HDTV supported cards and cable cards

[queonda]

Hello,

Is their a cable card tuner that has both ATSC and QAM in one that BTV supports? I know BTV doesn't support QAM.

Now that Vista MCE and Tivo series 3 are going to have cable cards tuner, does anyone sell cable card tuners? I again, know BTV don't support cable cards.

[Rich A]

Originally Posted by queonda

Hello,

Is their a cable card that has both ATSC and QAM in one that BTV supports? I know BTV doesn't support QAM.

Now that Vista MCE and Tivo series 3 are going to have cable cards, does anyone sell cable cards? I again, know BTV don't support cable cards.

You get the cable cards from your cable TV source. I believe they might rent it to you for a nominal fee (like a buck or two a month).

It requires a cable technician to set it up in your device. They usually charge a fee for that as well.

[queonda]

Originally Posted by Rich A

You get the cable cards from your cable TV source. I believe they might rent it to you for a nominal fee (like a buck or two a month).

It requires a cable technician to set it up in your device. They usually charge a fee for that as well.

Opps. I meant is there a cable card tuner that has both QAM and ATSC.

[Rich A]

You don't need a cable card for ASTC. That format is "Over the Air" broadcast and is free and not encrypted etc.

[queonda]

Yes, rich. I know dat.

I guess I need to be more clear.

1) Does an ASTC and QAM tuner card co-exist? An all in one card.
2) Is there a cable card tuner out to buy now or sooon?

[ZetaVu]

I believe the Dvico Fusions are QAM capable but btv does not support it (yet?). There are workarounds in the forums.

No cablecard tuner is out yet, ATI has one but I don't think it is available. Also there is a big issue with what computers it will work on, content providers may not let it work on homebuilt pc's, you may need vista, and cable companies may refuse to provide you with a cable card for a computer (they are required by law to provide it for tv's, but not necessarily other devices).

In other words, you can record OTA HD, you may be able to record unencrypted (usually no different than OTA) HD with a QAM workaround, and I doubt there will be an easy solution to cablecards anytime soon.

THere are Firewire recording workarounds, which should (or might) give you the ability to record HD content from a cable (or satelite) box. Again, btv doesn't support this but there is a working thread. There are some boxes with firewire ports and there are companies that will install ports to boxes for a fee. Not sure if or how these work with content like HBO or discovery, and not sure if that won't be eliminated in the future as providers clamp down their control.

[Fonceur]

Originally Posted by queonda

Now that Vista MCE and Tivo series 3 are going to have cable cards tuner, does anyone sell cable card tuners?

As ZetaVu mentionned, only ATI has demoed such a card... You will only find those in brand new PC's from big companies like Dell (running Vista), that have been CableLab certified (cost ~15k $)... And even then, your cable supplier can still refuse to loan you the cable card for anything but a TV....

[Rich A]

Originally Posted by queonda

Yes, rich. I know dat.

I guess I need to be more clear.

1) Does an ASTC and QAM tuner card co-exist? An all in one card.
2) Is there a cable card tuner out to buy now or sooon?

1. No
2. No

The "only" cable card devices presently available to we consumers directly are TVs. ATI has demo'd a cable card device that would be used within a PC environment, but as I have mentioned in other threads, waiting for the actual product to be available to consumers could be a long time. I think at present it's closer to "Vaporware" than actual hardware. My personal opinion is that the demo'd item (many months ago) was a prototype and that they are having a hard time getting it "type approved" by the FCC.

<edit> Having said all that, I think what Fonceur said in the previous post has some merit. We might see the ATI cable card device available only to computer companies who are building "approved" PCs with Vista, etc.