I recently cut out cable at my house and just have internet service. I noticed I still get about 80 channels on the tv after doing a channel scan because of Clear QAM in the cable. Can anyone recommend a good clear QAM dvr with channel guide so I can record some shows?

Getting something for nothing would be considered fraud in my way of thinking... I would call the Cable Provider and ask if it is legal to view their cable transmission without paying for it before dumping a bunch money into a high dollar DVR and other Televison monitor equipment. I think the cable provided INTERNET signals is around the CH79 - CH82 frequency bands which the cable company should be using filters just for your Internet Signals. What I would do if you want to continue watching TV would be to install a good quality OTA Outside Antenna setup. We get all of the local channels here using the eight Bow-Tie Flat antenna panels mounted up on the peak of our house roof line. We are roughly 50 miles away from the Washington DC and Richmond Virginia areas and there a few other digital TV towers in some of the other somewhat close towns... There is also alot of cable TV like programs also being transmitted by these local TV stations. The live 24/7 radar transmissions are the most important ones for me...Google ImagesThis is all public TV from the National Broadcast System which is now all transmitted in High Def Digital mode and more important is legal to view and is free to the general public... You will not be considered stealing TV from your local TV provider doing this. This should let you sleep well at night knowing you are not doing something illegal... That is what my mother would have said at any rate if she was still living... Just saying....Roy Ken

I am not breaking any laws. I also have a TIVO OTA for those channels and I sleep just fine.When you connect a cable directly to most modern TVs, you can get the broadcast channels in HD without a set top box. And in doing this, you are not breaking any laws. This is perfectly legal.The technology behind this is called ClearQAM. QAM is a modulation scheme that allows the transmission of digital TV channels on an analog RF cable. Because of a number of rules and regulations, cable televesion companies are required to provide access to the broadcast channels in the clear – thus the name ClearQAM

If you do a search for "PVR" on Amazon you get several listings. Here are two that have a QAM tuner:https://www.amazon.com/BlazeVideo-Digital-Converter-Receiver-Multimedia/dp/B01IMO6OXM/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1489405985&sr=8-5&keywords=pvrhttps://www.amazon.com/Edal-Receiver-Converter-Recording-Composite/dp/B01LYL35SP/ref=sr_1_12?ie=UTF8&qid=1489406121&sr=8-12&keywords=pvrThese have a single tuner that will receive digital OTA and ClearQAM. With the addition of a USB hard drive they can be used as a PVR.I have an iView and Mediasonic brands which are basically the same. Hopefully the software has improved in recent models because mine are a bit quirky. Once you figure them out they work quite well and the video is excellent. Total cost will be less than $100 for the box and a 1TB hard drive.Just a heads up, many cable companies are dropping ClearQAM and encrypting all channels

The requirement to rebroadcast local stations in the clear over cable was repealed by Obama's FCC. All content even free basic channels like pbs or public access can be encrypted now by choice of the provider. Clear qam is dead.Ref Fcc 12 126

Sounds great... We just got the cable boxes here from our cable provider being METROCAST. We use to get all of our channels in the clear before the boxes came out... When they changed over all of those channels went bye bye.... The gave us the first BOX for free and we have to pay a monthly charge for the additional TV we have here. None of my late model TV sets pick up anything here without using the cable boxes...I suspect they have installed different filters all over the area here to just support the channels their cable boxes look for... I would almost bet money if I called them saying I was wanting to get the CLEAR QAM signals over their cable network they would have some way to charge me for that...I did read this online a few minutes ago about the FCC decision in late 2012 on this subject..."The FCC DecisionUnfortunately for those who rely on ClearQAM for viewing digital cable, the FCC reversed course and ruled in late 2012 that Cable companies can encrypt their Limited Basic offerings. They cited a reduction in CATV theft and reduced onsite support calls as part of their reasoning. The decision will supposedly allow Cable companies to increase their bandwidth allocation for high speed Internet by eliminating the analog transmissions over their cables.Part of deal requires the Cable companies to make the Limited Basic channels available by Internet Protocol (IP) address so 3rd party devices can still access them. The details of how this will be done are not known yet but will most likely require CableCard use in the devices to decrypt the signal. The Cable companies will also have a moratorium before they can start charging customers for equipment to unencrypt the Limited Basic channels. "I guess the cable companies can do almost any encryption they want to do now to keep folks from getting the CLEAR QAM signals over their RF cables...Its their Cable System I reckon...I think we both know what the local cable TV provider is going to say if you called to ask about using their transmitted CLEAR QAM signals over their RF Cable system.I just saw the head cable guy driving through our neighborhood a couple of days ago... He knows where we Ham Radio guys live hehe... My neighbor has a home job business going and the company he working for was paying for his top high speed Internet connection. Then he changes companies but the high speed line connection is still up and going. Roy Ken

