Cox Going Digital, What Do I Do?

[RRRitchey]

Hi, I have been told by my cable company, Cox, they are going all digital in August. Currently I have two setups running SageTV V7 using a Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-2250 in each. They want me to get a "Mini-box" which is basically a digital tuner but this will mean that I can no longer use the Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-2250s I have. They also offer CableCARDs but I am not sure anyone makes something that takes those that is compatible with SageTV. What options do I have to continue using SageTV?
Thanks,

[btrcp2000]

Youre going to need at least a hauppauge colossus internal card or their HDPVR, both of which accept component/optical (hdmi too for colossus, but some cable cos prevent hdmi from working) There may be newer versions of these, don't know because i have been running old ones without issue for a while. You will also need something to change channels, I use a USB-UIRT.

You might be able to use a cable card solution, but you should check whether Cox has set the cci (copy protection) flag to copy freely. It won't work for any channels marked copy once. Also, they can change that at any time, which happened to me back in the firewire tuning days. One day it worked, the next it was all gone. The hauppauge tuners just make the cable boxes think t they're talking to a tv.

Is been well worth the investment for us. The sage interface allows me to bounce between tv providers every few years to save $$, and we don't have to set up new favorites or lose recordings, etc. I just did this for a new provider and have all the same stuff for 50% less

[btrcp2000]

Forgot one thing, might be some good news for you. No idea how cox works, but with TWC that mini box is all you need to get all channels incl premiums so you might be able to save some $ on box rental or pick up another one to have an additional tuner for the same overall cost to avoid recording conflicts.

[KryptoNyte]

I was going to suggest that you go with a HD Homerun Prime and a rented cable card, but it appears that Cox probably sets all channels (except your local channels) to copy-once. Unfortunately, we're in the same boat here with Time Warner.

That said, I still rent a cable-card to get all my local TV stations without the annoyance of remapping channels whenever Time Warner shifts things around.

[Mark57]

Originally Posted by RRRitchey

Hi, I have been told by my cable company, Cox, they are going all digital in August. Currently I have two setups running SageTV V7 using a Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-2250 in each. They want me to get a "Mini-box" which is basically a digital tuner but this will mean that I can no longer use the Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-2250s I have. They also offer CableCARDs but I am not sure anyone makes something that takes those that is compatible with SageTV. What options do I have to continue using SageTV?
Thanks,

OKC is also in the middle of the switch. I've already got my mini boxes up and running. 99% of my recording is via free OTA, but there is the odd occasion when I'd still like to record off of cable. I'm interested to hear if you come up with a workable solution. The best I can tell from limited "verifiable" info is our local CCI flag is set to copy once. Lots of rumors, misinformation, and just plain guesswork floating around. Makes me not want to spend cash on equipment just to sort that out.

[RRRitchey]

Hi, after doing some more digging I was thinking about the Homerun Prime but I am not really sure how this "copy-once" things works. Does that mean that I could not record any thing, say off SyFy, to SageTV using the Homerun Prime? I did order one of the mini-boxes but that would mean I could only watch or record one channel at a time, yes? Man, this is getting tricky. Tired of all this DRM already. Thanks,

Originally Posted by KryptoNyte

I was going to suggest that you go with a HD Homerun Prime and a rented cable card, but it appears that Cox probably sets all channels (except your local channels) to copy-once. Unfortunately, we're in the same boat here with Time Warner.

That said, I still rent a cable-card to get all my local TV stations without the annoyance of remapping channels whenever Time Warner shifts things around.

[EnterNoEscape]

Originally Posted by RRRitchey

Hi, after doing some more digging I was thinking about the Homerun Prime but I am not really sure how this "copy-once" things works. Does that mean that I could not record any thing, say off SyFy, to SageTV using the Homerun Prime? I did order one of the mini-boxes but that would mean I could only watch or record one channel at a time, yes? Man, this is getting tricky. Tired of all this DRM already. Thanks,

The only channels you can record for playback within SageTV without any analog workarounds are channels that are not encrypted or encrypted channels with copy freely flags.

[btrcp2000]

Yes, one minibox and one capture card per simultaneous show.

[RRRitchey]

OK. Thats uncool. This is where I get confused. Looking at the Homerun Prime it says I can
Record all your favorite TV shows by name.
Schedule future or season recordings.
Integrated TV guide.
using Windows Media Center. Why does this work on WMC and not with SageTV? I just not getting something. Sorry for the dumb questions, I have been going along very happily the last 5 years just not worrying about this stuff because everything was working just great.

