Confused - Comcast Digital Cable

[Crew]

Sorry at first if this has been asked before. I searched but it is quite late so I may have missed something.

I currently have a Hauppauge PVR 250 and do not have BTV. I've only ever used the Hauppauge with a cheap antenna from Radio Shack. However, I am looking at getting Comcast Digital Cable in Sacramento, CA. From what I can tell, the actual channels will be analog (ESPN etc). However, the NFL Network is digital.

I guess my question is will it work and if so, what is the wire setup? It would be coax cable from the wall to the cable box, and then coax from the box to the PV 250 correct?

This would mainly be to watch NFL games this season (ABC, FOX, CBS, ESPN and NFL Network). Recording would be a definite bonus. HD would be even better but from what I can tell that is even more complicated and would require purchasing a new card.

Thanks for any advice.

[spaceghost]

If your digital cable box has svideo out, I recommend svideo out from the cable box to pvr250 svideo in and rca audio out from cable box to sound in on pvr250 (svideo is video only - no sound). I think the pvr250 came with the cables for that setup. You will need a blaster to control the cable box if you wish to change channels from within btv (PVR150 has blaster built in for cable box channel changing). I have used this setup before with excellent results - outstanding picture quality.

[nanook105]

If you have a strong/clean signal on your cable, you can also just use a coax from your cable box to the 250 (will cover audio and video). I've used both, and with my signal I don't really see any differences between the svideo and coax connection.

[spaceghost]

On some cable boxes (my scientific atlanta 4200) the audio output from the cable out is monaural. This is stated in their online manual. The audio out left and right is stereo. So, in order for me to record in stereo, I needed to do svideo and audio connections. So, I can't say whether I would have gotten as good a picture using coax out from box - I never tried it because I wanted stereo recordings.