Is this possible?

[T_Bone]

Will the following setup work?;

1) I have my Digital Cable Box hooked up directly to my TV.
2) I have the digital cable box output to my TV card in my PC.
3) One person can watch TV on the on the TV hooked up directly to the digital cable box.
4) Another person can watch a different live TV show on the computer that has SAGE running with an output from the Digital Cable box and change channels indepently of what is happening directly on the digital cable box?

[malore]

You can only watch one channel at a time on a digital tv box. But you can watch one digital channel and a different analog channel at the same time if you used the output of the cable box for one source and straight cable for the other.

[Opus4]

Does the cable box have 2 independent outputs? If not, you can only watch the one channel it is set to. If your channels need to be converted, you would need 2 outputs (2 boxes, if each only has 1 output) to watch 2 separate channels.

- Andy

[T_Bone]

Thank-you for your responses. Just to clarify what I think I understand from this is that if you have only one output (S-Video) coming from the digital cable box into your TV-Card then you can only watch on the Sage PC watever channel that digital cable box is on. So the Sage software cannot have its own control of the channels without actually physically (via remote to the cable box) controlling it? So you could not have it recording a different show than what the cable box is tuned to. Is this correct?

[Opus4]

yup - you've got it. The box can only output the one channel it is currently converting. You could record a different channel if you hook up the cable line directly to the encoder card, like malore said, but you'll miss the channels that require the box.

- Andy

[kny3twalker]

is there a reason why some DSS boxes have more than one output (...... like mine)

It has two sets of RCA outputs , one with the choice of Svideo and a coxial output

so three???
what would all these be used for?

[Opus4]

Wouldn't they all be the same output, just in different formats, to fit whatever input your TV happens to have?

- Andy

[kny3twalker]

but it has two sets of RCA outputs?

1 coxial
1 svideo
2 RCA (both audio and video)(six total output plugs)(2 yellow, 2 red, 2 white)

[Opus4]

I don't know... what does your manual say? Can it output 2 separate channels? Maybe it just makes it simple to hook it up to a TV & VCR at the same time, even though both see the same output?

- Andy

[FamilyMan]

As Opus4 said, those outputs are there just for the convenience of outputting the same signal in a variety of formats. Most STB's have more than one set of outputs. My STB (a Motorola DCT-5100) has 1 composite video output, 1 component video output, 1 DVI video output, 1 s-video output, and 1 RF output. Of course, the same channel is broadcast to all those different outputs.

[kny3twalker]

thanks did not mean to make an issue out of it
and my next thought was to pull out the manual

and family man nice STB it does component and DVI, nice!

[Opus4]

Originally posted by kny3twalker
did not mean to make an issue out of it

I just figured you were hoping someone was going to tell you that yours could output multiple channels!

- Andy

[kny3twalker]

I was ........

[RAlfieri]

Originally Posted by FamilyMan

As Opus4 said, those outputs are there just for the convenience of outputting the same signal in a variety of formats. Most STB's have more than one set of outputs. My STB (a Motorola DCT-5100) has 1 composite video output, 1 component video output, 1 DVI video output, 1 s-video output, and 1 RF output. Of course, the same channel is broadcast to all those different outputs.

I have the DCT-5100 as well. Any idea what the two USB ports are for?

Thanks,
Rob

[FamilyMan]

Unless your provider enables them, absolutely nothing. Back in 2002 Motorola said the following about the possibilities of the USB ports:

The DCT5100 hardware offers the following capabilities to help operators capitalize on future demand:

Three (3) USB ports that can be used in the future to interface with peripheral devices such as the Motorola EVr-8401 Enhanced TV Viewer, the Motorola simplefi™ wireless digital audio receiver, Web cameras, IP phones, and multimedia terminal adapters (MTAs) Wide range of connectivity (USB, Ethernet, 1394/5C, YPrPb, DVI/HDCP, HPNA, and more) for a full host of home connectivity options.