Digital cable TV converter?

[RCtime]

Many cable co.'s are now converting over to digital cable TV.
I have two over the air digital converters for my front and rear Tv that work just fine.
Is there a generic digital cable tv converter box that will work with all the different cable TV companies that are out there.
A one size fits all just like the over the air digital converter box I now use?

[thestoloffs]

wgriswold wrote:
Is anyone aware of a DVR that accepts the card that Charter provides to make their signal useable?

Try TiVo. They're a bit pricy because of their directory service subscription, but they accept all multi-channel CableCards -- which is what Charter is required by FCC regulation to supply. The Charter service line to discuss it with them is 1-888-438-2427.

[wgriswold]

MrWizard wrote:

is anyone aware of a DVR that accepts the card that Charter provides to make their signal useable?

as far as the internet side , sounds like you want an apple tv, roku, sony media player
these use their own remote .. no mouse

for mouse use ... sounds like you need a 'Home Theater PC'
your TV is the PC monitor..and you can use a wireless mouse
something like Windows Media Center

Thanks for your advice.

[MrWizard]

is anyone aware of a DVR that accepts the card that Charter provides to make their signal useable?

as far as the internet side , sounds like you want an apple tv, roku, sony media player
these use their own remote .. no mouse

for mouse use ... sounds like you need a 'Home Theater PC'
your TV is the PC monitor..and you can use a wireless mouse
something like Windows Media Center

[wgriswold]

MrWizard wrote:
maybe this will do what you want

http://www.moxi.com/us/moxi_dvr.html

That might do part of what I want but it is no longer sold to the public and must come from the cable company and Charter no longer offers it. Why would they? It competes with their $20/month rental DVR.

What I want is essentially a stripped down laptop: no monitor, no keyboard, controlled through the TV screen with a wireless mouse, nothing not necessary to connect the TV to the Internet, and connected wirelessly to the Internet router. It's only function would be to feed Internet data to the TV.

[1492]

George, you could say I accidentally tested the PVR function. 🙂 I was recording an HD program and accidentally hit the Play button on the remote. The program I was recording went back to the beginning and went into play mode while still recording where it left of. I've actually never used PVR before, and will also likely use it rarely if at all in the future.

[MrWizard]

maybe this will do what you want

http://www.moxi.com/us/moxi_dvr.html

[wgriswold]

This week my cable company (Charter)converted to all digital and encrypted everything. My DVR is now a door stop and I am forced to rent a replacement as well as a second box to make the second TV functional. My bill has gone up 60% which I am sure is the intent of encryption.

Is anyone aware of a DVR that accepts the card that Charter provides to make their signal useable?

Also, I have been experimenting with using my laptop to stream shows to the TV. It is a little cumbersome. Are there any wireless boxes that would attach to the HDMI input of the TV and allow streaming over the Internet. I want one that allows anything and is not limited like the ones built in to the TV.

I think the cable TV industry is in big trouble. There will be a revolution in using the Internet to provide programming much like what happened when Apple invented iTunes. When that happens cable companies, which are the most despised companies in America, will become Internet providers only.

As you can tell, I am really annoyed at what Charter has done to me.

[MrWizard]

the drive i'm currently using is a 2TB that is about 70% or more full
NTFS format
it might be the number of files on the drive slows down the time it takes the PVR to initialize
I'm going to use another drive 'new or repurposed'


Bob .. by pvr function
do you mean 'time shift' function ? pausing live video
i have tested that, But for me thats not a primary function
not saying iI'll never use it, i probably will at some point
if i have to take a phone call or something
but the Hi-Def recording of live TV is my main reason for getting this unit

[1492]

I've not tested the MediaWorx either for clear QAM. Just going by what their factory technical support says that it does support clear QAM in firmware.

[Chris_Bryant]

MrWizard wrote:
Chris have you tested for QAM ?

i only have OTA broadcast and cannot test for QAM compatibility

thats why i posted iview which is speced as receiving QAM

No- just going by the specs, which do list QAM16 and QAM64, but that really doesn't mean it will work on a cable system
Our cable has apparently stopped using clear QAM.

[1492]

Mine starts recording in about 1-2 secs. It might have something to do with the recording drive being used? I also recorded the pilot for Almost Human but have already deleted it to free up space.

I also tried the PVR function which works as advertised, but definitely need a hard drive as USB flash drives don't have the necessary simultaneous record/playback rates for smooth HD playback. No surprise here.

[MrWizard]

back On Topic
i recorded Fox's new show 'Almost Human' last night
1 hr , 1280*720p, 6.53gb
play back is picture perfect as the old sayng goes
bit rate must be around 17mb
as near as my eyes can tell, Absolutly identical to the broadcast signal
going to reord the second hr tonight

it takes about 30seconds or more for it to 'initialize' and actually start recording
so press the record button during the comercial 'before' your show starts

[SCVJeff]

Let's clear up the terminology, because your box doesn't work that way. The ATSC converter box, at least the ones that were subsidized by the government have nothing to do with anything cable related, ie: They do not detect nor convert any QAM (cable) carriers at all. The converter ONLY deals with Off-Air ATSC carriers, and this was stipulated by the government since they paid for them. Your ATSC converter may pass analog cable signals, but it doesn't convert digital QAM (cable digital) carriers, scrambled or not. If your Radio Shack box operates any differently from this, you bought the deluxe version, because this is not how the run of the mill boxes operate, nor what the government spec'ed when they funded the program.

There are plenty of hybrid cable systems out there that contain analog and 'clear QAM' , and private systems built like this as well, I've built 4 of them. There's nothing to prevent a CG to add Clear QAM to an existing analog system.

[1775]

RCtime wrote:

1775 wrote:
Almost all campgrounds with cable are putting out a signal to the post that can be used without a specific cable company's cable box. They are not going to provide cable boxes to every RV that comes in. Some campgrounds convert the digital cable or satellite signal that they get to analog. Some put through both analog and digital signals. When you scan with your analog to digital converter box for channels you will see channels as they are locked in labeled as either analog or digital. All will play on your analog TV though the converter box that you have.

Sorry, not arguing here, however you are totally wrong. At least with the older TV sets that many of us still have in our rvs.

Well, I have an analog TV with a digital to analog converter box (about $50 at Radio Shack)and it works just fine the way that I described, both with an antenna or a cable connected to it. You do need a digital to analog converter box but you don't need a box from the cable company unless the cable company is blocking the signal to force the use of one of their boxes. With a cable company you are only going to get the channels that are the major networks - no cable only channels. At campgrounds the digital to analog box connected to a d to a converter box should get everything that the campground is putting out on their cable.

Since you are the OP, your original question was about a "one box works with all cable companies" box and my answer to that was no - there is no such thing. If you are in a campground that has cable that requires a special box from the cable company then they are going to provide it - but many don't need this - and the signal should come through your digital to analog box which is the same digital tuner that a new digital flat screen has built in.