I am going to moving next week and the place will have access to digital cable through a coaxial cable. I want to be able to record it through my HDPVR 2. Does anyone have any recommendation for a digital converter box that is compatible with QAM256. I would like to have component out (YPBPR) or HDMI out. I would like to keep the price as low as possible. Thanks
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You might mention your TV provider. Comcast has been reported to have started encrypting ALL cable channels in some markets if not all of them. I'm not sure that anybody here can recommend anything that will work for sure depending on your TV source. Usually people have no choice but to pay for the cable company's box as at least it works. AT&T's Uverse still allows the use of component video via their boxes but other providers may enforce the use of HDMI. You'll never be able to record encrypted HDMI with your HDPVR2, should your cable provider encrypt everything, although component should work fine - if they allow you to use it. Originally the FCC required "basic cable" and local channels to be unencrypted, but they folded like a cheap tent when Comcast and other companies begged them to allow them to encrypt everything.
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The best (and quite possibly the only option) to use with an HD-PVR 2 is a rented HD cable box or HD DVR from your provider. They tune all the channels in your package. As jman98 said, the largest cable companies in the US now encrypt everything. ...but even if your service provider still has some unencrypted QAM channels, chances are the only channels available that way are basic cable (locals and a few others). Unless you have a basic cable package, you will still need to rent equipment from your provider to have the ability to record all the channels in your package.
Hook your flat screen TV up to coax when you move in. If a the TV's scan finds any channels, those are the only ones you'll be able to get without a rented cable box. -
I really only looking for those basic channels as the owner said they are free per agreement with the company for wiring the apartments . He said to do the TV coax scan to get them working but i want to also be able to record.
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Your only reasonably good, inexpensive options to use with an HD PVR2 are an Viewtv At-163, iView 3500STBII or an Mediasonic HW-150PVR HomeWorx (with the manufactuers experimental clear QAM firmware).
Anything better will be an ATSC/QAM HD DVR with a built-in hard drive costing far more, or a TiVo (requires a separate subscription to use).
However, in your place, I would get a SiliconDust HD Homerun Dual HDHR4-2US HD for recording and skip the inconvenience of using a set top box and an HDPVR 2. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815345015 It will allow you to record two channels at once.
I have used a PC TV tuner with clear QAM support for recording cable and I have used a cable box plus a Hauppauge Colossus for recording cable TV. Trust me when I tell you that a PC TV tuner is far easier to set up and more convenient to use. -
If the digital cable in your area is Clear Open QAM or even Old School Analog channel then check with your TV set if has a digital tuner then it should pick up those QAM channel then you have no problem pick them up with a PCI HVR-1600 or if your system support PCIe the you two option HVR-1850 or a Dual tuner HVR-2250/2255 which also cover the standard analog cable 1 thru 99 or more channel as well depend on the cable company very rare lee was it ever pass 65 channel.
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It should be pointed out that none of the above will work with a laptop.
The PCI HVR-1600 and HVR-1850 are probably out of production, but if not, they are difficult to find for sale new.
I have an HVR-2250. It is a good TV card, but if it died tomorrow, I would replace it with a SiliconDust HD Homerun Dual HDHR4-2US HD. If someone doesn't need an HVR-2250 for analog cable or analog capture, a SiliconDust HD Homerun Dual is a very good and often slightly less expensive alternative that can work with either a laptop or a desktop. -
Just get an inexpensive capture/tuner device with a clear QAM tuner. That way you can save the transport stream directly from the cable company. No digital/analog conversions, no quality loss from further compression.
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jagabo all digital tuner has no digital conversions
That true he could get just standard digital tuner there very few left and Hauppauge is only one left even AVerMedia getting out the building digital tuner all other all ready dump or trash there old stock off.
To bad he wasn't after ATSC Over Air then I say get the Tablo 4 Tuner modelLast edited by SHS; 26th Aug 2014 at 20:32.
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You said
No digital/analog conversions?
Analog conversions is pig with CPU Soft Encoding vs Hardware MPEG-2 Encoder even I wouldn't waste my time analog software encoding. -
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I agree that a good TV card with a QAM tuner and a PC-based PVR would be preferable all the way around for quality and convenience, especially if someone wants to have the recordings available on their PC.
However, If the OP is on a tight budget, I should point out that the cheap STBs I mentioned can function as a simple single-tuner timer-based DVR, if a USB hard drive is connected to them, and also capture TV broadcasts in their original quality. These cheap little boxes don't offer the same convenience as a good PC-based PVR, but for some people they work OK. Longevity/durability has sometimes been an issue, but to be fair the inexpensive single digital tuner TV cards I've had lasted only a year or even less, and cost about the same.
Some of these STBs (the iView 3500STBII is supposed to be one of them) record mts files or something else that can be copied to a PC and played or converted. Unfortunately the files are cryptically named. There are some very long but informative threads about some of these boxes at the AVSforums website.