so if your computer is old, then it won't have the PCI-e slots on the system board. Does your computer have PCI-e slots?

If you don't have HD TVs yet, you can still record in HD and watch the programs on SD TVs. Although the top and bottom of the screen will be black bars, and the image won't fill the whole SD TV screen.

How are you watching SageTV on your TVs now? Are you using MVP media extenders of some other method?

Dave

[heavylee]

Originally Posted by carlgar

You only need to upgrade http://store.sagetv.com/mm5/merchant...tegory_Code=SS, you do not need to purchase a whole new version.

You can get an idea of what clear QAM channels are currently available at http://www.silicondust.com/hdhomerun/channels_us after you enter your zip code be sure to select the provider. The default provider is Digital Antenna, you want something like Comcast Cable. The channels are subject to change, I just lost 2 channels that were Clear QAM. I have lost before but then I found them again after a week or so.

Thanks for the help. I did as you suggested, and all the channels listed for my zip with provider 'Comcast Cable' say qam256 as the type. Does that mean they are encrypted?

Originally Posted by Clift

Heavylee,

It sounds like you just need to call comcast and have them send you some DTA's (google the term), then get yourself a USB-UIRT and set it up to control the DTA's. Some folks on here have the IR file you will need. Then you will have your tuner card just tune to channel 3 (or 4) and the DTA's will send the cable to your tuner card and the channel changing will be handled by the USB-UIRT. A digital tuner card will only tune ClearQAM, and thatis usually (almost always) just the local channels and the PBS's. If you enjoy recording SyFy, USA, TNT, MTV, TBS, etc, then you should just get Comcast to front you a couple of DTA's. From what I hear/read, the first couple will be free of charge anyway.

Hi, thanks for the help. I looked in to using a USB-UIRT when I switched to Fios (which only lasted 29 days anyway - that's a long story for another time) and it seemed like getting Sage to work with the USB-UIRT was quite a big hassle with writing INI files - in addition to the cost of extra DTAs. But it seems like you're describing it as a much simpler process. Was I wrong?

Originally Posted by davephan

What is the brand and model of the tuner cards you have now?

There are others on the forum in the Philly area. They will probably know if the cable systems in that area have clear QAM, or you could try using the Silcondust link. If you have clear QAM, then you don't have to use a set top cable box for each tuner. If you don't have clear QAM, then you do have to use set top cable boxes. I have Comcast and it still has analog, but very little clear QAM. I suppose the analog will eventually go away on the Comcast system here too.

Some of the newer tuner cards use PCI-e slots, so if your computer is old, then it won't have the PCI-e slots on the system board. Does your computer have PCI-e slots?

If you don't have HD TVs yet, you can still record in HD and watch the programs on SD TVs. Although the top and bottom of the screen will be black bars, and the image won't fill the whole SD TV screen.

How are you watching SageTV on your TVs now? Are you using MVP media extenders of some other method?

Dave

I have two Hauppauge Roslyn PVR cards, as part of the Blackbird bundle I purchased. Thanks for the heads up about PCI and PCI-E. As for clearQAM, Silicondust lists my channels an qam256; I suspect that is encrypted. I do have an HD TV, but I'm fine with Sage not recording in HD. Most of the shows I watch/record aren't broadcast in HD.

[davephan]

Originally Posted by heavylee

I have two Hauppauge Roslyn PVR cards.,as part of the Blackbird bundle I purchased. I do have an HD TV, but I'm fine with Sage not recording in HD. Most of the shows I watch/record aren't broadcast in HD.

Are the Roslyn cards also have a model number 250?

How many channels can you receive on the HD TV when you hook it up directly to the cable TV coax?

Dave

[Clift]

The QAM256 is just the modulation type. If you saw the channel on the Silicondust website then you should be able to get that channel. If it's not a local/PBS type station then I wouldn't count on it being unencrypted (or ClearQAM) for long. The DTA/USB-UIRT solution should be simple enough to set up. I have not done it personnaly but I know it's not an impossible task at all. Look it up. A lot of folks on this forum use it.

[CollinR]

Clift is on it, get USBUIRT and external cable boxes. Like .1% of the people have clear QAM worth a damn and at any time they can lose it. QAM is nice as an additional source but few can really use it as primary as there is so little content available on it, basically just ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX and PBS thats all you should expect and you probably get that now via analog.

Are you interested in HD? Thats another issue and adds to QAM as what you do get it is usually available in HD.

[heavylee]

Thanks for all your help guys. As it turns out, I'm not going to be undertaking this project at all. But I appreciate your efforts.