CableCards and Which Cable Service to Use

[mike1961]

Which services will work with cable cards where I can capture the channels and use with SageTV? I'm looking at Time Warner, AT&T U-Verse, Direct TV or Dish or something else maybe. Any ideas?

[BobPhoenix]

Cable card only works with Cable so no DirecTV or Dish. Beyond that I cannot tell you which of your other options are cable or not.

[mike1961]

Question: Time Warner offers a cable card but I'm not sure if one cable card can work with a multi tuner capture like the Hauppauge 2650 or the Ceton. Any ideas?

Thanks

[mechling-burgh]

I believe Time Warner has the copy flag set to copy once on all their channels so the cable card would only work with TIVO and Windows Media Center. to get SageTV to work with cable card needs to have the copy flag turned off. For example Comcast has all channels but the Premiums (HBO, Showtime, etc..) set to copy freely.

[UgaData]

Depending on the cable card tuner device you should have 3,4, or 6 channels concurrently.

You will not get premium channels with SageTV using cable card. You need an HDPVR or Colossus to record premium channels in Sage (and the cable box).

If the cable provider is setting the copy flags to anything other than copy freely, you may not get other channels as well.

[mike1961]

Is the HDPVR or the Colossus a dual tuner card or single HD tuner card?

Also, can sage support two colossus and/or two HDPVR?

Which do you recommend of the two?

Thank you

[Tiki]

Originally Posted by mike1961

Is the HDPVR or the Colossus a dual tuner card or single HD tuner card?

Also, can sage support two colossus and/or two HDPVR?

Which do you recommend of the two?

Thank you

Colossus and HDPVR technically don't have any tuners. They are designed to work with a cable or satellite box. You can have as many Colossus's and/or HDPVR's as you want, but you need one for each cable box.

So, for example, if you want to record 4 shows at once, you need 4 cable boxes and 4 HDPVRs.

The Colossus and HDPVR work more or less the same. HDPVR is an external box that connects to your computer with a USB2 cable. Colossus is a PCIe card that plugs into an x1 slot inside your PC.

I think the HDPVR is a little more stable than the Colossus, but many have reported that it is sensitive to heat. The Colossus is a little newer and some people thing the recording quality is slightly better. The Colossus also adds the ability to capture from HDMI (but only if the source does not use HDCP copy protection, which most cable boxes and blue-ray players do use).

By the way, there are also some newer versions of the HDPVR (HDPVR-2, HDPVR Gaming edition, etc.)... I would stick with the original. People have reported the newer models don't 100% work with Sage.

Both devices are made by Hauppauge - you can check their website for detailed specs.

[Telecore]

If you can get Verizon FIOS, everything except for HBO/Cinemax is copy freely - including Showtime.

[mike1961]

So you are saying some have reported the colossus gets a little hot?

Also, on average do you know the approximate amount of space the HD recordings take or does that depend on the cable/satellite company?

Thanks

[KryptoNyte]

Originally Posted by mike1961

So you are saying some have reported the colossus gets a little hot?

Also, on average do you know the approximate amount of space the HD recordings take or does that depend on the cable/satellite company?

Thanks

It's the HDPVR that some folks claim they have temperature issues with (the older 1212 version specifically, which is the one you would want). The HDPVR is an external box, the Colossus is an internal unit, as Tiki mentioned, both with similar results. With either of these units, used in combination with your cable company's set-top-box, you still need a device to tune the set-top-box, and the ones that come with the HDPVR/Colossus aren't very good, so you would probably want to also grab a USB-UIRT. The filesize at max bitrate is similar to most bitstream tuners.

If you had Charter or Comcast as a cable TV option, you should at least consider the cablecard option before considering the HDPVR/Colossus, cablecard is a more pure recording (bitstream), and can be smoother operation all the way around. As mentioned previously, if Time Warner is your only option, they your stuck with the HDPVR/Colossus as your only real options.

