Sasem USB-HDTV tuner

[insomniac]

wait...so it not only recognizes it, but works with the analog tuner? Im not too familiar with the progress of HD encoding, but is this thing a true hardware HD tuner? Is there such a thing yet?

I.

Originally posted by Bear
Sage recognize the analog portion of my Sasem USB-HDTV tuner right away. I'd love it if Sage could work with the digital (aka HDTV) section of the box as well...

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[Bear]

Insomniac - Yes, there are lots of hardware HD tuners out there. They tend to either not work with CATV (no QAM), or they work with QAM, but then require you to capture via firewire to your PC. There are three currently "working" PC-based solutions:

AccessDTV - works great on QAM64 (mostly music channels), but has a hard time with QAM256 (not enough memory)

Fusion 3 QAM - Horrible software, but a great tuner section.

Sasem USB-HDTV - H/W MPEG encoder for SDTV; OTA and CATV HDTV (requires a VERY clean signal, in so far as I can tell).

As for whether the Sasem box "works" for HDTV, well I have to clean up my signal chain first before I can give a definitive answer...

Later,
Bill

[edmc]

Bear (Bill) writes:

Fusion 3 QAM - Horrible software, but a great tuner section.

Sasem USB-HDTV - H/W MPEG encoder for SDTV; OTA and CATV HDTV (requires a VERY clean signal, in so far as I can tell).

As for whether the Sasem box "works" for HDTV, well I have to clean up my signal chain first before I can give a definitive answer...

As I posted over in one of the too-numerous-to-count HD threads in the AVS HTPC Forum, I've had exactly the opposite experience:

1 - The DViCo S/W, while many complain, at least doesn't crash my HTPC
2 - The Sasem S/W, however, will crash my HTPC if I tune an Encrypted QAM channel
3 - The DViCo Tuner (and S/W, I guess, because my H/W hasn't changed but the S/W has) can now only tune one QAM Station
4 - The Sasem solution can now tune EVERY non-Encrypted QAM channel/station

> ...or they work with QAM, but then require you to capture via firewire to your PC.

I think this FireWire reference is a distinct (i.e. 3rd) option. The DViCo passes the MPEG-2 stream over the PCI Bus directly from the Card. The Sasem box passes the stream over USB-2 (which, no doubt, then crosses PCI just as before).

What Bear (Bill) is referring to here is the 3rd option where a HD Tuner Box from various sources (but most notably Motorola with the 6208 & 6412) actually have a FireWire port. Alas, 5C is no doubt used there for, certainly, the encrypted channels received/tuned by the box - hence, no HTPC can be able to receive the stream. If the station isn't encrypted, apparently 5C is *still* often employed on the FireWire and thwarting even getting the stream for, say, the HD locals. Again, this is even if the HD local isn't encrypted on the Cable (for instance).

The situation is very scary, actually. Our Fair Use rights are being abridged right and left here. There was a hearing on the last issue I mentioned: i.e. should the FireWire signal be *required* to be non-5C if the signal is not encrypted on the actual Cable. We have some hope, here, in that the FCC has already ruled in our favor forcing (eventually) the CableCo's to at least carry these OTA signals (which are also required to be non-encrypted) unencrypted on the Cable they bring to our doorstep.

[Bear]

I will say that Sasem works great with OTA. I have a cheap (~$20) 4-bay bowtie in my attice, and I get all locals with ease. After "cleaning up" my signal chain, I may have too much power on my cable line. My signal strength on Sasem is pegged at 35dB, but on my moto cable box, it's only 18-ish dB.

Later,
Bill