HDHR Prime, Sage, Windows Media Center

[Diego Garcia]

Comcast just sent me a notice that as of 12/5/12 I'll need "digital tuners" to receive even rebroadcast OTA channels. I'm pretty sure this means they're going to be encrypting everything, whereas today they only encrypt the non-broadcast stuff.

Assuming that's the case, I need to figure out what to do. I currently run Sage with a SiliconDust HDHomeRun and a Hauppauge HDPVR. If everything gets encrypted, only the HDPVR will continue to provide a video source.

Options would appear to include:

- buying an HDHR Prime and renting some CableCards from Comcast. But I seem to recall reading on this forum that the HDHR Prime does not work with Sage.

- buying one or two more HDPVRs, and renting additional set top boxes to drive them. Can Sage handle multiple HDPVRs? This would be a pretty ugly solution because of all the hardware, cables, interconnects, etc.

- switching from Sage to Windows Media Center, which SiliconDust claims is compatible with the HDHR Prime. This would cost me my remote HD200 connections, though, I assume?

I'd be interested in others' thoughts and experiences about managing this kind of "encryption transition".

[nyplayer]

Originally Posted by Diego Garcia

Comcast just sent me a notice that as of 12/5/12 I'll need "digital tuners" to receive even rebroadcast OTA channels. I'm pretty sure this means they're going to be encrypting everything, whereas today they only encrypt the non-broadcast stuff.

Assuming that's the case, I need to figure out what to do. I currently run Sage with a SiliconDust HDHomeRun and a Hauppauge HDPVR. If everything gets encrypted, only the HDPVR will continue to provide a video source.

Options would appear to include:

- buying an HDHR Prime and renting some CableCards from Comcast. But I seem to recall reading on this forum that the HDHR Prime does not work with Sage.

- buying one or two more HDPVRs, and renting additional set top boxes to drive them. Can Sage handle multiple HDPVRs? This would be a pretty ugly solution because of all the hardware, cables, interconnects, etc.

- switching from Sage to Windows Media Center, which SiliconDust claims is compatible with the HDHR Prime. This would cost me my remote HD200 connections, though, I assume?

I'd be interested in others' thoughts and experiences about managing this kind of "encryption transition".

I went to OTA on all broadcast channels with an indoor antenna. I use cable card with sagedct to get all my subscribed cable channels.

[voorhees]

Originally Posted by Diego Garcia

- buying an HDHR Prime and renting some CableCards from Comcast. But I seem to recall reading on this forum that the HDHR Prime does not work with Sage.

I have been using the HDHR Prime for about a year with SageTV. It works great. You will need to use SageDCT to get SageTV to use the HDHR Prime. I pay $1.50/month for a M-Card from Comcast, and it is well worth it. I get all of the channels I subscribe to except premium channels. Hope this helps.

[jrockow]

Do none of the premium channels work?

If SHOWTIME works for me in WMC, shouldn't it also come thru with SageDCT?

[Diego Garcia]

Thanks for the replies, and the information about SageDCT.

[voorhees]

Originally Posted by jrockow

Do none of the premium channels work?

If SHOWTIME works for me in WMC, shouldn't it also come thru with SageDCT?

Nope. WMC handles the encryption/DRM, SageDCT does not.

[DaveS]

Originally Posted by voorhees

I have been using the HDHR Prime for about a year with SageTV. It works great. You will need to use SageDCT to get SageTV to use the HDHR Prime. I pay $1.50/month for a M-Card from Comcast, and it is well worth it. I get all of the channels I subscribe to except premium channels. Hope this helps.

SageDCT and Prime only work if your cable company do not set the copy protection flag, correct? I believe my cable company (Cox) sets all their channels to copy once, which means SageDCT and Prime will not work. The only alternative for me is multiple HDPVR's or WMC. Is my logic correct?

Many thanks.

[voorhees]

Originally Posted by DaveS

SageDCT and Prime only work if your cable company do not set the copy protection flag, correct? I believe my cable company (Cox) sets all their channels to copy once, which means SageDCT and Prime will not work. The only alternative for me is multiple HDPVR's or WMC. Is my logic correct?

That is the way it is working for me. For me to receive channels through SageDCT they have to be set to copy freely. If they are set to anything else, I cannot view the channel through SageDCT in SageTV.

[thomaszoo]

Originally Posted by Diego Garcia

Comcast just sent me a notice that as of 12/5/12 I'll need "digital tuners" to receive even rebroadcast OTA channels. I'm pretty sure this means they're going to be encrypting everything, whereas today they only encrypt the non-broadcast stuff.

It sounds to me like they are shutting off all analog. If they said you would need one of their boxes on each of your tv's, that would indicate encryption. The HDHRs are "digital tuners" so hopefully you'll be ok.

Wayne

[nyplayer]

Originally Posted by thomaszoo

It sounds to me like they are shutting off all analog. If they said you would need one of their boxes on each of your tv's, that would indicate encryption. The HDHRs are "digital tuners" so hopefully you'll be ok.

Wayne

The Hd Homeruns will be useless with cable you will only be able to use them with OTA... so will the Digital TV's unless you use OTA or a cable box...The Primes should work with cable card

[Diego Garcia]

The utility of the HDHomeRun Primes will depend on whether or not my local Comcast outlet sets the "copy freely" flag on the rebroadcast OTA digital content. They are no longer required to do so, thanks to the FCC.