Analog to Digital Switch

[johnwmreed]

Currently I have a PC with a Hauppauge 1600 tuner card that is connected to Comcast analog. In the living room I have a HDTV and Motorola STB and a Hauppauge HD PVR that controls the STB with an IR Blaster. I have SageTV on the PC and a Sage HD100 Media extender at the HDTV (lots of wires running under the house).

I finally got everything working right, and I am fat and happy watching analog and digital tv shows that I record with the two tuners.

But Comcast is going all digital in a month. You have to have a digital converter box for all the analog tvs ( I got 4). But what am I going to do with the Hauppauge 1600 tuner card? I could hook it to a Digital converter box, but I don't see how I could get SageTV to change channels.

Am I just out of luck with the 1600 tuner card?

[Opus4]

Originally Posted by johnwmreed

But what am I going to do with the Hauppauge 1600 tuner card? I could hook it to a Digital converter box, but I don't see how I could get SageTV to change channels.

Am I just out of luck with the 1600 tuner card?

Are you already using its digital tuner for clear QAM or possibly OTA digital broadcasts? If not, the first thing to do is consider that & see how many channels you get -- how many digital channels does the TV get when connected directly to the cable (not through the STB)?

You could still use the analog side of the 1600 with the svideo output of a cable box. To change the channels, see if your boxes can be controlled via firewire. Otherwise, use a USB-UIRT - it can control more than one box (I think you mean your current box is controlled by the HD-PVR's blaster).

- Andy

[reggie14]

Rumor has it, and I think I've seen this confirmed multiple times, but you should be able to pick up the standard-definition expanded basic lineup using the digital tuner on the 1600 after Comast goes digital. I think Opus might have been alluding to this.

Otherwise, if you use the cheap cable boxes they're giving out, the boxes don't even have composite outputs, let alone s-video. I think you should wait until everything is digital, so a scan using the digital tuner on your 1600. If the digital 1600 tuner and HD-PVR aren't enough for you, I'd recommend getting an HD HomeRun in order to get 2 more digital tuners.

[johnwmreed]

I called Comcast and they say that I will be able to still get 16 channels analog. The good news is my analog tuner card will receive those channels. The bad news is I rarely watch those channels.

Thanks for the other suggestions - I will check them out

[thatdude90210]

In my market, Comcast already has all the channels like Bravo, CNN, A&E, Hist, Discovery, etc on digital. They currently still have 1-82 in analog, but all of those are duplicated in digital. They will soon remove all but 1-34, and a couple of 70's in analog.

My desktop PC is running Sage (not client - I bought an extra copy so I can just watch on my desktop pc without waking the server), and it doesn't a tuner. Currently just connected to HDhomerun (digital only), I can get all the comcast channels that I used to get with an analog tuner.

[johnwmreed]

I currently have a IR Blaster that changes channels for the HD PVR.

Will SageTV also accept a USB UIRT (or firewire device) for controlling a digital/analog converter box attached to the AISC port of my Hauppauge 1600 tuner?

[johnwmreed]

I have some additional information on the Comcast analog to digital conversion. The conversion will be for channels ranging from 35 to 85. To tune in these channels a QAM tuner will work - so a STB will not be needed for these channels. Which means I should be able to receive them with my QAM port on my Hauppauge 1600 tuner card. We will see.

[hemicuda]

Has there been a schedule for the change over released? I'll need to do a rescan on my 3 QAM tuners before then. Would be nice if I knew when they plan to axe the analogs so I could plan a time to do it.

[johnwmreed]

Comcast is being really vague on their schedule. It is the old hurry up and wait routine. They are trying to get their customers to get their digital-to-analog boxes installed on older TVs so the switch over isn't such a shock. My guess is it is months away, but we will see.

[waylo]

If I could ask a question for clarification, once the switch to digital is made, only a QAM capable card will be able to receive the digital cable channels?

[sandor]

Originally Posted by waylo

If I could ask a question for clarification, once the switch to digital is made, only a QAM capable card will be able to receive the digital cable channels?

the switch to digital OTA transmission (switch to ASTC from NTSC) doesnt involve cable tv.

[paulbeers]

Originally Posted by sandor

the switch to digital OTA transmission (switch to ASTC from NTSC) doesnt involve cable tv.

