[mythtv-users] Standard analog cable with HDTV channels ( what card do I get ? )

[Rod Smith]

On Wednesday 31 October 2007 11:29:47 Gustavo Tenrreiro wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I have a basic subcription to timewarner cable, which gets me about 100
> channels ( standard ), and then I get some HDTV channels ( CBS, ABC, Fox,
> KLRU, etc ).
>
> What card do I need that would be able to pick up both types of channels?
>
> I was looking at the pcHDTV HD-3000, or the 5500, would that work?

The pcHDTV cards contain both analog and digital tuners, and so can 
theoretically do the job; however, the pcHDTV 3000, at least, has known 
problems tuning QAM (digital cable) channels on some (but not all) computers. 
I don't know if this problem is fixed in the 5500. Also, the pcHDTV cards' 
analog tuners are software encoders, which means that your CPU will have to 
encode the video. Although any computer capable of playing back HD content 
should be able to do this, you could end up with encoding problems because of 
heavy CPU loads -- say, if you want to record while watching HD content. To 
the best of my knowledge, all ATSC/QAM HD tuner cards have either no analog 
NTSC support or provide software encoding analog support, so this latter 
issue is a problem with all of them.

IMHO, you'd do better to buy separate HD and SD cards, or at least have one 
hardware-encoding analog card to do most of the SD encoding, relegating the 
tuner on any HD card to recording HD content or rare SD recordings that go 
one tuner beyond what you normally require.

Personally, I've got an AVerMedia AVerTV 180 as an HD tuner (it doesn't work 
as an NTSC tuner) along with a pair of MPEG-2 hardware encoding devices. This 
serves me fairly well, although as the move to digital TV progresses, I'm 
sure I'll eventually want another HD/digital tuner.

One other point: Cable systems are supposed to deliver local broadcast digital 
channels unencrypted; however, compliance with this rule is uneven. Some do 
so, and some even provide some other digital channels unencrypted. Some 
operators, however, encrypt all of their digital stations. If you've already 
got a digital TV, you should verify that you can receive the stations you 
expect in digital form. If you can't, there's little point in bothering with 
an HD/digital tuner for a MythTV box.

-- 
Rod Smith
http://www.rodsbooks.com