[mythtv-users] ATSC & QAM

[Joel Turner]

archanoid at gmail.com wrote:

>Background:
>
>My cable provider does not carry all of my local OTA HD broadcasts due
>to contract disputes.  Therefore, some local HD channels (as well as
>some non-local HD like ESPNHD, TNTHD, etc.) are available via QAM-256
>from the cable system and some are only available via ATSC OTA.
>
>Two questions:
>
>1. Is it possible/feasible/easy to combine two sources into one (the
>reverse of a splitter?) to get an OTA antenna and the cable signal
>onto one RG-6 input to a tuner card?
>
>2. Do most HD tuner cards (I have a Kworld ATSC-110 already but I'm
>not married to it) allow switching back and forth between tuning ATSC
>and QAM channels relatively painlessly?
>
>I understand some cards will not do NTSC and ATSC/QAM at the same time
>and basically once you set it up for one you can only switch to the
>other by unloading and reloading the module/firmware, etc. (correct?)
>but I'm not sure about switching between ATSC and QAM.
>
>Thanks,
>-Aaron
>
>  
>
I asked a somewhat similar question a couple of weeks ago, just not as 
thoughtfully as you did.  I have an HD3000 that I had set up using 
QAM-256 with Charter Cable in Madison, WI.  Fortunately, most channels 
in the traditional analog range are unencrypted and were tunable along 
with 5 OTA HD channels. The biggest gap for me was the lack of FOX-HD as 
it's not carried by Charter. Premium and digital channels are connected 
via S-Video from a secondary SD cable box to a PVR-350. My primary cable 
box  is a DCT6200 that I experimented with Firewire capture several 
months back but found it buggy. Tuning to channels was problematic and I 
was losing too many recordings. Two weeks ago I did the following and it 
has been extremely stable so far running on 0.19-fixes compiled from source:

1) As per the Wiki, downloaded the Firewire Priming script and adjusted 
for my environment.  Firewire capture to date has been flawless.  All 
channels 1-99 and OTA HD are captured this way.  As a bonus, Cinemax-HD 
does not have the 5C flag set so I'm able to capture it as well.  This 
tuner is set as priority one and serves as the main tuner.

2) Purchased an indoor amplified antenna for OTA HD capture with the 
HD3000 (I rent).  I can successfully tune all local HD including Fox 
with this method.  This tuner is the primary for Fox and secondary for 
all other HD content.

If you have a Firewire capable box, I suggest you try this method.  I've 
been extremely satisfied. 

--Joel