htpc tv tuning question

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bucfanmike

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Jun 14, 2007
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Im playing around with a hauppage 2250 right now on my desktop sytem for ota on a test basis. I have ordered some parts to start my dedicated htpc build. so far i have an asus h55/core i3 540, samsung 2tb, the hauppage 2250, hd homerun dual, 4 gigs ddr3. i think i have everything but a case/psu, and an optical drive (most likely go blu ray)

So heres my question, i am dropping directv and switching to charter. I spent 30 mins with a charter rep on the phone who seemed to know his stuff. He confirmed that my area was SDV and that i was eligible for a cable card and autotuner setup. He said this would pass all my programming into my tuners. He said the only downfall would be maybe not passing on the guide info. Does this sound reliable, will this work? anyone else doing this?

Thanks
 
hmm looking some more into this and I think ill still be screwed until i change tuners. I was under the impression the way the charter guy explained it that the cable card went into the autotuner. Now im thinking that isnt the case and that he probably assumed that i had a tuner that had a cable card slot, which i dont.
 
Yeah, you'd need to buy the $400 Ceton InfiniTV 4 tuner, and wait a month or so for backorder fulfillment. Or find a used (since discontinued) ATI Wonder DCT. Or wait to see if and when the HDHomeRun Prime is released. These are the only known cablecard TV tuner cards. One is discontinued, one hasn't been released yet, and one is a bit backorderd, but from what I've read is a really solid product (if not pricey). You'd need one of these tuners to get all the premium channels in HD that you are subscribed to. Not having the Charter guide isn't a problem because something like 7MC has it's own guide, which IMO has better design that things from cable companies. You can't do on-demand stuff with cablecards, so keep that in mind. No 2-way communication with the cable company.
 
so for starters with the tuners i have i should be able to pick up any thing they have in clear qam. If so ill be ok with that. A friend of mine has a cable package with charter and just using his tv (no set top box) he gets all the channels i really care about.

If this works im going to go from 152/mo for qwest internet/directv to 90/month for charter and double my internet speed in the process. will pay for the computer to run it within 8-10 months.
 
Yes, the hauppage 2250 can pick up things transmitted in the clear by the cable companies. These are the channels that built-in TV tuners can pick up with no set top box. You can check out this page: http://www.silicondust.com/support/channels/ to get an idea of what channels are in the clear in your area based on provider (but it isn't always 100% accurate). Most providers also transmit the local networks in HD in the clear as well. So if you can live with that level of service, then your current tuner card is sufficient.
 
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