I am looking into moving to HD. I currently run PVR500/150. Everything works great. I have Comcast digital cable and would like to replace the tuner box (If possible). I see that the pcHD-5500 supports QAM, but I also have read it is tricky to set up and it also does not play well with IVTV capture cards (My 500 and 150)

My system specs are below, can someone point be in the right direction on what might work?

Thanks,

--Theo

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System Specs:
Intel P4 3.2Ghz; Intel mobo; nVid 7600gs AGP (512MB); SoundBlaster Audigy2 Sound; R5.5; PVR-500; HD Homerun; Vizio 42" LCD

The biggest problem you face (when trying to replace your cable box) is that HD "premium content" channels may be encrypted, and cannot be decoded by MythTv. This is the rather large fly in the ointment when trying to receive HD over cable with the HD5000 and others. You won't know which stations are encrypted in your area until you buy the hardware and try it.

OTOH, the cable companies are supposed to provide cable boxes with firewire outputs for HD. These boxes should provide a decrypted stream, since they have the cablecard built in.

[rant]
HD is just a complete swamp of greedy companies and ineffectual government oversight. The botton line is that nobody is protecting our rights are viewers and Congress seems up for sale to the greediest of the content providers and broadcasters. Expect it to get worse before it gets better.
[/rant]

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Thanks for the feedback. Barring encrypted channels, can someone point me in a good direction.

Thanks.

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System Specs:
Intel P4 3.2Ghz; Intel mobo; nVid 7600gs AGP (512MB); SoundBlaster Audigy2 Sound; R5.5; PVR-500; HD Homerun; Vizio 42" LCD

I have a Knoppmyth box and I use the Dvico Fusion 3 to get receive HDTV over comcast digital cable. I read that the latest version of the dvico cards also work (Dvico Fusion 5). I cannot speak for other HDTV cards...

The card works great, I am able to receive the following stations in HDTV over comcast cable (note: I subscribe to limited basic package (not digital cable package) and still get all these channels):
ABC-HD
PBS-HD
NBC-HD
CBS-HD
FOX-HD
CW11-HD
MyQ-HD?
plus other local stations in Seattle...

I do not get:
Discovery HD
ESPN HD
Movie channels in HD
Home & Garden HD
Cooking HD
etc... because they are encrypted.

Look for your local area on AVS forums. You can read peoples comments about what Comcast offers for QAM in-the-clear for your area.

AVSForum Local HDTV Info and Reception:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/forumdisplay.php?f=45
(Use search this forum to find your city, there are lots of posts in the forum)

-Nate

Sweet! Thanks for the information, I greatly appreciate it!

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System Specs:
Intel P4 3.2Ghz; Intel mobo; nVid 7600gs AGP (512MB); SoundBlaster Audigy2 Sound; R5.5; PVR-500; HD Homerun; Vizio 42" LCD

Yeah and unfortunately, QAM card or not, you won't get those channels via firewire either. The box respects the 5c and encrypted (record-once or record-never) flags in the stream and kills the firewire port on specific channels. Ugh.

I suggest you take a look at the HDHomeRun. I'm very happy with mine.

http://www.silicondust.com/
http://www.silicondust.com/forum/

The only downside is that you need to run mythtv 0.20-fixes. Hopefully there will be a new KnoppMyth release soon to make this easy.

I don't think that box helps with encrypted channels:

"Detailed specifications:

* 8-VSB (ATSC over-the-air digital TV)
* QAM64/256 (unencrypted digital cable TV)"

How does it work? I've got the 0.20 fixes, but I'm a bit hesitant to get a HDHomeRun without knowing more about it.

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KM R5E50; K8NGM2; A64-3800+; 1024MB PC3200; LG DVD-RW; Seagate 750GB; 6600 PCI-E; Onboard sound; Hauppauge PVR-150