Comcast - Broadcast Encoding Formats

[drvnbysound]

I have had a couple of HDHR tuners for some time now, and eventually want to go toward a Sage (or other centralized media server) setup. The major reason I haven't completely gone through and done it yet, is the simple fact that I don't have network cabling at the TV locations (for Sage extenders) and just haven't got up into my attic yet and run the wiring.

A few nights ago I felt the urge to pull one of the HDHRs out and play around with setting it up with WMC for now. The HDHR seems to be solely a ClearQAM tuner (I believe that's all it receives), and the fact that there are a lot of other channels that my TV can pick up natively with it's built-in tuner that the HDHR is not "seeing". I assume that these other channels (e.g. ESPN, TLC, Discovery, TNT, TBS, etc.) are not encrypted as the stand-alone TV (no cable box attached) can display them, which leads me to think that they are just being broadcast in some other format than ClearQAM. Is that generally the case? If so, are there other tuners available that can receive/decode these channels?

Unless of coarse, there is a CATV decrypter built into TV's??

Note, I have and love my HD programming that I have on my main TV and will probably never get rid of HD programming/service. Saying that, I do understand that all of the channels listed above, are not HD feeds of said channels. I just feel somewhat "cheated" (not really) that I cant receive all of the channels that I can see natively through the built-in TV tuner, as I can through an HDHR, and wanted to see if there are any solutions, other than getting a cable box connected to a HD-PVR or other like device.

 

[jwilson56]

Well I use a couple PVR-250 analog cable tuners and a couple HDHR's for the QAM. Recently Comcast went all digital and gave me a couple DTA units. I use them to feed the PVR-250's and added a USBUIRT unit to change the channels for the DTA's. Sage supports that IR device. Doubtful Sage will ever support cablecards but we can hope. So now I get all local channels in HD and the cable networks like USA I get in SD. I can record 4 HD channels and 2 SD at the same time. It works for me.

If your STB HD box has component outputs you could get a HD-PVR unit and record HD with Sage from the STB box.

 

[drvnbysound]

Well I use a couple PVR-250 analog cable tuners and a couple HDHR's for the QAM. Recently Comcast went all digital and gave me a couple DTA units. I use them to feed the PVR-250's and added a USBUIRT unit to change the channels for the DTA's. Sage supports that IR device. Doubtful Sage will ever support cablecards but we can hope. So now I get all local channels in HD and the cable networks like USA I get in SD. I can record 4 HD channels and 2 SD at the same time. It works for me.

If your STB HD box has component outputs you could get a HD-PVR unit and record HD with Sage from the STB box.

You can record 4 OTA HD channels, and 2 of the SD channels (such as USA, etc.) correct?

I had planned on using the (2) HDHRs to record at least the 4 OTA HD channels (which covers the major networks), and a HD-PVR for the HD channels that are scrambled and need the Comcast box for. However, that obviously limits me to only 1 of those HD channels, unless of coarse I get a second HD-PVR and rent another cable box.

I was, possibly, looking for a way to just add another device in-line with a Comcast drop to pick up those other SD channels on the line... and really just understand why my TV alone can pick them up, but the HDHR cannot.

There are definitely times we would like to be recording 2 of the scrambled channels and an OTA HD channel, and with the standard Comcast DVR we have now we record 2 of the shows on our main TV and have to go watch the 3rd show in another room. So I'm really just looking for options of scalability, and the best way to go about doing it... even if it includes recording shows in SD.

 

[electron]

I am guessing that those additional channels your TV is seeing are just the analog channels. I couldn't tell from your post, but can you confirm if those channels are HD/digital? If they are just analog, then all you need to do is get an analog tuner.

 

[drvnbysound]

I am guessing that those additional channels your TV is seeing are just the analog channels. I couldn't tell from your post, but can you confirm if those channels are HD/digital? If they are just analog, then all you need to do is get an analog tuner.

