Digital Cable?

[Pelicanjoe]

Hi All,

I have a Sage server set up with 5 tuners and have been running on an Analog signal since 2008. The WAF has been fine, but our cable company, TWC, is making rumblings that they are going to 100% digital. I just bought a new box to experiment on, but I currently don't have their digital service. Does anyone know:

1) where I can find out if my local TWC encrypts their channels? And, what channels they encrypt?
2) how can I get my tuner card to unencrypt the channels (without having a digital box for every tuner)?
3) Should I stay on Analog as long as I can?
4) What would be the best tuner card to get that works with TWC (I'm in North Charlotte)?
5) Where I can read up on this subject?

Thank you!!!!

Joe

[paulbeers]

Silicon Dust, makers of the HDHomerun, actually has a channel guide that will tell you what is available via "Clear QAM" in your area. This will let you know what channels you can get with a basic Clear QAM tuner (digital tuner). Clear QAM is cable digital tuning that is not encrypted.

Secondly, if they go all digital, you will need a cable box hooked either to the composite connectors on your current tuner cards or you can get High Def by hooking an HD Cable box to an HDPVR. You will need a way to change the channels on the box, so I recommend a USB UIRT.

Third, one thing you might want to consider is how much network telelvision you actually watch. I would say that (especially Sep-May), 70-80% of our television viewing is done on the Major Networks. Those should be available via Clear QAM, but even if they are not what about Over The Aair? Both of those options would not require a Set Top Box (STB) and therefore you may find that you really only need one or two cable boxes as long as you are capturing your network viewing another way. Sage will actually meld multiple input types into one Guide so it is simple. I have 3 dish network boxes for all my cable viewing and I am thinking about down grading to two because I never use all three at any time. Cable is also notorious for playing the same thing over and over again, so even if you don't have enough boxes to record everything at say 8:00 PM, it will record it at the 11:00PM or 2:00 AM showing....

P.S. Silicon Dust's website is www.silicondust.com

[jbrandon]

I’m on Time Warner in Kansas City – I would think they would be similar. I use three Hauppauge2250’s and a couple of analog only cards. I get most of the main broadcast channels in QAM however only a few are actually HD, CBS, NBC, FOX and ABC are for the most part 1080. I am picky about what I watch and do not watch sports…

I found it is an arduous process to scan and figure what QAM channel goes with which listing – took several days of trying and tweaking. I can share my mapping but they probably are not the same. I preformed the channel scan and with the channel lineup in the TWC web site looked at the program and what was being broadcast then mapped. With the amount of commercials nowadays it takes a while. Some are obvious – like QVC…

I believe you must have a box to decrypt …

Analog/digital, I wish I could go 100% digital but I do not want to fool with boxes and IR’s. Cablecard is the answer but currently I don’t think Sage will support it.

I like the Hauppauge 2250 cards, some have had problems with them, I have not. I currently have three installed.

I don’t remember one place to get all the information you are looking for but these forums are a good starting point. If it can be done within Sage there will be someone here to help.

Jim

[wayner]

What type of tuners do you have in your PC? Assuming that they have s-video, or composite, inputs then you can use them with digital boxes.

What type of shows do you record - are they from network channels or cable channels? Your best solution may involve a mix of OTA tuners along with digital boxes connected to tuners. The advantage of OTA is that you will be getting most of your channels in HD and you don't need any sort of a box although you will likely need a new tuner or two.

Some channels may be available in what is called unencrypted QAM which means that you don't need a tuner box to receive them. But channels that are encrypted will require a digital box for each tuner.