Digital TV & PVR150 and 500 Advice

[pvr599]

Hi All,
I was just notified by my cable company that in June they are switching to all digital. I didn't think this would effect me at all, but I think it might. Here is what I have:
PVR-150 - Straight from the wall signal
PVR-500 - One input is straight from the wall and the other is the STB
HDHR - both straight from the wall (probably obviously)

I also have a HVR-2250 still in the box. Everything has been working enough that I have been afraid to put it in.

Inside my PC I have only one PCIe slot that is currently holding a Video card when I on occasion switch over to watch something on it. That's becoming more rare now tho and I know I'll have to take it out and use the onboard video.

So I guess my question is what should I do?

I have also been thinking very much about going to Win7, but afraid to do that also. Another time maybe.
Also, been thinking about and HDPVR and get rid of the cable company HDPVR. I'm so sick of switching between Sage and my HDbox to watch those upper channels in HD.

The cable guy (while doesn't really know my setup) said that the HDHR would be able to pickup more that just my locals if it's a QAM tuner. More digital channels of basic cable? I don't know if that's true, but it seems logical.

On another note, could someone please, please, please help me with all the acronyms and maybe give me real life examples of what QAM, clear QAM, analog, digital, OTA, ATSC, NTSC and any others I might have missed. I think it might be very easy, but I have a HUGE brain fart on all this.

THANKS!!!

[gambitpvr]

Basically, when your cable company goes digital, you'll only be able to record from the cable box or clear QAM.

Your PVR-150 and 500 won't be able to record straight from the wall anymore because those will become digital signals, instead of analog. They will still be able to record from the cable box but, it will be standard definition, even if the cable box is HD since they can't record HD signals.

Personally, I would ditch the PVR-150 and PVR-500 and replace them with either HD-PVRs or Colossus cards from Hauppauge (or one of each) and hook them up to HD cable boxes. The HD-PVR is an external USB device and the Colossus is internal (PCI-e). Users have had mixed luck with Colossus so far (since it just came out and requires Sage 7.1.15 beta) but, it's been stable for me recently. Personally, I have one of each hooked up to HD cable boxes and it's working pretty well.

The HD Homerun can tune any unencrypted digital content (aka, Clear QAM) so, that should be good. At most, you may need to have it re-scan the channels. Most of these will probably be in HD, but it can vary, depending on your area. Mine only gets local stations today (all in HD) but, it used to get over 20 channels...cable companies periodically change what is available via Clear QAM.

With HD tuners and HD Homeruns, you should be able to record just about anything and wouldn't need an HDPVR from the cable company. You could also use HD300s to stream anything on your Sage box your TVs so, multiple rooms could share the Sage box (and the recordings).

The acronyms can be a little confusing.

QAM (quadrature amplitude modulation) is just the digital signal cable companies use to transmit their signal. It can be encrypted or unencrypted or a mixture of both. 'Clear QAM' is unencrypted digital channels and can be tuned in by any QAM tuner, such as an HD Homerun. Encrypted channels generally require a cable box to receive.

OTA is 'over-the-air'. This is just broadcast TV (aka, received via an antenna).

ATSC (Advanced Television Systems Committee) is digital over-the-air. These can be either standard def or high definition stations. Since most broadcasters have switched to digital, typically most OTA stations are now ATSC and require a ATSC tuner to recieve/record them. HD Homerun boxes can also tune this signal format.

NTSC (National Television System Committee) is the old analog over-the-air format that was mostly replaced by ATSC in North America, although it is also used in other parts of the world. You'll also see this listed as a video format for DVDs, etc, because it specifies the video resolution, frame rate, etc. that was used for the video to properly display on TVs in North America.

[sTVb]

Originally Posted by pvr599

The cable guy (while doesn't really know my setup) said that the HDHR would be able to pickup more that just my locals if it's a QAM tuner. More digital channels of basic cable? I don't know if that's true, but it seems logical.


THANKS!!!

You should check out Avsforum and see if you can find a thread for your city's digital conversion. In my area, Comcast moved over individual communities one by one and left all the extended basic channels in ClearQAM until they had everyone on digital and then they started encrypting things.

For me this meant about 9 months when my HDHR could tune everything my old PVR150 could before the switch. After encryption was put in place my HDHRs still pick up: local HD, local SD, public access, CSPAN etc, Travel Channel, Discovery, Lifetime movie network, History international, Biography HD, a bunch of music channels, and a couple of random others. The only thing you can count on are the HD locals and the public access being in the clear.

You'll probably want to move to a Colossus or other HD solution eventually, and I think you're right to start planning now, but you might have a big enough window to see if the Colossus drivers really mature or if any of the cablecard solutions become viable. I limped along with a HDHR and PVR150 trying to hold out for a cablecard solution for almost a year before I jumped on the Colossus pre-order. I've had decent luck with the Colossus, but it's definitely not trouble free like the good old PVR150's and 500s are.