Hmm, that is a very good question

Is there any way to do so other than connect an old TV and see if it picks up the channels? I assume not, and I'd need to barrow someone's CRT - which should end up with an interesting conversation But thinking about it more, I believe you are probably right - particularly since my in-laws have some old CRTs connected to Mediacom cable service and are getting like channels that I am looking for. Are there any appliance-type analog tuners out there (similar to the HDHR setup), or are PC cards the only way?

 

[electron]

What are the channel numers? in the double digits? Pretty sure it's just analog, Time Warner works the same way in my area. I actually have to look at buying new analog tuners myself, since my PVR cards aren't compatible with Windows 7 64 bit, but new analog tuners are pretty expensive. If you do buy one, make sure you verify first that it is compatible with SageTV, many are not (due to lack of hardware MPEG2 encoding).

 

[Photon]

I'm on Charter cable, and I was disappointed to find the clear QAM selection with my HD Homerun was not very interesting. I picked up an Avermedia tuner card from geeks.com which they advertised as removed from some HP PC model. I use it to pick up the analog channels from Charter, and all is well; I can record all the non-premium cable channels. Geeks inventory changes frequently, but they usually have some sort of analog tuner such as the MSI card here: http://www.geeks.com/products_sc.asp?cat=870. For recording OTA channels I use the HD Homerun as the quality is frequently better than the same channels via cable.

I'm dragging my feet waiting until SiliconDust actually produces their Cablecard tuner before I try out SageTV and a few HD300 media extenders. I'm somewhat concerned Charter may drop their analog channels, and I don't want to sink a pile of cash into SageTV until I am sure it will handle all digital channels conveniently. Until then, I'll stick with Windows Media Center.

EDIT: That direct link didn't work, so try http://www.geeks.com/products.asp?cat=VID and scroll down to the "Video Capture Cards/TV Cards" section.

 

[BLH]

In my neck of the woods in CT.
My Comcast analog channels are one or two digits.
All the Digital ones the QAM tunes in my LCD TV. All end with a - and a number. Like 8-1 while the analog version would be 8

 

[drvnbysound]

What are the channel numers? in the double digits? Pretty sure it's just analog, Time Warner works the same way in my area. I actually have to look at buying new analog tuners myself, since my PVR cards aren't compatible with Windows 7 64 bit, but new analog tuners are pretty expensive. If you do buy one, make sure you verify first that it is compatible with SageTV, many are not (due to lack of hardware MPEG2 encoding).

Yes, in general is the channels from 2-99, that my LCD's pick up and the HDHRs are not. I am going to see if I can barrow one of my parents small CRTs (with analog tuner only) soon and test to see what they can pick up.

Is there any reason to really run Sage on a 64-bit machine? I have no plans to do any client (PC) viewing, and should only be viewing through HD300's (likely 3 of them).

PC's specs / setup is a whole other problem that I will likely discuss soon ... in another thread.

 

[drvnbysound]

I'm on Charter cable, and I was disappointed to find the clear QAM selection with my HD Homerun was not very interesting. I picked up an Avermedia tuner card from geeks.com which they advertised as removed from some HP PC model. I use it to pick up the analog channels from Charter, and all is well; I can record all the non-premium cable channels. Geeks inventory changes frequently, but they usually have some sort of analog tuner such as the MSI card here: http://www.geeks.com/products_sc.asp?cat=870. For recording OTA channels I use the HD Homerun as the quality is frequently better than the same channels via cable.

I'm dragging my feet waiting until SiliconDust actually produces their Cablecard tuner before I try out SageTV and a few HD300 media extenders. I'm somewhat concerned Charter may drop their analog channels, and I don't want to sink a pile of cash into SageTV until I am sure it will handle all digital channels conveniently. Until then, I'll stick with Windows Media Center.

EDIT: That direct link didn't work, so try http://www.geeks.com/products.asp?cat=VID and scroll down to the "Video Capture Cards/TV Cards" section.

Remember... that just b/c SiliconDust makes a CableCard tuner, doesn't mean that SageTV will support it... which I believe is actually more of the problem.