Media Center and Comcast problems/questions

I LOVE my media centers; I have two of them. One older one with dual analog
tuners, and one I bought more recently with analog and digital tuner. I LOVE
these machines; unfortunately with Comcast switching over to digital I am
totally unaware of what I should be doing. I don’t not want the IR blaster
(this is why I don't have HDTV or satellite and I am happy not having either
of these). I just want these media centers to be able to listen to the cable
signal. Now it seems that Comcast is still pushing a few analog signals
through as my analog tune iis picking up a handful of channels. I called
Comcast and asked them if they had a converter where my Media Center could
still tune the channels for both analog and digital (i.e. without an IR
blaster) and they said yes. I go their equipment and they were wrong. This
does not work as you have to use the IR blaster.

It seems to me that my media center with the digital tuner should be able to
"tune" "digital" channels. Right now it detects no signal. My guess is that
this is because I haven't asked them to "activate" my digital service (as I
would entirely lose signal on one my media centers).
Question #1: Will my media center with the digital tuner "just work" if I
activate my digital signal with Comcast? Will it tune the channel? Can they
activate it without me plugging in yet another box from them? Please tell me
I don't need to use an IR blaster.

Question #2: For my media center with the analog tuner, can I replace it
with a digital tuner, or is there some dependency on the CPU that is likely
not accounted for in my 2004 series HP media center.
For both of these, will I ever return to dual tuning?

You help is apprecated in advance.

The group for Windows Media questions is
microsoft.public.windows.mediacenter

You should get more help there.


--
Windows 7 RC
http://get.live.com/wlmail/overview
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"Patrick D" <> wrote in message
news:FDC6375A-08A1-4E8A-9764-...
> I LOVE my media centers; I have two of them. One older one with dual
> analog
> tuners, and one I bought more recently with analog and digital tuner. I
> LOVE
> these machines; unfortunately with Comcast switching over to digital I am
> totally unaware of what I should be doing. I don’t not want the IR
> blaster
> (this is why I don't have HDTV or satellite and I am happy not having
> either
> of these). I just want these media centers to be able to listen to the
> cable
> signal. Now it seems that Comcast is still pushing a few analog signals
> through as my analog tune iis picking up a handful of channels. I called
> Comcast and asked them if they had a converter where my Media Center could
> still tune the channels for both analog and digital (i.e. without an IR
> blaster) and they said yes. I go their equipment and they were wrong.
> This
> does not work as you have to use the IR blaster.
>
> It seems to me that my media center with the digital tuner should be able
> to
> "tune" "digital" channels. Right now it detects no signal. My guess is
> that
> this is because I haven't asked them to "activate" my digital service (as
> I
> would entirely lose signal on one my media centers).
> Question #1: Will my media center with the digital tuner "just work" if I
> activate my digital signal with Comcast? Will it tune the channel? Can
> they
> activate it without me plugging in yet another box from them? Please tell
> me
> I don't need to use an IR blaster.
>
> Question #2: For my media center with the analog tuner, can I replace it
> with a digital tuner, or is there some dependency on the CPU that is
> likely
> not accounted for in my 2004 series HP media center.
> For both of these, will I ever return to dual tuning?
>
> You help is apprecated in advance.
>

"Patrick D" <> wrote in message
news:FDC6375A-08A1-4E8A-9764-...
> I LOVE my media centers; I have two of them. One older one with dual
> analog
> tuners, and one I bought more recently with analog and digital tuner. I
> LOVE
> these machines; unfortunately with Comcast switching over to digital I am
> totally unaware of what I should be doing. I don’t not want the IR
> blaster
> (this is why I don't have HDTV or satellite and I am happy not having
> either
> of these). I just want these media centers to be able to listen to the
> cable
> signal. Now it seems that Comcast is still pushing a few analog signals
> through as my analog tune iis picking up a handful of channels. I called
> Comcast and asked them if they had a converter where my Media Center could
> still tune the channels for both analog and digital (i.e. without an IR
> blaster) and they said yes. I go their equipment and they were wrong.
> This
> does not work as you have to use the IR blaster.
>
> It seems to me that my media center with the digital tuner should be able
> to
> "tune" "digital" channels. Right now it detects no signal. My guess is
> that
> this is because I haven't asked them to "activate" my digital service (as
> I
> would entirely lose signal on one my media centers).
> Question #1: Will my media center with the digital tuner "just work" if I
> activate my digital signal with Comcast? Will it tune the channel? Can
> they
> activate it without me plugging in yet another box from them? Please tell
> me
> I don't need to use an IR blaster.
>
> Question #2: For my media center with the analog tuner, can I replace it
> with a digital tuner, or is there some dependency on the CPU that is
> likely
> not accounted for in my 2004 series HP media center.
> For both of these, will I ever return to dual tuning?
>
> You help is apprecated in advance.
>


First, the converter box from Comcast. 1) to test for presence of a digital
signal. From what I understand both signals should be present. Since the
number of analog channels are decreasing, that might suggest they are doing
this to make more room for the digital signal. 2) you can hook up the
converter to the analog WinTV card via s-video (preferred or composite
video) and use IR Blaster or a remote to change channels. This way you can
still tune in analog and digital TV channels using the old dual analog WinTV
card, unless you want to replace it.

Once you can confirm presence of digital signal, look for options in Windows
Media Center to setup TV for digital cable on the analog/digital WinTV card.
Digital cable options might be list as QAM, digital QAM or Clear QAM or
simply digital cable TV.

Once you have digital cable TV working on your computer, you can move on to
thinking about what direction you want to go for an upgrade.

"Patrick D" <> wrote in message
news:FDC6375A-08A1-4E8A-9764-...
>I LOVE my media centers; I have two of them. One older one with dual analog
> tuners, and one I bought more recently with analog and digital tuner. I
> LOVE
> these machines; unfortunately with Comcast switching over to digital I am
> totally unaware of what I should be doing. I don’t not want the IR
> blaster
> (this is why I don't have HDTV or satellite and I am happy not having
> either
> of these). I just want these media centers to be able to listen to the
> cable
> signal. Now it seems that Comcast is still pushing a few analog signals
> through as my analog tune iis picking up a handful of channels. I called
> Comcast and asked them if they had a converter where my Media Center could
> still tune the channels for both analog and digital (i.e. without an IR
> blaster) and they said yes. I go their equipment and they were wrong.
> This
> does not work as you have to use the IR blaster.
>
> It seems to me that my media center with the digital tuner should be able
> to
> "tune" "digital" channels. Right now it detects no signal. My guess is
> that
> this is because I haven't asked them to "activate" my digital service (as
> I
> would entirely lose signal on one my media centers).
> Question #1: Will my media center with the digital tuner "just work" if I
> activate my digital signal with Comcast? Will it tune the channel? Can
> they
> activate it without me plugging in yet another box from them? Please tell
> me
> I don't need to use an IR blaster.
>
> Question #2: For my media center with the analog tuner, can I replace it
> with a digital tuner, or is there some dependency on the CPU that is
> likely
> not accounted for in my 2004 series HP media center.
> For both of these, will I ever return to dual tuning?
>
> You help is apprecated in advance.

They should still be putting out analog channels. But to record digital
might have special needs. First, tehy can encrypt it or require a box
inbetween. I too have a card that can do digital, but the local cable
provider encrypts so digital record is not possible.

Just ou of curiosity, do you export recorded movies to MP2 or MP4 formats?
If so how? For the life me the Media Center I have treats the recorded
programs like a black box, not being able to freely copy them out. Would be
nice to put them on the laptop for the road.