Originally Posted by EnterNoEscape

The only channels you can record for playback within SageTV without any analog workarounds are channels that are not encrypted or encrypted channels with copy freely flags.

[btrcp2000]

Long story, but the answer is $$$ between microsoft and cable co's. At the end of the day, if you want premium channels in sage you either need your cable co to set copyfree flags or use a capture card.

Cablecards seem attractive because it seems like you can get multiple streams from one device, but more and more providers are setting those flags. Not much incentive for them to change back.

[RRRitchey]

Thanks. Figures. Until I figure something better out I might get Homerun Prime for one room and run it on WMC and keep SageTV in the second room and keep working on it. Eventually I may just go OTA and do the websites for the few cable shows I watch. The cable is getting expensive anyway for the few channels I watch. Thanks for taking the time to explain this.

Originally Posted by btrcp2000

Long story, but the answer is $$$ between microsoft and cable co's. At the end of the day, if you want premium channels in sage you either need your cable co to set copyfree flags or use a capture card.

Cablecards seem attractive because it seems like you can get multiple streams from one device, but more and more providers are setting those flags. Not much incentive for them to change back.

[KryptoNyte]

Just for the record, you could have one or two of the three Prime tuners running with WMC, and then the remainder of the Prime tuners for use in SageTV for your local channels. Then one set-top-box and an HDPVR if you really wanted the rest of your available channels in Sage.

If you decide to use Windows Media Center, you can grab some used Xbox360's to place next to a television to use as an extender. Of course you won't get comskip in this scenario.

[nyplayer]

Originally Posted by KryptoNyte

Just for the record, you could have one or two of the three Prime tuners running with WMC, and then the remainder of the Prime tuners for use in SageTV for your local channels. Then one set-top-box and an HDPVR if you really wanted the rest of your available channels in Sage.

If you decide to use Windows Media Center, you can grab some used Xbox360's to place next to a television to use as an extender. Of course you won't get comskip in this scenario.

A this point I would not even touch WMC best to go with the HDHomrun DVR that can run on any platform and is scheduled to be able to record DRM later this month. I have it running and recording on a NAS.... Nor would I invest on any extenders for WMC. Almost any android device can be an extender for the HDHomerun DVR.

[KryptoNyte]

Is WMC going away soon?

[nyplayer]

Originally Posted by KryptoNyte

Is WMC going away soon?

Yeah with windows 7 and 8.1 also the guide data stinks Microsoft gave it over to Rovi. It has problems playing some of the new H.264 cable recordings. That is some of the reasons you can find lots of xbox360's for sale.

If you are real technical and want to setup your own guide data epg123 with schedules direct works but requires a lot of tweaking.

[KryptoNyte]

Weird. I've been using it for years along side of SageTV and it's been my backup when Sage [tuners] fall down.

I guess my Sage server is still on Windows 7 with all updates turned off ... is the guide data going to stop?

[nyplayer]

Originally Posted by KryptoNyte

Weird. I've been using it for years along side of SageTV and it's been my backup when Sage [tuners] fall down.

I guess my Sage server is still on Windows 7 with all updates turned off ... is the guide data going to stop?

No the guide data is still there ... but why would anyone want to Install software that is no longer supported... and buy equipment for a none supported application that requires windows 7 or windows 8.1???

[KryptoNyte]

Originally Posted by nyplayer

No the guide data is still there ... but why would anyone want to Install software that is no longer supported...

For example, I still install SageTV V7 because it works, and it works better than nearly anything else I can find, even if it isn't officially supported. I run WMC7 because it works, and because the cablecard tuners just work with it, even if it isn't supported. If the EPG data is still out there, I don't see a reason to move.

I contacted Silicondust a bit ago to determine why my Prime was locking up, their response was to turn on the logging. I asked them to send me the log that was created by my own hardware, they refused. They never did resolve the problem.

[KryptoNyte]

I should probably clarify the phrase that SageTV isn't officially supported ... we have have a wealth of "unofficial" support right here. It's one of the few pieces of software that I've been using for a decade.

[Mark57]

Originally Posted by nyplayer

A this point I would not even touch WMC best to go with the HDHomrun DVR that can run on any platform and is scheduled to be able to record DRM later this month. I have it running and recording on a NAS.... Nor would I invest on any extenders for WMC. Almost any android device can be an extender for the HDHomerun DVR.

Oh man, did you just peak my interest. After a bit of reading, this sounds exactly like what I'm looking for. Thanks for mentioning it here.