Clear QAM DVR recomendations | Good Sam Community

GordonThree
Explorer
Mar 13, 2017
The requirement to rebroadcast local stations in the clear over cable was repealed by Obama's FCC. All content even free basic channels like pbs or public access can be encrypted now by choice of the provider. Clear qam is dead.

Ref Fcc 12 126
Tom_M1
Explorer
Mar 13, 2017
If you do a search for "PVR" on Amazon you get several listings. Here are two that have a QAM tuner:

https://www.amazon.com/BlazeVideo-Digital-Converter-Receiver-Multimedia/dp/B01IMO6OXM/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1489405985&sr=8-5&keywords=pvr

https://www.amazon.com/Edal-Receiver-Converter-Recording-Composite/dp/B01LYL35SP/ref=sr_1_12?ie=UTF8&qid=1489406121&sr=8-12&keywords=pvr

These have a single tuner that will receive digital OTA and ClearQAM. With the addition of a USB hard drive they can be used as a PVR.

I have an iView and Mediasonic brands which are basically the same. Hopefully the software has improved in recent models because mine are a bit quirky. Once you figure them out they work quite well and the video is excellent. Total cost will be less than $100 for the box and a 1TB hard drive.

Just a heads up, many cable companies are dropping ClearQAM and encrypting all channels
austinjenna
Explorer
Mar 13, 2017
I am not breaking any laws. I also have a TIVO OTA for those channels and I sleep just fine.

When you connect a cable directly to most modern TVs, you can get the broadcast channels in HD without a set top box. And in doing this, you are not breaking any laws. This is perfectly legal.

The technology behind this is called ClearQAM. QAM is a modulation scheme that allows the transmission of digital TV channels on an analog RF cable. Because of a number of rules and regulations, cable televesion companies are required to provide access to the broadcast channels in the clear – thus the name ClearQAM
RoyB
Explorer II
Mar 13, 2017
Getting something for nothing would be considered fraud in my way of thinking... I would call the Cable Provider and ask if it is legal to view their cable transmission without paying for it before dumping a bunch money into a high dollar DVR and other Televison monitor equipment. I think the cable provided INTERNET signals is around the CH79 - CH82 frequency bands which the cable company should be using filters just for your Internet Signals.

What I would do if you want to continue watching TV would be to install a good quality OTA Outside Antenna setup. We get all of the local channels here using the eight Bow-Tie Flat antenna panels mounted up on the peak of our house roof line. We are roughly 50 miles away from the Washington DC and Richmond Virginia areas and there a few other digital TV towers in some of the other somewhat close towns... There is also alot of cable TV like programs also being transmitted by these local TV stations. The live 24/7 radar transmissions are the most important ones for me...

Google Images

This is all public TV from the National Broadcast System which is now all transmitted in High Def Digital mode and more important is legal to view and is free to the general public... You will not be considered stealing TV from your local TV provider doing this. This should let you sleep well at night knowing you are not doing something illegal... That is what my mother would have said at any rate if she was still living...

Just saying....

Roy Ken

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