I know this has to have been asked (1 Viewer)

[semievilmonkey]

I just can not find the answer that I am looking for by searching and I just want to order what I need.

I currently have Comcast digital cable with a few Tivo's with Comcast cable cards. So I guess the question is simple what TV card do I need to get. I have two options keep the Tivo's and use them to send my payed channels to the pc or get a tv card that takes comcasts cable card so I can get rid of the Tivo's

I think for my second (preferred) option I need a CI/CAM type card? Right? But what exact card, I dont care about the debates on which card is better, just which one works, and you know it works because you use it the way I am wanting to. I can do USB, PCI, PCI Express....I'll build a new pc if I have to if I just know what card to get for digital cable that I pay for. Cost isn't that important to me because I look to save money in the long run if I can get away from the DVR service cost.

Right now the test machine that I am working on is a Windows 7 pro 32bit. HP 5700 4gb ram. Needs to be for a small form factor machine (half height card).

I pretty sure this is the card that I have tried to use before WinTV-HVR-1600 Product overview But I only tried coming straight out of the wall and I either could not get channels to work or the ones that I did they did not look good. This also was before the digital switch over.

And yes I do know that some of my issues are my lack of knowledge on TV formats and I will do much more research on the topic but I want to get the hardware that I need and I want to get what people far more educated on the subject than me to tell me what they are using for digital payed cable cards.

And always I greatly appreciate any advice I can get, if I missed an important detail please just let me know.

 

[geoffstewart]

Hey semievilmonkey (awesome handle, btw),

I'm not familiar with the details for your option 2... apparently, there are some providers in the states allowing cablecard devices... search the threads on those... in Canada, Rogers doesn't offer such a service.

Option 1 means that you need to use a set-top box (STB) to unencrypt the signal from the service provider (Comcast in your case) and then you need to pick an appropriate card to encode the video stream. If your STBs are Tivo's, then you need to use those.

If you're recording standard definition, I would recommend any of the hauppauge HVR-2250. It's a PCI-e card with dual tuner. That means that you can record from both Tivo's at the same time. It will record from the S-Video out on your Tivos and RCA for audio.

If you're recording high definition, your Tivo will need to be HD and you will need the Hauppauge HD-PVR. It takes the component out and dolby digital audio and records a bluray-like file with very high quality. I have two of these and they work great! Hauppauge is coming out with a PCI-e version within the month (announced at CES), so it might be worth the wait if that's preferable to the USB option since they are large.

In both cases, you will also need something to change the channels on your Tivo's when a recording is about to begin. I would recommend the USB-UIRT. It's not cheap, but it just works and can blast to up to 3 devices simultaneously (with home-made IR cable).

Lots of information here. Hope it makes some sense.

Cheers.

Geoff

 

[semievilmonkey]

Thanks for the reply

I do want digital \ HD

I think my option 2 would require this Multi-Stream Tuner Cards by Ceton | Buy, and then I would have to fight with Comcast to try to get them to install it apparently alot of people are having issues with it. Comcast is not good with cablecards, The 2nd Tivo I had hooked up I had to tell the tech what information he needed.

If I go with the 1st option, I would use up the rest of my Tivo service and since it would be cheaper switch to the non dvr standard cable box.

So if I have just the standard cable box I would have to use coax from the wall to the comcast box, then use coax to the tv card on the pc, and then I will be able to scan the channels in mediaportal, but If I want to change channels I have to do that from the comcast box or us an IR blaster. At the point am I looking for a tuner card or a capture card or is there a difference. I really want to avoid S-Video connections, everytime I have tried to use that connection for anything the quality was horrible.

Are those my only 2 options or is there another, in the wiki there was something about smart cards with a CAM (is a CAM just the M-Card cable card that comcast provides). I really want to avoid fighting with comcast.

Thanks for taking the time to reply to me and giving me some suggestions.

 

[mm1352000]

I think my option 2 would require this Multi-Stream Tuner Cards by Ceton | Buy, and then I would have to fight with Comcast to try to get them to install it apparently alot of people are having issues with it. Comcast is not good with cablecards, The 2nd Tivo I had hooked up I had to tell the tech what information he needed.

So far as I am concerned, that tuner is not supported. It probably won't ever be supported since the DRM has strict requirements. See here for details...

I recommend option 1 plus an HD-PVR, but make sure you talk to the people with HD-PVRs before you buy it because there may be issues with the stream from your provider/STB.

Note that I'm only a dev group member from NZ. My recommendations are based on my troubleshooting in these forums. I *do not* have any personal experience with setting up a HTPC with access to a US cable TV provider.