[btvfreak]

Originally Posted by Tessian

Alright so basically I can continue using my current setup if I just buy the $50 USB-IRT...and if I want to start recording HD and all that fun stuff it's gonna start costing...so basically something I'll look into in a few months.

One last question-- right now I have a splitter set up so that I have my analog cable connected to both the Tuner and the TV itself (computer connects with analog monitor cable), this way I can still watch TV while recording without getting a 2nd tuner...

Would I be able to pull something like this off with Digital? I'm assuming the cable box would have some problems with this...but I'm hoping that I could use BTV for all normal channels...and in case I want to watch something else while recording OR to watch HDTV I could watch straight off the TV...is this possible? The only way I see this happening is if I do the split BEFORE the cable box (then no longer needing a Blaster)...but then how much would I be losing on BTV? Would I lose channels after 125, or what?

You could get a serial cable and try that if the box has a serial input. Older Motorola boxes do. I have one. That would be much cheaper, but if not, then the USB-UIRT is good.

You can split the cable before the cable box, and have one input going into the box, and another going directly into your TV or PVR. You'll lose the ability to view the digital channels in whatever you connect the coax that's coming from the splitter. For example, if you connect the digital cable box into your TV, then you cannot view and record digital channels with Beyond TV. It will be like your current BTV setup, but you can view the digital channels on your TV without interfereing with BTV recording.