Record Cable HDTV broadcasts? Is it possible without CableCARD?

[evomac]

This is my first post on here for quite a while (wife and I welcomed our first baby 5 months ago, so hobbies went on the backburner).

So on to my question. I recently purchased a 47inch 1080p LG Scarlet TV and decided to set up a HTPC to accompany it. I am essentially going to use the components listed in my sig for the pc, just rebuild it in a HTPC case with additional accessories as BD, IR, etc...

I have been doing quite a bit of research of different components and front ends, but I have hit a complete snag with one thing, and can't find a solid answer really anywhere for it.

In short: Is it possible to record cable HDTV broadcasts on a home-built HTPC?

To clarify, I'm wondering if it is possible to access my cable's HDTV channels and record them to my HDD. Currently I have a DVR provided by the cable company, which in fact does use a cable card. I just can't seem to find a option (if at all possible) to make my HTPC able to record it.

I'm not sure if this helps, but my cable company (Cablevision) has all of the HD channels located in the 700 range.

Any help / insight would be greatly appreciated. I have a bit more research to do in regards to final specs and the build but this topic I just couldn't find anything solid on, so I figured I'd come to you guys.

Regards in advance
-Evo-

EDIT: Within reason, I have no problem purchasing the needed hardware (ie: a certain tuner card that allows this functionality). I also don't have any access to antenna HDTV broadcasts... being in a condo complex sadly I am stuck with cable only.

 

[Jon]

This is about all you can do at the moment.

 

[evomac]

Yeah, I saw that. Was really looking for a integrated Media Center type of option. Is there any way to check and see what HD channels from my cable company are unencrypted? I've looked around and it seems that there might be a chance that CBS, NBC, ABC, Fox, and a couple others might be unencrypted.

I think for now it seems like a STB w DVR is the way to go.

 

[Jon]

You can check on the SiliconDust site (home of HDHomeRun) to see if anything has been reported for your ZIP code. It's still no guarantee and you're not going to get anything near a premium channel over unencrypted QAM (pretty much limited to the digital counterparts of what you can grab with rabbit ears - if available).

I get around 20 channels on my HDHomeRun, but still signed up for Dish. It's still nice to have considering it's Media Center compatible though. I've never wished I hadn't bought it.

The Hauppauge PVR doesn't work with Media Center and probably never will. At the moment, I believe that's about the only front end that doesn't support it.

 

[LandShark]

for local HD channel, one can use either OTA HD antenna (which you can't in your case), or HD Homerun and hope your local cable company have more than just local HD channel unencrypted. but if you want ALL the HD channels included any premium channels (National Geography, Discovery, HBO, ESPN, SPEED, you_name_it), HD PVR is the only solution at the moment. however, it's not support in WMC (and not in the near future.... might be in Window7's MC version...).

I have the HD PVR, and tried w/ SageTV, got nothing but problem/instability for both LiveTV and recorded shows..... switched back to BeyondTV, and it's been working fine for me with a few little bump like no auto commercial skip, record in h.264 format to save space (BTV still record it in .TS format, but it's ok w/ me as it's no more than my previously OTA HD recording anyway), etc. given BTV still isn't "offically" support it, I'm pretty happy for what I'm getting right now (ALL of the DirecTV HD channels that I've paid for!!).

 

[evomac]

@Jon - Thanks for that link. I was really surprised to see that their are ~90 channels available for my cable provider.

@LandSharkI am actually not looking to use WMC as a Front End. I was initially considering XBMC as my Front End, which essentially could just create a application launcher for BTV or really any other application. I'm honestly not fully sold on the HD PVR. I think for the time being I am going to stick with my STB w. built in DVR. For one, my wife likes to record silly HGTV-hd programming along with other "Premium HD" channels, so for her ease of use alone I think it's worth bypassing.


I do however have a couple questions for you to somewhat derail my thread.
1) I see that your two HTPC's are running Meedio, is there a new version out somewhere that is not on the official site? I've tried looking around and pretty much kept coming up with it having gone to Yahoo!.
2) What IR receiver are you using in your main HTPC? That is the one purchase I am still unsure about. I intend on getting a Harmony 880 to replace my old Sony Commander (yep the giant grey touch screen model) and was wondering what you used on your PC as a IR sensor.
3) When you say you purhcased a HD PVR is it correct to assume you have the HD PVR posted above? If so can you just clarify two things for me?
3a) How does the connection work? Is it STB -> HDPVR over component -> PC over USB?
3b) If I did go with this route, is there any way for it to get a online program guide that can be accessed directly from the PC?
3c) Does it only work for 1 channel at a time?

Sorry for all the questions, but thank you in advance for taking the time to read the post.

