I have standard analog SDTV over cable which works very well for a TV tuner card, but I don't see how I can do the same for HDTV material which requires a proprietary set up box. I enjoy automatically recording programs to avi files which can then be stored or transferred anywhere such as a file server. How would you make this work for HDTV?

Set-top box and HD-PVR.

 

Peter

Hauppauge Colossus (Internal card - new) or HD-PVR (usb - external)

 

Also have been some reports of success for HDMI input (unencrypted) from some DirecTV & Dish Network boxes (since they are not encrypting the HDMI out).

 

 

 

 

I use nPVR (previously GB-PVR) http://forums.gbpvr.com/ since 2004. All the recordings from there are one of the main reasons for my venture into unRAID...

 

The recording devices I use are currently Silicon Dust HDHomeRun - a dual tuner device that is connected to your LAN (not a card in your PC --> flexible placement) and a FireDTV. Both record HD from cable just fine. I would recommend the HDHomeRun. It's very stable and a very nice unit.

 

Look at the forums and wiki in the link above for other alternative HW.

There is also a few models of cable card tuners around. I think Silicon Dust has one and Ceton is another popular model. It's a direct tuner option if your cable co will supply you with a cable card.

 

http://www.hdtvtunerinfo.com/cablecardtuner.html

 

You could also just get an ATSC tuner card and record over-the-air HD. You might also be able to record some cable HD if your cable co doesn't scramble the standard HD channels.

 

Peter

Thanks guys for the reply but can someone explain how the connections and scheduling would work with the additional receivers. Right now my cable plugs into my TV tuner card and I can use any program like GB-PVR to schedule recording, and there's no other gear to worry about. Locally I have two TV providers, the cable company and the phone company. With HDTV from the TV provider the cable now plugs into their HD receiver, and with the phone company I'm not sure how the connections work for ADSL but they also offer their own hardware which I assume would be required. How would I set up the scheduling and allow the tuner on the PC to change channels on the proprietary set up box and record accordingly?

IR Blaster