Avermeidia A180, QAM, and Beyond TV

[IDRick]

I was told that a TV with QAM can access most of the digital and non premium HD channels from our local cable company. Assuming this information is correct, I should also be able to access these channels using an Avermedia A180 PCI card.

Questions:

Does BTV support QAM from the Avermedia card?

I would use the card to capture a few shows per day on a multi use computer. I will not be streaming video to other tvs. If BTV does not handle QAM with Avermedia, can I use their software? Is it any good?

Does the Avermedia produce quality digital captures?

The minimum specs for A180 include a 2.4 GHz P4 with hyperthreading. My CPU is a 2.4 Ghz P4 but, how do I find out if it has hyperthreading?

Thanks!

Rick

[cfaslave]

Originally Posted by IDRick

I was told that a TV with QAM can access most of the digital and non premium HD channels from our local cable company. Assuming this information is correct, I should also be able to access these channels using an Avermedia A180 PCI card.

Do not assume this. the Qam channels that are unencrypted vary by cable provider. Some only unencrypt the local channels while others keep many channels unencrypted. It varies.

Questions:

Does BTV support QAM from the Avermedia card?

Nope. For QAM, only the HDHomeRun Tuner is supported and that is just recently.

[IDRick]

Originally Posted by cfaslave

Do not assume this. the Qam channels that are unencrypted vary by cable provider. Some only unencrypt the local channels while others keep many channels unencrypted. It varies.


Nope. For QAM, only the HDHomeRun Tuner is supported and that is just recently.

Should have been more clear, a salesman told me that he receives the QAM channels on his TV at home (5 TV's, no cable boxes at his place). After purchasing the TV, I'll have 30 days to verify his statements.

We don't have LAN in our home (one desktop and a laptop with internet access with a wireless router). How can I use the HDHomeRun in this situation?

Thanks!

Rick

[cfaslave]

Originally Posted by IDRick

We don't have LAN in our home (one desktop and a laptop with internet access with a wireless router). How can I use the HDHomeRun in this situation?

Thanks!

Rick

Is that wireless router wired to the desktop? If it is, you could just plug the HDHR into the back of the wireless router with a standard network plug.

Otherwise, I'm not sure how you would do it. You might pose that question on the SiliconDust forums if you have no network switch or router.

[Fonceur]

Originally Posted by IDRick

If BTV does not handle QAM with Avermedia, can I use their software?

You can use the AVer MediaCenter for that. If there was anyway of programmatically start/add a recording job with the software I could add support to BTV-Externinator, but unfortunately that doesn't seem possible... I emailed them directly over 3 weeks ago, but I still have not heard back...

Depending what happens with the evo4tv source code, that might be another possibility, but that is still unclear...

[IDRick]

Originally Posted by cfaslave

Is that wireless router wired to the desktop? If it is, you could just plug the HDHR into the back of the wireless router with a standard network plug.

Otherwise, I'm not sure how you would do it. You might pose that question on the SiliconDust forums if you have no network switch or router.

Yes, the wireless router is directly wired to the desktop. Great, hookup sounds easy to the HDHR!

I currently do not own BTV but have plans to demo/purchase the product. How difficult is it to set up HDHR in BTV? Is there a guide that discusses the setup process? I'm much better at plug and play devices!

My computer is getting rather dated (P4 2.4 Ghz, 768 MB RDRAM, XP PRO SP2, ATI Radeon 9800 Pro). I downloaded the DVICO test HD video. Looks great on my monitor and displayed smoothly without stuttering. Do you think my computer is up to the task of managing the HDHR?

Our local Cableco is reworking their system to offer more HD channels. The system update will be completed sometime this summer, and may result in higher charges plus they may scramble some/all of the digital stations. $170 is not a large chunk of money but is an easier sell to SWMBO if I can quarantee at least one year of functionality.

We currently are paying extra for digital channels + cableco DVR. Our costs would decrease significantly if we knew the QAM stations would stay in the clear and could go to basic cable with HDHR + BTV. What do you recommend?

Thanks!

Rick

[IDRick]

Originally Posted by Fonceur

You can use the AVer MediaCenter for that. If there was anyway of programmatically start/add a recording job with the software I could add support to BTV-Externinator, but unfortunately that doesn't seem possible... I emailed them directly over 3 weeks ago, but I still have not heard back...

Depending what happens with the evo4tv source code, that might be another possibility, but that is still unclear...

Interesting possibility! Surprizing that Avermedia hasn't at least responded in a general way... But, no response probably means bad news...

Appreciate all the good work you do for the BTV community, Fonceur!