Analog & Digital Channels, HBO?

[fakemoonlanding]

Just got a rig set up with a Hauppauge PVR 500 and I'm unable to view any channels beyond the first 70 analog channels. Is my tuner unable to view digital channels above that range, because we have all the HBO channels and I was hoping to record off them too.

[ke6guj]

Correct, a PVR-500 can only record analog channels. To record the digital channels you will need an STB (digital cable box) that you can hook up to the PVR-500.

edit: you may be able to get a firewire-equipped STB and record the digital channels directly from the STB to your computer, but HBO and other premium channels may still be scrambled. Here is the link to read up on that. http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/show...light=firewire

[fakemoonlanding]

alright, i have one of those set up. it was the one that was installed by the people who installed the cable for us (comcast, located in CA) how would i go about routing that through sagetv without their menu systems? when i tried to set that up it asked me to use a tuner or something. is there a guide available for this?

[ke6guj]

What you do is hook up the STB to the PVR-500 with the composite or S-video inputs, or Coax as last resort. Then you ADD NEW SOURCE, and pick the input you are going to use. Then you will need to tell Sage that you are using an external cable reciever to tune the channels. You then need to tell Sage what you are going to use to control the STB. The popular choice is the USB-UIRT. Another good choice is to control the STB via firewire-tuning, if your STB will support it.

[ke6guj]

Originally Posted by fakemoonlanding

how would i go about routing that through sagetv without their menu systems?

Regarding the menu system, is it a normal cable box or is it something with a DVR built-in?

[fakemoonlanding]

it's a normal cable box that was installed when the cable guys installed cable here. it has no serial, usb, firewire, etc inputs.

[ke6guj]

OK then, then follow the steps in post 4. You will need some sort of IR-blaster that sage can use to send channel changes to the STB. Look at appendix F in the SageTV manual. There should be a copy in your SageTV directory or else here. http://download.sage.tv/SageTV_Manual.pdf

[fakemoonlanding]

one more thing. getting an error when trying to use the hauppauge IR blaster with the MCE remote that came with the tuner. getting an error that reads as follows as installation completes:

"This application has failed to start because HCWTVWND.dll was not found. Re-installing the application may fix this problem."

and after installation, when trying to open the program i get an error that reads:

"Component 'CHSUIT.OCX' or one of its dependencies not correctly registered: a file is missing or invalid"

I think this fault is on Hauppauge's end, simply because it took so long to even get the remote working. turns out their bundling non-hauppauge generic remotes with their products. pretty annoying. should i just pick up another supported ir device? linkies to them? my guess is that the generic MCE remotes they shipped out with the package doesn't work with the Hauppauge IR Blaster. in other words, Hauppauge IR Blaster does not work with non Hauppauge remotes/ir devices. right?

[ke6guj]

YOu only have the PVR-500, no PVR-150's or 250's in the mix?

The PVR-500 doesnt' have a port for a IR-blaster so I'm assuming that the IR-blaster that came with it is an MCE blaster not an actual hauppauge blaster. That would be why the intstall errors and won't run. And last I heard, you could use the MCE blaster/receiver receiver to control Sage, but Sage couldn't control the blaster portion to IR-blast to an STB.

I'd look at Appendix F for mor info on supported blasters, but I think that you'd be best server with the USB-UIRT, http://www.usbuirt.com/