[pvr599]

WOW, ok, so I see a massive hit on my credit card coming soon uhhgg. Sage has been a hobby of mine for so long, it would be too hard to give it up.

So, the HVR-2250 isn't going to do me any good for anything, is that right? If that's the case, I'll have to look at the Colossus to take up that PCIe slot and look into the HDPVR. Now wouldn't that give me 4 tuners? Even though I would LOVE to do it, I can't really get 4 HD boxes. 2 at the most.

Let me make sure I heard you guys right. Let's say I get one Colossus and 1 HDPVR. Then I get 2 HD boxes and set them up to work with the HD tuners. Then connect straight from the wall to the other 2 tuners. I would probably be able to get locals no problem, but the rest of the basic cable would be uncertain and depend on what my cable company leaves unencrypted. I don't know anything about the cablecard. I'll have to see what that's all about.

Ok so I have and HD100 in the bedroom and HD200 for main viewing. Are those going to be unusable too?

Thanks so much for the quick reply. I appreciate it so much and a special thanks for clearing up some acronyms for me. That helps a TON!!!

[gambitpvr]

Let me make sure I heard you guys right. Let's say I get one Colossus and 1 HDPVR. Then I get 2 HD boxes and set them up to work with the HD tuners. Then connect straight from the wall to the other 2 tuners.

Yes, that is an option. There's a couple of ways you could go but that would be the simplest. That's the route I would take, if I was in your shoes. (Actually, I was in a similar situation last year, which is why I originally bought my HD-PVR.)

I'm not very familiar with the HVR-2250 so, I looked it up to see if using it was an option. I did a quick search on it and it looks like Sage does support it and it supports both clear QAM and ATSC (digital over-the-air) so, you could use it for one of those options. However, it wouldn't be able to record HD from an HD cable box. Only the HD-PVR or Colossus can do that.

So, you could use your HD Homeruns for Clear QAM. What channels you get will depend on your area but, at least it should give you Local HD channels. It may also give you a handful of other stations but, I doubt you'll get the entire HD lineup available via an HD cable box.

If you want to use your HVR-2250, you could either set it up with Clear QAM (same as your HDHR), connect it to an antenna to see what local HD channels are available or connect it to your cable box to record SD channels (basically replace your PVR-500).

If you want the entire lineup of channels (especially HD), you'll need to eventually add an HD-PVR or Colossus to record from an HD cable box.

I personally have 2 HD cable boxes (attached to an HD-PVR and a Colossus), a couple of HDHRs for clear QAM and a HDHR for OTA HD stations. The cable boxes give me 2 HD tuners that cover the entire lineup in my area. The HDHRs then give me multiple additional tuners for the local stations. This gives me enough tuners to record pretty much anything I want at any given time. Most of my prime time recordings are the main local stations (CBS, NBC, ABC, Fox -- via HDHRs) with a handful of recordings mixed in from basic and premium cable channels (BBC America, SciFi, Discovery, Nick, G4, etc -- via HD cable box). I rarely have a recording conflict.

I have a couple of HD300s in my setup and they work great for my living room and office. From what I've seen on the forums, the HD100 and HD200 should also work with any of these tuners.

I looked at cablecards at one time but, that's a whole other bag of mess. Cable companies are required to support them but, from what I can tell, it's like pulling teeth, if you can even find an affordable cablecard tuner that works with Sage.

[pvr599]

It's all starting to make sense and I think I have one last question. Well it's more of a setup thing. This is just a thought so I can maybe spread the cost out over a couple of months or more.

Here is my thought.
HVR-2250 - both inputs straight from the wall to get basic digital cable
HD-PVR - both inputs each connected to 2 separate HDboxes (this is what I'm unsure of, if I can even do that.) Or wait, it looks like the HD-PVR is a single tuner, but from the pictures it looks like it has 2 inputs. Please tell me this is a dual-tuner!!
HDHR - Local HD

This is almost the exact setup I have now I think. Just like you said replacing the HD-500, but the HD-150 will have to go too.

Can the Colossus be used to record from 2 separate HDBoxes? If so, I think that is going to be my way to go. Unless the HDPVR has a dual tuner. I just wish my MB had more that just 1 PCIe slot. :0( Upgrades coming.

Thanks a ton again for the great help!!

[gambitpvr]

The HD-PVR and Colossus are each SINGLE tuner devices.

The pictures on the website make them look like dual tuner devices but they are not. Each device can only record from ONE HD cable box.

The second set of plugs are output only (used for AV pass-thru). I WISH they were dual tuner devices.

If it makes any difference, I've noticed that the Colossus actually has a slightly better picture quality than the HD-PVR.

[pvr599]

AHH CRAP!!!

Thanks so much for your help. I have a lot to consider now!