building new PVR

[sandor]

QAM:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QAM_tuner

OTA:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Over-the-air_television

[webster]

how do cable ready televisions work in the sense that you just plug the coax directly into it? Granted, we do not have a television that goes above channel 101 to test with but I am wondering if the HD channels are encrypted of if they would come in fine. We do not have any movie channels but we do watch HD as well as the kids channels.

[mayamaniac]

I was once like you webster, well maybe not as clueless, but didn't know much about HD broadcast and how it works. If someone else doesn't come in and explain everything for you, I'll type a long reply and try to simplify what is what for you to understand before you make any purchases.

[sdsean]

Sic0048 is correct, you are already paying for cable, and if you truly want watch 1 record 1 for ANY cable channel, you'll need 2 HD-PVRs, and then 2 STB cable boxes. (You should check to see how much each box costs you to rent/lease, vs what you DVR fee is).

You then go direct component out from STBs, to the HD-PVRs, and each HD-PVR to the PC.

For changing channels on the PVR, you can use an IR Blaster or Serial Tuning of the Cable Box can support it. (Find out if the cable box has a firewire, serial or USB port).

[webster]

yes, I am pretty clueless about this process. It seems like it should be simple. I will review the components to gain a better understanding.

[sic0048]

Originally Posted by webster

how do cable ready televisions work in the sense that you just plug the coax directly into it? Granted, we do not have a television that goes above channel 101 to test with but I am wondering if the HD channels are encrypted of if they would come in fine. We do not have any movie channels but we do watch HD as well as the kids channels.

Those are analog cable stations. If you are interested in recording those stations, then you need to look for a NTSC tuner (it will usually also say cable ready or something like that).

Just to be clear, the HDHomeRun will not record those shows. You could record those shows with a HD-PVR (because it will record whatever the STB is outputting), but it would be a waste of resources. You would want a dedicated NTSC tuner to record those "basic" cable stations.

If you subscribe to "Digital Cable" (which any HD stations are digital by default) that is when you'll need the STB and HD-PVR combination to ensure you can record all the stations you receive.

[sic0048]

Here is a Hauppauge HVR-1600 tuner card. It has two tuners built in - one NTSC that works with analog antenna or analog cable, and one ATSC/QAM tuner. So you can watch/record 1 analog and 1 digital show at the same time.

The Hauppauge PVR-500 is hard to find now. But it is a very highly regarded dual NTSC tuner card. It does not have a ATSC or QAM tuner, but you can watch/record two analog cable shows (or two analog OTA shows) at the same time.

[mikejaner]

Originally Posted by webster

I am confused by the QAM and OTA. Right now, we have HD cable coming into the STB/DVR going to the television. It can record two channels and we can watch one recorded show simultaneously. My initial goal would be to do at least the same and store more video on the PC version.

At a very minimum, you need a PC, with good guts (Intel Core Duo/AMD XP 64 X2 5000, Nvidia/ATI video with H264 Accelleration, or higher.....) and two Hauppauge HDPVR's connected to two HD Cable boxes, and a USBUIRT.
This will give you the same functionality as your current dual tuner DVR from COX.

Like sic0048 said, getting an additional tuner which does QAM (Cable) and/or ATSC (Antenna) will allow you to record the local digital HD stations in your area, while leaving the two Cable boxes open for recording cable channels. This gives you the capability of 3 or 4 recordings at a time depending on if you are recording local stations along with cable stations etc.... This is an optional choice, since your Cable boxes provide the local stations in HD(most likely), but you would free them up for recording other stations (Non Locals like HD Discovery etc..) at the same time.

[webster]

so in order to record HD, I need the HD-PVR? The internal tuners from hauppauge only record analog, is that correct?

http://www.hauppauge.com/site/produc..._internal.html

[mikejaner]

Originally Posted by webster

so in order to record HD, I need the HD-PVR? The internal tuners from hauppauge only record analog, is that correct?

http://www.hauppauge.com/site/produc..._internal.html

The internal tuners record analog(Ch 1-125) or unencrypted digital(ATSC/QAM). Your cable box puts out only analog, whether its Standard Definition(Composite,Svideo) or High Definition(Component), and maybe Digital HDMI (Which you cannot easily record from)

[sic0048]

Originally Posted by webster

so in order to record HD, I need the HD-PVR? The internal tuners from hauppauge only record analog, is that correct?

http://www.hauppauge.com/site/produc..._internal.html

Yup. The HD-PVR (and a cable STB) is the only way to ensure you can record EVERY digital channel you get currently.

A QAM tuner may be able to record a few digital channels (the unencrypted digital channels only - generally limited to your local networks). It certainly will not record all of them as no cable company in America is sending out all their digital broadcasts unencrypted.

[71_Cuda]

Originally Posted by webster

so in order to record HD, I need the HD-PVR? The internal tuners from hauppauge only record analog, is that correct?

http://www.hauppauge.com/site/produc..._internal.html

To clarify some of the responses...

You can record some HD with the internal tuners, but as mentioned this will be limited to either

1. ATSC (OTA) - The input comes from an antenna and is thus limited to the content you receive with an antenna. This is generally your local network stations (e.g. Fox, CBS, ABC, NBC, PBS, etc). They all have to broadcast digital signals (soon), and generally all broadcast them in HD when applicable. Of course you need to be in range of the broadcast towers and have the appropriate antenna. For info on what stations you can expect to receive this way and what type of antenna you might need, check antennaweb.org.

2. Clear QAM (unencrypted QAM) - This will generally come from a direct connection of the coax line from your cable company. As previously mentioned, cable companies broadcast QAM signals through their lines. Some of them are encrypted (and you need a STB or CableCard to decrypt them). Others are unencrypted (otherwise known as Clear QAM). Generally this includes the local channels (most if not all) and, if you're lucky, a couple of premium digital cable channels. You can get an idea of what you might be able to receive through Clear QAM at the SiliconDust website. Scroll down to the "Digital Cable (unencrypted)" section and look for the channels in 720p or 1080i (or 16:9 aspect) to see what might be available in HD.

In summary, you CAN get HD content with the internal tuners using one of the above methods, but it will be limited. To get ALL HD content your cable company offers, you will need a STB and an HD-PVR (unless you want to go the Vista CableCard pre-built option previously mentioned).