upgrade sage from hauppage 2250 to cable card?

[Darik]

I'm a long time Sage user (8+ years) and am at a point where I need to change my system or abandon completely. Cox (Phoenix) recently went all digital and broke my current setup with QAM. I bought a cheap antenna from amazon that doesn't seem to cut it.

The WAF is very quickly going down, and it has almost become a combative scene when her favorite show is scrambled due to poor reception.

Is the setup for cable card and a HDHR pretty straight forward? I've had a very stable system for years and am hesitant to change.

Or should I invest in a better antenna and do an install in the attic or on the roof?

Please - help me save my marriage!!

[KeithAbbott]

I converted to HDHR Prime + CableCard over the summer, when I wasn't recording much. Once BHN got the Prime working properly with the tuning adapter (lucked out, got a tech that knew what she was doing), it was pretty straightforward. I spent more time setting up how I wanted my channels and guide than I spent messing around with the hardware and OpenDCT.

But before you spend any money, you need to make sure that Cox has the channels that you want set to Copy Freely.

[KarylFStein]

Originally Posted by Darik

I'm a long time Sage user (8+ years) and am at a point where I need to change my system or abandon completely. Cox (Phoenix) recently went all digital and broke my current setup with QAM. I bought a cheap antenna from amazon that doesn't seem to cut it.

The WAF is very quickly going down, and it has almost become a combative scene when her favorite show is scrambled due to poor reception.

Is the setup for cable card and a HDHR pretty straight forward? I've had a very stable system for years and am hesitant to change.

Or should I invest in a better antenna and do an install in the attic or on the roof?

Please - help me save my marriage!!

For OTA I tried a well-reviewed inside antenna first and got nothing even though I was supposed to be close enough to the transmitters. Buying a (small ~$60) short-range, non-amplified attic antenna did wonders. I think I used http://antennaweb.org/ to select the size needed. I guess roof/attic/size depends on how far away you are, obstructions, etc. For me <20 miles from the transmitters with flat land and no big buildings in the way an attic mount works great.

I also use CableCard and it had been pretty solid/easy to get going. I keep expecting Comcast to turn off the copy freely flag on channels, (I don't have any premium channels), so keep my USB-UIRT around...

[Fuzzy]

With the current status of OpenDCT, cablecard configuration should be pretty straight forward (it will autodetect most settings for you). All you would need to do is determine what channels are copy freely for you - which the HDHR Prime can do with it's channel scan in the web UI.

Most complications people have is simply getting the cable company to properly provision the cablecard for you - but once that's done, it's pretty smooth sailing.

[tmiranda]

OpenDCT with CabkeCard is easy to setup and works very well.

[UgaData]

This link from earlier this year to the Cox Forums may help.

http://forums.cox.com/forum_home/tv_...4/t/13991.aspx

As good and awesome as cablecard is, the Cable Companies can still (and sometimes do) ruin it with CCI flags.

Unfortunately, unless there is someone else in your area using cablecard, their maybe no way to determine how the CCI flags are set in your area. That said, the local (broadcast) stations are usually left open.

The third option, other than antenna or cablecard, would be a set-top box with either an HD-PVR or Colossus.

I apologize if this sounds on the dour side in anyway, but there can be a small risk due to how the "Powers That Be" feel the need to protect their content.

[Fuzzy]

Originally Posted by UgaData

This link from earlier this year to the Cox Forums may help.

http://forums.cox.com/forum_home/tv_...4/t/13991.aspx

As good and awesome as cablecard is, the Cable Companies can still (and sometimes do) ruin it with CCI flags.

Unfortunately, unless there is someone else in your area using cablecard, their maybe no way to determine how the CCI flags are set in your area. That said, the local (broadcast) stations are usually left open.

The third option, other than antenna or cablecard, would be a set-top box with either an HD-PVR or Colossus.

I apologize if this sounds on the dour side in anyway, but there can be a small risk due to how the "Powers That Be" feel the need to protect their content.

Most Cable Boxes display the current CCI flag int he service menu somewhere, so you CAN get an idea of what's available even without having a CableCard tuner.

[Darik]

I love this forum!! This is exactly the kind of feedback I was looking for. I was originally looking to cut ties with Cox and go with OTA, but it sounds like cable card is in a pretty stable state.

Ugadata - I read the forum about CCI flags in Phoenix, but it doesn't help me make a decision. Is there a way to find out what the flags are set to (without buying any hardware)? When I was recording QAM, I didn't have any issues. But I don't know if anything has changed over the past few months.

[KeithAbbott]

Originally Posted by Darik

Is there a way to find out what the flags are set to (without buying any hardware)?

Find a neighbor that has a cable box, most of the cable boxes have some sort of service menu that allows you to see the CCI flag information for any given channel. It's kind of a pain to go channel by channel, but it would be free.

Another way would be to find someone at your cable company that understands CCI flags and DRM, they might be able to tell you which channels are flagged Copy Freely. Usually, locating "that person" is not an easy task...

[tmiranda]

When my cable company set many channels to Copy Once I went cheap and captured the standard def signal from the Component outputs on the cable box.

[UgaData]

Both Fuzzy and KeithAbbott answered your question. However, from what I remember, this can be tedious and requires knowing your cable box better than most people care to. But you don't have to buy any equipment first, if you already have a cable box or know someone that does.

My experience with asking the "Cable" Company anything beyond adding or dropping services is , YMMV.


Are you looking to record just the local channels, i.e. the same as you would get OTA? Or do you also desire some of the "cable" channels?

Not always, but the chances are good that the CCI flags will at least allow recording of the local channels.

In rereading the forum post no one from Cox actually posted anything, my apologies I read through it too quickly.