[KryptoNyte]

Keep in mind, if you're recording from a set-top-box (STB), regardless of the service (Cable, AT&T, DirecTV, Dish, etc) the HDPVR and Colossus options (usually recording from RGB inputs from the STB) are really just video capture devices, they aren't technically tuning anything.

[mike1961]

Yes I'm stuck with Time Warner or I can switch to DirecTv or Dish and I suppose I can still use the Colossus but them I can't use my HDHomeRun which I am using with Time Warner. I'd really love to clean out all the space and not have to use those stupid cable boxes. I guess I'm still stuck with them.

Thanks,

[KryptoNyte]

You can easily run one or more HDPVR's (or Colossus) and the HDhomeruns for the unencrypted QAM as you already area simultaneously, which works great if you watch a lot of regular network television.

[mike1961]

My HDHomeRun works with cable TV but I don't think I can use the HDHomeRun with DirecTv or At&T U-Verse and I can't use an antenna where I live.

[SHS]

I would switch to DirecTV as they may a cost bit more over Dish but it has it good side like you don't need an IR Blaster there is a better way with DirecTV see this link
Change channels on DirecTV STB via ethernet and another reason to stay far away from Dish there receiver box are big and out date haven't change in ages and you need multi-wire going the thru the wall with them for each receiver unlike with DirecTV which they can use sat splitter inside the house so only one wire thru the wall is need, I had Two Colossus and Two HD-PVR 2 Model 1480/1512 that was running with DirecTV H24 that was before I moved the problem is you have setup auto reboot for ever night with the Colossus as it is well for goof up the record over time how ever there new Colossus 2 come out, If you do go with DirecTV ask for small H25 receiver box there really small a little bigger then SageTV HD200 box.
There is a way to do cable with SageDCT but you also need a stupid Tuning Adapter for it work know SDV "Switched Digital Video" which can be a real headache and you my as well forget about open QAM as they all doing encrypted channel now days which is a drag with the big cable network and even small fry's are doing the same as well and other point out copy flag are real problem with 3rdparty device so you really have no option reg cable receiver.

[firenice]

In order to use Verrizon/FIOS and or cable, that are encrypted, you would need a HDHR Prime with a cable card. Time Warner may copy-once all the channels which pretty much makes a prime worthless though. We have been fortunate Comcast only copy-once their premium channels but all others are just encrypted which the prime handles just fine.

[KryptoNyte]

SHS, I wish you could see a proper SageTV system running with a couple HDHR Prime's (2 cable cards and 2 tuning adapters) on Charter or Comcast (and possibly FIOS as I understand it), where they don't copy-flag everything. Once you get SageDCT up and running, it's a sweet setup that folks with other TV services (like Time Warner) can only dream of.

If you need the premium channels, like HBO and Showtime, then you would probably still need one HD-PVR thrown into the mix, that's the only downside as I see it.

[nyplayer]

Originally Posted by KryptoNyte

SHS, I wish you could see a proper SageTV system running with a couple HDHR Prime's (2 cable cards and 2 tuning adapters) on Charter or Comcast (and possibly FIOS as I understand it), where they don't copy-flag everything. Once you get SageDCT up and running, it's a sweet setup that folks with other TV services (like Time Warner) can only dream of.

If you need the premium channels, like HBO and Showtime, then you would probably still need one HD-PVR thrown into the mix, that's the only downside as I see it.

Just the cost savings is more than enough. Comcast Service

in my area they charge me 1.99 for each cable card. I have 2 of them... then they give me a credit for owned equipment of 2.50 for owning the primes. If I were to replace them with Cable boxes it would cost me about $60 a month. So I have 1 box for 9.95 for on demand etc.. So I pay for all my equipment about $11. I use WMC to record protected shows if and when I want to... I allocate 1 Tuner out of the 6 for it... my main system has a client box so I can switch to wmc if I want to view a protected show or record it.