need new external TV tuner for Comcast cable HD reception

[labromaniac]

Greetings. I currently have the Hauppauge 1950 USB external TV tuner which used to receive beautiful clear QAM signals from my Comcast cable directly connected to the device. Comcast has now scrambled their basic cable service and I have to use a digital converter box. Problem is that the 1950 will now only receive the digital signal in SD quality and not HD. All of my TVs do receive the HD signal with the new digital converter boxes. This problem appears to be intrinsic to the 1950 product.

So, what would you advise me to do if I want to continue to use my PC to receive and record TV shows with my current Comcast/digital converter box setup. Is there a product that will allow me to receive the signal in my PC in HD?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Wolfshadw]

Hauppauge WinTV-DCR-2650 Dual Tuner
SiliconDust HDHomeRun Prime Tri-Tuner
Ceton InfiniTV4 Quad-Tuner
Ceton InfiniTV6 ETH Hex-Tuner

Each of these products requires a cablecard from Comcast and will deliver HD content to your PC, but you won't need the digital converter box anymore.

-Wolf sends

 

[labromaniac]

wow, thanks for such an amazingly fast response.

With this new type of setup will I still be able to record a show, transfer it to an external hard drive and then view it on any device I want? Will that still apply in this situation or will DRM type problems crop up so the recording is not portable?

Thanks again for any help

 

[Wolfshadw]

The Comcast cablecard is just a card you plug into your device.

I'm pretty sure the first card you get is free of charge. Any others you need, are usually at a rate of around $2/month (note, you only need one cablecard per device). The cablecard, when installed into the device, gives you most of the functionality of a DVR Set Top Box. Functionality you lose includes the TV Guide Channel (Windows Media Center provides an online guide) and PPV content. You are not able to order any PPV content.

I've been using my internal Ceton InfiniTV4 card for a number of years now and it's been great.

-Wolf sends

 

[labromaniac]

Thanks Wolf, this is so helpful. I did edit my last post to ask one last question about recording. Allow me to repeat that:

With this new type of setup will I still be able to record a show, transfer it to an external hard drive and then view it on any device I want? Will that still apply in this situation or will DRM type problems crop up so the recording is not portable?

Your help has been wonderful for this family that has been pulling its hair out LOL.

 

[Wolfshadw]

DRM issues will not prevent you from recording, however, DRM issues *MAY* prevent you from moving content from one device to another. In my experience, though, this only occurs when recording movies from some Pay Channels (I get the Encore line-up). There may be other programs (like perhaps sporting events), but I don't recall ever coming across this with just normal TV channels/programs.

-Wolf sends

 

[akensai]

DRM issues will not prevent you from recording, however, DRM issues *MAY* prevent you from moving content from one device to another. In my experience, though, this only occurs when recording movies from some Pay Channels (I get the Encore line-up). There may be other programs (like perhaps sporting events), but I don't recall ever coming across this with just normal TV channels/programs.

-Wolf sends

+1

I've only had issues with the following:
Starz, HBO, Cinemax, Encore

There is nothing to stop you from recording but if you drive to move it across HDD's it usually get's bricked. There are some people that use XMBC scripts to prevent this but that's not something I get into. I'm too lazy to care.

 

[labromaniac]

Thanks for all the great help. My first experience at Tom's. Really great. And on Thanksgiving too!

 

[Wolfshadw]

Mom has to work today (medical field) so the family dinner isn't until later.
Happy Thanksgiving!

-Wolf sends