Correct me if I'm wrong...

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maademperor

[H]ard|Gawd
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If I set up a HTPC, and I have digital cable, I have to connect the PC to the STB...In order for the HTPC to see the upper channels. Now, once connected, I want to record Sopranos on channel 301 and watch Weeds on Showtime channel 356 at the same time. In order to do this I need to have 1) a dual capture card OR two cards AND 2) two STBs to connect to?

If i didnt have digital cable, the only difference in this scenario would be I was watching Sopranos on channel 80 and Weeds on 92, so I wouldnt need the STB(s) but I would still need the dual capture card or two cards?

Meanwhile, all of my TV watching is really going to be in a Windows window displaying off the desktop?
 
Meanwhile, all of my TV watching is really going to be in a Windows window displaying off the desktop?
Click to expand...

Not if you use a frontend, which makes scheduling and recorded playback much easier. Check the sticky up top for all of the various frontend/pvr software options.
 
you are basically right. the only thing that sounds a little off is the software part. a good front end will make schedulign easier and allow for easy fullscreen video playback.
 
gotcha, so the frontend can eliminate the PC type feel of watching TV.

Now, as I see it, the biggest upside of a HTPC over a regular DVR is the time shifting (dont DVRs do this though?) and being able to manipulate the recorded shows/burn to DVD...I take that to mean that there are no "networkable" type DVRs that let you pull the recorded shows straight off its HDD?
 
I would say a HTPC gives you more storage than a DVR and other functionality that a DVR can't provide. They both do time shifting though.
 
You will still need two STB and two tv tuners if you wish to watch one channel and record a second. Unless your premuim channels come unencrypted over your cable you will need a stb for each tuner. And will need to use some kind of ir receiver to change the channels
 
Hokay, as long as I'm asking questions, how about this scenario:

HTPC with dual tuners. Split the cable signal so it goes to the Tuner card1/STB on one end and STRAIGHT to tuner card 2 on the other.

Doing this, I should be able to record premium channels via Tunercard 1/STB and watch regular channels over tuner card 2, right?

Sounds a bit Hokey, I know, but I'm just looking at all my options here....
 
I believe that's correct. One branch goes to the STB (which connects to one capture card), the other branch goes to the second capture card. You may have to be careful to make sure the right card captures the right program, but there shouldn't be any other problems.
 
sorry, one last comment...with this Nvidia DualTV card , they say it has an internal splitter which provides the dualTV aspect of it...to my limited understanding, running my STB to it would allow me to watch and record (simultaneously) the full channel lineup my STB provides...does that make sense? Is the primary difference between this card and the other dual tuner cards that the other dual tuner cards just have 2 coax connections that you have to plug in to have dual cable input?
 
your might be misunderstanding. the internal splitter is for coax analog cable inputs only. There is no way around needing 2 STBs to tune dual channels. Now if your ran coax out of your STB to the tuner card, it might use it to tune analog channels, but I don't know.
 
Gotcha, I figured as much but figured I'd make sure :p

anything on the horizon to alleviate this requirement? I guess STBs with two outputs would be needed, and why would the cable/satellite companies do that :rolleyes:
 
the way the companies see it, you only need one STB for regular viewing. If you need two, you will be doing PVR, and they want you to buy their PVR with dual tuners. Just trying to keep the business with them. but it's only like 5 more dollars to get a second STB.
 
IDversusEGO said:
your might be misunderstanding. the internal splitter is for coax analog cable inputs only. There is no way around needing 2 STBs to tune dual channels. Now if your ran coax out of your STB to the tuner card, it might use it to tune analog channels, but I don't know.
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Could you possibly get all the 'normal' channels (2 through 120-whatever) without a STB? It seems like that was the original question.
 
OK, there is some fundamental theary of recording that it sounds like you guys are nto getting.

the PVR cards on the market today have built in analog tuners. STBs are digital tuners and are proprietary to the provider (except QAM, but don't even try to twist around that yet). It is actually a mistatement to say that you are using a PVR card to tune channels on an STB. what is actually happening is your software (MCE, Sage, whatever) is sending commands to the STB to tune a particular station at a particular time and it is telling the PVR card to start a raw capture. With an STB, a PVR card is just a capture device.

so with that out there in one statement here are the two real rules of dual tuning

1. anaolg source? dual PVR card or 2 single PVR cards is all you need.
2. digital STB? dual PVR card or two single PVR cards and 2 external STB's for tuning.
 
IDversusEGO said:
OK, there is some fundamental theary of recording that it sounds like you guys are nto getting.
Click to expand...
You're right--I'm not getting it. If you have digital cable, are all the channels, including the bottom 127(or 60-something or whatever) digital, or are those still transmitted via analog? Naturally, all the higher channels must be digital, since any normal tuner can't go over 120-whatever, but what about the ones that could be transmitted via analog?

Here's another way of saying it: are the lower channels broadcast in analog side-by-side with whatever digital signal is also on the line?
 
Mohonri said:
are the lower channels broadcast in analog side-by-side with whatever digital signal is also on the line?
Click to expand...
yes.

Digital cable is not 100% digital. only the additional channels you get added to your lineup are. basic cable is still analog. what I don't know is if you can tune analog cable AFTER the STB or if you have to do it before. I always did it before.
 
IDversusEGO said:
Digital cable is not 100% digital. only the additional channels you get added to your lineup are. basic cable is still analog. what I don't know is if you can tune analog cable AFTER the STB or if you have to do it before. I always did it before.
Click to expand...
That's what I thought the OP was trying to do--insert a splitter upstream of the STB. One branch goes to the STB, the other goes directly to the tuner card. Only analog channel recording on the one going directly to the tuner. From the STB, another coax goes to another tuner. This tuner can record just about whatever channel the OP wants to. The two capture cards just have to be configured the right way so that the PVR app records the digital channels with the card hooked up to the STB, and the normal channels with the one that's hooked up to the 'raw' cable.
 
Mohonri said:
That's what I thought the OP was trying to do--insert a splitter upstream of the STB. One branch goes to the STB, the other goes directly to the tuner card. Only analog channel recording on the one going directly to the tuner. From the STB, another coax goes to another tuner. This tuner can record just about whatever channel the OP wants to. The two capture cards just have to be configured the right way so that the PVR app records the digital channels with the card hooked up to the STB, and the normal channels with the one that's hooked up to the 'raw' cable.
Click to expand...

Precisely. That way I can at least grab sopranos and watch Family Guy or something. The Nvidia card I linked a couple of posts back was a brain fart on my part...sure it takes a single input, and "splits" it internally to create a dual PVR option, but it doesnt matter since hooked to a single STB, changing channels would cause BOTH channels on the HTPC to change. IF it was hooked straight to a single analog source, the software would tune itself for each PVR (for channels 1-120...)...I'm beginning to get it now.
 
this is a theoritical scenrio, so don't take the numbers to be actual channels you have...

the facts:
you have digital /analog cable
you have one stb that tunes channels 100-300 digitally
you have a dual tuner PVR card

the solution:
put a splitter directly out of the coax wall jack. run one coax to the STB and one to the PVR card. now run an svideo cable fromt he svideo to the svideo input on your PVR card.

the results:
PVR input 1 is analog only and will give you channels 1-99
PVR input 2 is digital/analog and will give you channels 1-300
 
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