Feb 2008 Analogue to Digital and back again .. PVR cards

[bendixG15]

Comes the day when digital TV broadcasting takes affect and my analogue Hauppaugge PVR 350 card
becomes a POS.
Or does it ?

If I have cable TV, can't I just get one of those digital to analogue converter boxes (with the $40.00 govenment coupon) hook it up to the cable and sent the signal to the PVR card ? And capture TV just fine like in the good old days ?.
A TV tuner is a TV tuner.

And the splitter should still work.. Yes ?

[usually_quiet]

Chances are that subscribers will still have access to analog cable for a while after the changeover. At least Comcast is promising that in their advertising, though they don't say how long that will be true.

It's been a while since I read the specs on the PVR-350, so I don't remember whether it has an IR blaster, or not. If it doesn't that would make it difficult to use a piece of software to record two or more shows on different channels when you won't be around to take care of manually changing channels on the converter box at the correct times.

[Edit] I am not sure how you plan to use the splitter, but if you have it on the line out (analog) on the converter box, you will be unable to watch anything but the show you are recording. If you use it on the line in (digital), you had better have a digital TV.

[bendixG15]

After Feb 2008, the cable going into the TV has to be carrying an analogue signal. I put the splitter there and send one cable to the TV and one to the computer with the PVR card.

Then the TV and the PVR work. Similiar to what I have now.

[usually_quiet]

They will both work, but not similar to what you have now, unless your service provider already requires you to use some sort of cable box.

Assuming you have no cable box now and the cable is connected directly to your TV and PVR 350, as of now, they both receive all the analog channels from the cable connection, and each uses its own tuner to select channels. As I understand it, putting a converter box on the cable changes that. It not only converts digital to analog, but acts as a tuner, so it only outputs the channel it is tuned to, not all the channels at once. You never change channels on an analog TV or analog recording device again, only the converter box.

If you have the splitter on the converter box's line out (analog), then both the PVR 350 and your TV are going to be receiving the same channel, not all of them. To watch one channel and record another using two analog devices requires that you employ a splitter to divide the signal between two converter boxes, one of which is connected to the PVR 350 and one to your TV.

[edDV]

Comes the day when digital TV broadcasting takes affect and my analogue Hauppaugge PVR 350 card
becomes a POS.
Or does it ?

If I have cable TV, can't I just get one of those digital to analogue converter boxes (with the $40.00 govenment coupon) hook it up to the cable and sent the signal to the PVR card ? And capture TV just fine like in the good old days ?.
A TV tuner is a TV tuner.

And the splitter should still work.. Yes ?

The digital changeover affects over the air (antenna) reception only and doesn't directly affect cable. You will still have analog channels on cable like you do today. In fact, in most modern cable systems, the analog channels you see are already fed digitally from the TV station over telco or fiber. It would be a very backward or remote cable system that is still pulling the broadcast station off the air.

Are we clear so far?

The FCC has mandated that analog versions of local broadcast stations remain on cable until at least 2012. Further, they have mandated that unencrypted digital QAM versions of "must carry" channels be available with basic cable packages. That means a digital tuner with QAM capability will be able to tune broadcast stations in SD or HD off the cable with a basic cable plan. Note that QAM digital tuner capability is in addition to ASTC capability. ATSC only tuners are for over the air only and do nothing on cable. A "tuner" is not a "tuner". There are several kinds of tuners for different purposes.

1. Analog NTSC tuner
This will stop working over the air Feb 17, 2009, but will continue to work with most cable systems. Cable companies have the option to go all digital but if they do, they are mandated* to provide cable boxes without rent to basic cable subscribers. The cable companies that will go all digital are usually small operations that haven't expanded their 70's 80's 550MHz infrastructure and don't have room to carry analog plus digital.

2. ATSC digital tuner
This will allow you to tune digital stations over the air with an antenna. It does nothing on cable.

3. ATSC digital tuner with "clear" unencrypted QAM capability.
The QAM part will tune unencrypted cable channels.

4. ATSC digital tuner with "clear" unencrypted QAM capability and "Cablecard" (a smart card slot).
This kind of tuner can decrypt the pay plan cable channels using a smart PC card that you rent from the cable company. The card is programmed by them to match your pay plan. This type of tuner is usually only available as part of a TV set but the HTPC industry is pushing for computer tuners with "Cablecard". Some are in beta testing currently. These are usually tied to Vista MCE for DRM control.

