PC TV decoders

[Tolanin]

So i have had a x800 AIW card for like a year now and finally decided to hook it up to cable.. my prob is it only gets like the shitty basic channels and I dont get any of my HBO or showtime so I have to go downstairs to watch that shit and cant DVR any of it on my PC.

Are there any software decoders that will let me watch those chans?

[Vorph]

In a perfect world where media companies didn't lobby for--and get--legislation to fuck over consumers at every turn, you'd be able to buy an addon card, get a CableCARD from your cable co., and slap it in your pc to work with XP MCE or Vista. Ours is not a perfect world, and Cable Labs refuses to certify anything but pre-built systems for CableCARD use.

Instead, you'll need to do it the hard way, which requires a cablebox with firewire and a cable company that isn't run by assholes. The first part is easy, it's a FCC mandate, and also as of 7/1/07 they are required to just provide you with a CableCARD for use with a set top box of your choice (meaning you can buy one instead of renting). The second part is tricky, as many cable cos. are using 5C encryption even on non-premium channels (some even do it to OTA channels which I believe is against FCC regulations). On the other hand, there are still some cable cos. that don't use 5C on HBO, etc. so it's a bit of a crapshoot and you'll have to find out from someone else in your area or just try it yourself to see what you can access.


This thread at SageTV forums is a good read. You may be able to post there and find someone else in your area with the same cable co. who can tell you what exactly they use 5C on.

Edit: Another good thread about it at AVSForum -- How to record via IEEE 1394 (Firewire) to Windows XP - AVS Forum

All of this assumes you want HD, too. There are simpler ways to do it if you just want SD broadcasts. I'm not familiar with how well the AIW cards work, other than that they are not recommended by people at SageTV, MythTV, etc. but you should just be able to connect a cablebox to your pc and watch whatever you want in SD. Cablebox is required because the encryption needs to be decoded before you try to watch/record the channel. To get the best support from DVR software you will probably need to buy a Hauppauge card.

[Tolanin]

Ya the only reason I got this card was to play consoles and it worked fine for that, this AIW isnt a HD tuner but I guess if i get another cable box that wont matter. The firewire thing looks like it will let me do pretty much what i wanted. thx

[Faille]

Been thinking of getting a tv tuner myself, just for fta stuff not cable, and probably going to to go with a usb one just for portability.

[Jait]

Ya, thank god for USB.

On another note, when I play EQ2, I go to windowed mode and stretch it to 1600x1200 (full screen). Then I load up the skin version of wmp to watch movies in the corner (at about 200x140). I use Road Runner, so I assume being cable it would be fairly easy to watch TV as well. Hopefully it can run in a similar window while I play Time to check out those links you posted. Thanks

[Frax]

WinTV-HVR-1600

~100 bucks US

[Faille]

From what I've gathered, Dual Tuners is a must. lets you record while watching something else, or do live picture in picture or I think also record 2 channels at once.

[Vorph]

I think you'll have a hard time finding dual tuners in a USB version. I don't know much about DVB-T products, but I don't remember ever seeing that in a ATSC tuner. There's a list of supported tuners at SageTV's site that includes a section on DVB, probably worth checking out to get an idea of what exists at least.

SageTV® [ System Requirements ]

[Faille]

DigitalNow

That's the one I was looking at getting.

There's another that is a Hybrid, ie Digital and Analogue tuners on it that is also USB that i'm tossing up between.

[Aulirophile]

The annoying thing about 5C is that FireWire networks are a "secured" network for the DTCP protocol. So, hypothetically, you could have a 5C compliant PC FireWire card. FireWire, my understanding anyway, is actually a fantastic network for video. It was designed that way so no bits are "late" as sometimes happens with ethernet and has plenty of bandwith, as well as being able to send meta-data to cotrol the connected devices.

Ahhh well.

[Vorph]

I read the reason why they won't make 5C compliant firewire cards a while back. IIRC it has something to do with the keys needed to decrypt having to be stored with the video, where normally they are discarded as soon as the session ends. That sort of thing is ok on a PVR you get from the cable co., but they were afraid that on a PC it would have a similar effect as what happened with AACS.

And yea, firewire is very robust, which is why USB 2.0 is faster on paper but firewire 400 beats it pretty handily in actual tests.

[Aulirophile]

Originally Posted by Vorph

I read the reason why they won't make 5C compliant firewire cards a while back. IIRC it has something to do with the keys needed to decrypt having to be stored with the video, where normally they are discarded as soon as the session ends. That sort of thing is ok on a PVR you get from the cable co., but they were afraid that on a PC it would have a similar effect as what happened with AACS.

And yea, firewire is very robust, which is why USB 2.0 is faster on paper but firewire 400 beats it pretty handily in actual tests.

Bad for consumers, but makes sense I guess. I dunno, I feel like all these industries are children treating pirating as the bogeyman and it is hampering them in ways they don't realize. Shame.