This thread is discussing the switch from analog to digital for Comcast cable subscribers. So yes, this does involve cable...

[sandor]

wow, i am off today. my apologies folks.

[waylo]

@sandor: No problem! There have been a plethora of people asking the question you answered... though not on this thread =). I've been trying to explain the difference between analog OTA, digital OTA, HD OTA, analog cable and digital cable to a friend of mine only to be met with glazed looks.

My question was essentially, for those who have Comcast expanded basic cable package in regions where they have made the switch to digital "only" (as described here:

http://www.comcast.com/digitalnow/FA..._map&#faq_def1

I'm guessing/hoping a QAM PCI card or USB stick is able and will continue to receive the digital signal. I currently have a Conexant Blackbird which only does analog conversion, so this will be relegated to receiving only the "low channel" number basic cable channels (which essentially no one watches) when the transition occurs. I'd prefer not having to return the QAM tuner card/stick I plan on buying.

Secondly, provided the broadcast is on unencrypted QAM, will I need any special configuring, or will SageTV's zap2it schedule do all the work for me?

[Fuzzy]

The configuration will be different for whatever digital QAM card you have. The HDHomeRun has it's own configuration program that does the scanning. Not sure about the others.

[Sam]

Originally Posted by johnwmreed

I called Comcast and they say that I will be able to still get 16 channels analog.

What exactly did you ask them? Each time I've tried to call Comcast and ask, I get someone who obviously doesn't understand my question and all they will say is the analog to digital conversion switch doesn't affect Comcast customers but only people who get their signal OTA.

It doesn't seem to matter how I try to explain that is not what I am asking.

Currently, my 2250 cards and HDHR both get a pretty limited set of channels in clear QAM so it doesn't seem like my area has all the analog channels duplicated in clear QAM yet.

For those in areas where they do, did you get any kind of notice from them? I'd love to start getting all those channels in QAM too, but have no idea when my area will be converted and have had no luck in trying to ask.

[reggie14]

Sam-

You're probably not in an area that's getting ready to transition to (nearly) all digital cable. You'd see notices from Comcast about needing little digital converters or cable boxes. I too have had problems getting anyone at Comcast to understand what QAM is. I wonder if people in areas that are undergoing the digital conversion get sent to special customer support agents.

[waylo]

Originally Posted by Fuzzy

The configuration will be different for whatever digital QAM card you have. The HDHomeRun has it's own configuration program that does the scanning. Not sure about the others.

Thanks for the info. After reviewing some of the options, I decided to get a HDHomerun. Looks like they have a lot of active technical support on their forum, so getting the clearQAM to work with comcast at least has a shot. How long the expanded basic cable channels will stay unencrypted after the transition is a different question!

[shab44]

I have also called comcast to ask about the switchover to all digital. I am in a suburb of Chicago. No information available. It is interesting that after the switch over to all digital you found that Comcast broadcasts the extended cable channels (USA, TNT, etc.) in QAM. I only get the broadcast channels (ABC, NBC, FOX, CBS) in QAM which is useless. My fear is that I will need to get one of those mini-boxes and hope the IR blaster works with it.

HD-PVR 1600

[reggie14]

Originally Posted by waylo

How long the expanded basic cable channels will stay unencrypted after the transition is a different question!

I think there's a pretty good chance it will stay unencrypted for quite a while. I don't think there's any particular reason to think the FCC is going to back down on their separable security requirement. For all practical purposes, that means all cable boxes capable of accessing encrypted content will need a cable card slot. That adds quite a bit to the cost of cable boxes, so Comcast is choosing to go with cheap digital converter boxes that lack decryption capabilities.

For a while cable companies thought cable card was a bad idea, and thought it would be easier to implement security in software. Now they're deciding that is a lot harder than they thought, so they seem to be going back to cable cards. In any case, it appears Comcast wants to avoid having cable cards in all digital boxes. Which is a good thing.

I'm curious what's going to happen as standard-definition channels go away. Apparently the HD channels are encrypted, which I find pretty disappointing. Hopefully someday we'll see some more unencrypted channels from the expanded basic lineup.


shab44-
Traditionally broadcast channels have always been unencrypted. I've heard various people claim there's an FCC prohibition against encrypting broadcast channels.