Regards,
-Evo-

 

[hellzarmy]

could do a Tivo and solve the problem all around.

i have a HD tivo unit that has a comcast dual TV card in it.

have been recording HD content for awhile now

 

[evomac]

could do a Tivo and solve the problem all around.

i have a HD tivo unit that has a comcast dual TV card in it.

have been recording HD content for awhile now

Tivo is really not all that much different than my cable set top with dvr. It doesn't offer any connectivity with the PC in the sense of recorded premium HD content.

 

[LandShark]

I do however have a couple questions for you to somewhat derail my thread.
1) I see that your two HTPC's are running Meedio, is there a new version out somewhere that is not on the official site? I've tried looking around and pretty much kept coming up with it having gone to Yahoo!.

there's a bunch of old Meedio users that had started an open source project to continue where the old Meedio left, it's called MeediOS and I must say it's one of the very best (both for the look and functionality) front end especially when compare to like WMC, SageMC, etc. they even made a iPod like cover flipping interface too. (Media Portal is another good looking one)

2) What IR receiver are you using in your main HTPC? That is the one purchase I am still unsure about. I intend on getting a Harmony 880 to replace my old Sony Commander (yep the giant grey touch screen model) and was wondering what you used on your PC as a IR sensor.

I actually is using a streamzap remote have it's receiver connected to the htpc, and have Harmony to learn the code from the remote.[/quote]

3) When you say you purhcased a HD PVR is it correct to assume you have the HD PVR posted above? If so can you just clarify two things for me?

yes

3a) How does the connection work? Is it STB -> HDPVR over component -> PC over USB?

yes. also, the latest driver has enabled DD5.1 over SPDIF too. so for audio, STB --> HDPVR via SPDIF --> HTPC via the same USB.

3b) If I did go with this route, is there any way for it to get a online program guide that can be accessed directly from the PC?

not 100% sure what do you mean, but I'm assuming it's your TV provider (DirecTV, Comcast, etc.)'s TV Guide? this is provided from your choice of the PVR software (e.g. SageTV, BeyondTV, etc.)

3c) Does it only work for 1 channel at a time?

yes, it's a single channel tuner. therefore, 1 channel at a time. (and that's why I bought 2! )

in fact, I'm in the middle process of redoing my whole house's media distribution again. I'm still using the good old Meedio, but will switch over to MeediOS in the new system. I've tried a few other front end, VMC, SageMC, etc. but none of them has what I want for front end nor could organize my media (mainly videos) the way I want. may be I didn't dig deep enough, but MeediOS's TVnight and Movienight plug in really make all other front end/media organization in dust.

when I'm done (not sure when as I've been hammered w/ works and stuffs lately) with this re-doing, I might do a lengthy write up/reviews.

 

[hellzarmy]

Tivo is really not all that much different than my cable set top with dvr. It doesn't offer any connectivity with the PC in the sense of recorded premium HD content.

im not trying to sell Tivo here, but if your saying i cant record Premium HD movies/shows like from HBO, Starz, and whatever else....... then you are wrong.

i have been doing this for some time now. the movies are recorded, and then sent to my Media PC for storage and / or converted then shared out to the rest of my network.

also, if your a comcast user, the cable cards are free as they are included in every package offered, weither you have a DVR that needs a cablecard or not. so there is no additional charge to order one.

 

[evomac]

i have been doing this for some time now. the movies are recorded, and then sent to my Media PC for storage and / or converted then shared out to the rest of my network.

I was under the impression that with Tivo it is extremely limited as to what you can bring onto your PC from the Tivo box. I thought that it was only the "non premium channels" could come over to the PC. If you can bring any of the HD content to my local machine, a Tivo might actually be something to consider.

there's a bunch of old Meedio users that had started an open source project to continue where the old Meedio left, it's called MeediOS and I must say it's one of the very best (both for the look and functionality) front end especially when compare to like WMC, SageMC, etc. they even made a iPod like cover flipping interface too. (Media Portal is another good looking one)

I downloaded this last night and started to play around with it. I really like the look of the interface, but I need to spend some time researching it because to be quite honest... I have no idea how to configure it. I couldn't even get my movies to populate from a network share. If I can get the configuration down, I might switch from XBMC to MeediOS.

 

[hellzarmy]

the only limited thing you can not access on the Tivo is the On-Demand type stuff.

i record a ton of cartoon network adult swim, as well as any movies and shows that interest me.

i did purchase the upgrade for the tivo software so i could convert the files to other formats, but you dont need the upgrade to just watch movies, or transffer them from the Tivo to the computer for storage.

just make sure you get a HD Tivo if thats what you are going for. cost is about $299 + subscription.