Up and running but miss my analog

[VideoRoy]

Thanks for the help here I am up an running pretty well so far Now that I am watching and recording I will start tackling DVD burning which I had initial problems with.

Clear QAM is awesome but I do miss some of my analog stations that Comcast has not converted yet. Also I gues there is a possibility that once they convert everything it might not be available on clear QAM.

The ones I would really like to have are:
SciFi
TBS, TNT, TMC (Turner channels)
Spike
Plus a few others.

Since I am in Houston like the SnapStream folks, I was wondering if anyone here knows what Comcast might be thinking when it comes to the rest of the digital conversion . I have searched around but CC does not seem to advertise QAM much or I just cannot find it.

I am wondering if maybe I should pick up a low end analog tuner and add it to my configuration. I initially started with a USB 950 Hauppage but did not like the performance so my current config is as follows:

Comcast Digital with one SA8300HD DVR already
HD Homerun
BTV 4.9 with Firefly mini
Vista Ultimate 32bit
M3N78-VM mobo with HDMI
AMD X2 64 dual core 7750 black edition
2 gig 1066mhz dual channel memory

The computer I built up is supposed to be my BTV Link computer but since I cannot afford to build my server yet this is the only one running BTV server. It actually works great and since the video can support HD and already had an HDMI port actually there are no expansion cards required. Pretty good setup for what will be the Link.

Any way, does anyone have experience adding an analog card to a configuration with HDHR tuners? The Hauppage line looks pretty good but since this may be a throw away I am looking for something cheap. Since I still have cable connected to the TV I can switch back and forth but would like to make it easy for the family.

Thanks in advance for any advice and sorry for the long write up.

[tscales]

Works fine. I don't know the current line well, but why not pick up a dual tuner that can do analog and QAM? I think the 2250 can. That way you could use it either way.

[TomXP411]

The 2250 does a good job with analog input. I'm using my 2250 for both analog and ClearQAM digital.

[VideoRoy]

Tom / Tscales,

Thanks for the reply. The 2250 does look like a good board, any idea how well it plays in BTV when I already have a HDHomerun?

I am guessing BTV just meshes all the tuners together in the program guide for instance and a user does not necessary know which tuner they are selecting when they choose a channel to watch.

Thanks for the help.

[myktek]

*looks at sig*

[TomXP411]

Originally Posted by VideoRoy

Tom / Tscales,

Thanks for the reply. The 2250 does look like a good board, any idea how well it plays in BTV when I already have a HDHomerun?

I am guessing BTV just meshes all the tuners together in the program guide for instance and a user does not necessary know which tuner they are selecting when they choose a channel to watch.

Thanks for the help.

Yeah, I have 3 lineups, thanks to the fact that I have 3 different input methods.

All I do is select a channel number. BTV then grabs the first tuner that can see that channel. (You set the priority in the web admin.) I have mine set up to use ClearQAM first, cable box second, and analog third. That always gives me the highest quality recording avaialable.

[VideoRoy]

Originally Posted by myktek

*looks at sig*

Thanks, looks like it will work!

[VideoRoy]

Originally Posted by TomXP411

Yeah, I have 3 lineups, thanks to the fact that I have 3 different input methods.

All I do is select a channel number. BTV then grabs the first tuner that can see that channel. (You set the priority in the web admin.) I have mine set up to use ClearQAM first, cable box second, and analog third. That always gives me the highest quality recording avaialable.

Tom,
Great information, thanks!

You peaked my interest with the cable box. I have a SA8300HD and was wondering what board are you capturing output from the box with? Today I have mine connected to a DVD Recorder today for recording the occasional TV show to DVD.

[TomXP411]

I'm bringing the cable box in through an HVR-1950 on the S-Video input.

That box is dedicated to the cable box; I'm not using the digital or analog tuner on that one. (There's no point... anything the tuner can get can also be picked up by the cable box.)

[VideoRoy]

That makes sense. So you need to have the cable tuned to the right channel or use an IR blaster I would guess. Very nice setup.

I am looking around for the best deal on a HVR-2250 now. The more I analyze what we actually watch at home, we almost never use the "premium" channels. It is the HD channels I could get on QAM and the NTSC channels I could get with a regular analog tuner today.

If the cable company will move a few of my favorite analog channels to QAM after the conversion I probably do not need the cable box any more. We rarely purchase movies because there is always a technical problem with it at the cable company side.

I appreciate the help.