Comcast Digital Switchover & TV Tuners

[NotTooBright]

I'm connected to Comcast (box) and am using 1 WinTV PVR USB2 & 1 AverMedia Hybrid Ultra USB with BTV 4.90. Every-so-often BTV has to recycle the AverMedia and I lose most of the program. I do need the dual tuner setup because I often record overlapping programs, but I'd like to get away from this problem and was wondering whether the Hauppauge 2250 would work better. (I don't use a remote, will probably never use the QAM feeds, and am not married to any brand names.)

[NotTooBright]

I went ahead and got the Hauppauge 2250. It's working just fine, nary a problem, and it installed with no hitches. It is currently set for 2 channels of analogue Comcast. I'll update after the June switchover.

[NickHark]

Originally Posted by NotTooBright

I went ahead and got the Hauppauge 2250. It's working just fine, nary a problem, and it installed with no hitches. It is currently set for 2 channels of analogue Comcast. I'll update after the June switchover.

I think the 2250 is a good card.

You are probably running the cable directly into it, and around the STB? This is good for analog (and QAM too) but it won't work, I don't think, after Comcast goes all digital. I suspect you will need a STB for each tuner...

Actually I hope I am wrong but its my best guess at this point. Others may have a better perspective. In other words does Comcast send the digital analog signals as Clear QAM? In which case no STB is required and we have that now.

It suddenly dawns on me that Hauppauge knew the latter all along and that analog on cable was going away to be replaced by Clear QAM analog. This is why its a dual mode tuner.

[jptheripper]

i am not sure why people think this.

COmcast going all digital means their source is digital, not their product. I have not seen a single announcement that says any cable provider is ceasing broadcast NTSC analog.

please correct me if im wrong (with a link), but analog cable will be around for awhile more.

[mayhem70]

Originally Posted by jptheripper

i am not sure why people think this.

COmcast going all digital means their source is digital, not their product. I have not seen a single announcement that says any cable provider is ceasing broadcast NTSC analog.

please correct me if im wrong (with a link), but analog cable will be around for awhile more.

Comcast is slowly phasing them out. You should start noticing some of the NTSC channels starting showing that you need a cable box to view. They will still keep 2-30 active up until the deadline switchover for cable providers. However, 31-99 will definitely will be unaccessible from your NTSC tuner unless with STB. They just started this in Seattle with channel 50 Oxygen. And I've definitely been getting notices in the mail about needing a STB if I wanted to watch 31-99 on my old analog tvs. I believe a couple of months ago, they had offers of adding up to 3 mini STBs for free for those old tvs.

[Rich A]

They still have to make available (on their basic package at no extra cost) all the local OTA channels in the area. This can be any way they choose to send them, digital or analog. These channels have mostly been all analog and only required an analog cable ready TV.

Now many of the cable companies are going to total digital. This means they STILL have to provide those local channels (not scrambled). So that is what this "clear QAM" thing is about (among others). Anyone who now has a TV with a digital tuner can watch those local OTA channels on Clear QAM without an STB.

If you still have an old analog TV and they get rid of all their analog signals, then you have no way to view the FCC mandated local OTA feeds from your cable provider. That is probably why some are offering free STBs. This allows you to still view those Clear QAM OTA re-transmission via your cable. Until the cable companies make the "official" move to digital only in 2012. Here in CT. Cox Cable has more or less solved the problem by keeping their analog channels intact. They have said they will do so until 2012.

[NickHark]

Originally Posted by Rich A

Now many of the cable companies are going to total digital. This means they STILL have to provide those local channels (not scrambled). So that is what this "clear QAM" thing is about (among others). Anyone who now has a TV with a digital tuner can watch those local OTA channels on Clear QAM without an STB.

I thought that is what was happening. Comcast here in San Jose will offering free STB boxes to those that need them, to access the expanded basic channels, all of which, except the locals, will be SD and in Clear QAM..

[NotTooBright]

After the switchover last Friday, the Hauppauge 2250 is still picking up all the same channels it did before. No re-scanning was necessary.

[ed_peters]

Originally Posted by NotTooBright

After the switchover last Friday, the Hauppauge 2250 is still picking up all the same channels it did before. No re-scanning was necessary.

That was an OTA switch to digital, Cable did not switch (although as earlier messages indicate, they will be in the not too distant future).

[Rich A]

Originally Posted by ed_peters

That was an OTA switch to digital, Cable did not switch (although as earlier messages indicate, they will be in the not too distant future).

Every cable provider has it's own ideas on how to handle this. All those regular analog cable stations you used to get were actually (in most cases) gotten by the cable company via sat. feed and local terrestrial feeds. When all the terrestrial analog stations were shut down, the cable companies (just like you and I) no longer had that feed. And thus THEY had to then change to the digital feeds.

It's easier for the cable provider to just re-transmit their own digital feeds, (which is now all they have) to us the users. This is why you see the cable companies doing a lot of channel adjustments and frequency changes as they themselves also make the digital transition. Most people don't realize that the cable companies also lost their analog "feeds".

What is interesting here in CT with Cox cable is that they are still sending all the analog cable stations just as before. What they are actually doing is taking the new digital feeds and encoding them real time back down to analog. I've been told they intend to do this at least until 2012.

Other cable providers (because they lost their analog feeds) are now giving their analog customers who don't have digital equipment free converter boxes.

FWIW I'm curious why Cox chose to go the way they did? I wonder if it was cheaper to just encode their new digital feeds back to analog and continue to feed that rather than offer us free converter boxes. In my case my TV is an older cable ready analog TV. My home theater however is all Beyond TV with several tuners.