So far we are talking here only about local broadcast channels. The cable company is free to offer cable channels as analog as it desires. Over time there will be a reduction of cable analog channels to make room for more digital channels. Each 6MHz analog channel takes the capacity of 8-10 SD MPeg2 or 2 HD MPeg2 subchannels.


* The reason the Congress and FCC are being so heavy handed with these mandates is to make it impossible for the local cable company to force a fee increase to basic cable customers because of the digital broadcast changeover. They have gone further by also requiring clear QAM versions of broadcast channels even for basic cable subscribers.

[jagabo]

The FCC has mandated that analog versions of local broadcast stations remain on cable until at least 2012.

Or that cable companies supply digital tuners free of charge in their basic subscription package.

[bendixG15]

1. Analog NTSC tuner
This will stop working over the air Feb 17, 2009, but will continue to work with most cable systems. Cable companies have the option to go all digital but if they do, they are mandated* to provide cable boxes without rent to basic cable subscribers. The cable companies that will go all digital are usually small operations that haven't expanded their 70's 80's 550MHz infrastructure and don't have room to carry analog plus digital.

Thanks for all the replies but I pretty much know all that stuff.
Appears that my initial Post was not clear.

I am talking about case of Item 1 in the post above.

I have a regular SD CRT TV with an analog NTSC tuner and also a NTSC tuner in the PRV 350 card.
I have a cable TV provider.
After Feb 2009, he has to provide an analog signal for my TV.
I want to insert a splitter before the TV and send one cable to the TV and the other cable to the PVR 350 card in my computer so I can capture TV shows.
It appears to me that this will work.
I am posting this because many are posting that analog PVR cards are worthless after Feb 2009.

Any better ??

[jagabo]

I have a regular SD CRT TV with an analog NTSC tuner and also a NTSC tuner in the PRV 350 card.
I have a cable TV provider.
After Feb 2009, he has to provide an analog signal for my TV.
I want to insert a splitter before the TV and send one cable to the TV and the other cable to the PVR 350 card in my computer so I can capture TV shows.
It appears to me that this will work.

Yes that will work for as long as your cable provider continues carrying analog. That's what many people do now.

[edDV]

1. Analog NTSC tuner
This will stop working over the air Feb 17, 2009, but will continue to work with most cable systems. Cable companies have the option to go all digital but if they do, they are mandated* to provide cable boxes without rent to basic cable subscribers. The cable companies that will go all digital are usually small operations that haven't expanded their 70's 80's 550MHz infrastructure and don't have room to carry analog plus digital.

Thanks for all the replies but I pretty much know all that stuff.
Appears that my initial Post was not clear.

I am talking about case of Item 1 in the post above.

I have a regular SD CRT TV with an analog NTSC tuner and also a NTSC tuner in the PRV 350 card.
I have a cable TV provider.
After Feb 2009, he has to provide an analog signal for my TV.
I want to insert a splitter before the TV and send one cable to the TV and the other cable to the PVR 350 card in my computer so I can capture TV shows.
It appears to me that this will work.
I am posting this because many are posting that analog PVR cards are worthless after Feb 2009.

Any better ??

A splitter will work today and it will work in most cases after Feb 17, 2009. Analog cable channels use 6MHz RF channels modulated with NTSC. Channels 2-13 use the same channel frequencies as VHF broadcast so the TV sees no difference vs RF off an antenna feed. Channels above 13 differ for cable and UHF TV. There is usually a tuner menu choice for UHF broadcast or cable upper channels.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_cable_television_frequencies

Channels above 69 (sometimes 65 or lower) are used for QAM digital modulation on most cable systems.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QAM_tuner
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVB-C

[usually_quiet]

If I have cable TV, can't I just get one of those digital to analogue converter boxes (with the $40.00 govenment coupon) hook it up to the cable and sent the signal to the PVR card ? And capture TV just fine like in the good old days ?.
A TV tuner is a TV tuner.

This needs a little clarification too. Last time I looked, the $40 coupon was only [s:39195feaf6]available[/s:39195feaf6] intended for TV's which receive their signal via an antenna, not via cable or satellite service. That being the case, the converter boxes elegible for purchase with it only have ATSC tuners, which won't be of much use for converting digital cable, should one try to use one for that purpose.