Question: I'm thinking of setting up like this (http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/mediacenter/using/setup/settop.mspx), with MCE, PVR-150 and my Rogers SA3250HD. My question is whether or not MCE will display the guide for the digital channels, or does it only know the guide for the analog channels?

Thanks!

Hi,

MCE will allow display it's own guide, based on your postal code. Using the Rogers guide in MCE is not good because MCE buffers everything, the rogers guide will seem sluggish.

The MCE guide will display everything.. including your HD stations. However, you will not be able to view your HD stations in MCE.

That's what I meant, whether the MCE guide knew all the stations, including digital. Good to hear, thanks!

Hey guys i have a HP media centre machine, with a 7900GT video card in it as well as the tv card that came in the machine, just wondering how i would go about hooking up the rogers 3250HD box to my computer so i would be able to use it with media centre to be able to watch and capture all the HD channels that we do subscribe to on our bill.. so i dont need any hacks, just actually how to hook it up properly to get the HD functionality working.

Any feedback would help

Sorry, can't be done at this time. Only Rogers NB/NF, Eastlink, Cogeco and Shaw folks can do it.

The firewire on the Rogers Ontario SA boxes is not active and that is the ONLY way to get pure HD off of a STB.

You can connect that box to Media Center and record your channels, but not in HD as you had hoped. Connect it up per the instructions that came with your media center, attaching the IR blaster to the front of the box and the svideo and audio cables to the tuner card and then run the MCE setup wizard.

Unfortunately, in Canada there is no legislation forcing our cable companies to give us access to the digital content we're paying for. They lock it up in the box so that you're forced to buy their equipment. In the US, the FCC has mandated that the cable companies give reasonable access to the digital content using a technology called CableCard, which MCE will support once Vista is launched. It probably won't do you any good, but I still would love to see people calling up Rogers and complaining that they won't support that technology (nor will any other canadian cableco).

Your other HD option in Canada (with MCE) is to put up an antenna on the roof or in the attic to get the excellent HDTV signals that are being broadcast for free in most of the big cities. If that sounds interesting to you, be sure to check out the OTA HDTV forum here at digital home canada.

Pete

For additional information, see the Digital Home FAQ (under help) "Recording HD". Please put your location and service provider in your UserCP Profile. It'll help us help you.

To record HD in areas that use SA equipment, you need the SA8300HD.

You might want to get an SD box from Rogers and dedicate this to your MCE PC. You can find them for as little as $50 at times and sometimes you get a programming credit as well.

That way you can record one show while watching another. I have also had troubles with low audio levels from the analog outputs of the SA3250HD which I have not had with the SD version of that box.

OK, so i'm looking at building an HTPC in the fall but i'm a bit confused about the situation with Rogers set-top boxes. I have a few questions so bear with me.

1. What kind of STB would I need to be able to record SD and HD content through firewire? Would the regular Rogers HD terminal work or would I have to get the PVR version? I know about the whole 5C thing so I know that not all HD content can be recorded.

2. What kind of extra hardware or STB would I need to watch TV and record something at the same time?

3. Would Vista Media Center (or MCE2005) features like the programming guide still work in this configuration?

Ideally i'd like to create a setup where everything is going through the HTPC (TV, music and video from the home network, DVD viewing) instead of switching between different devices. Thanks in advance!

I not sure about Rogers but most of the Moto's and some SA's may work for you - there is no guarantees with this kind of thing unfortunately...

1. I only have SD with Rogers (and I don't even use the box for that) so I can't say for sure about the HD setup, but in either case the HD PVR from Rogers is not what you want, just the STB should work for you.

2. Well, if you are sticking with the STB setup, then you will need one STB for each activity you want to do simultaneously. IOW, if you want to be able to watch TV on one channel and record something on another, then you will need 2 STBs. There are exceptions to this. Respond if you want the full explanation. Additionally, you will need a IR blaster device to control the boxes from your HTPC, and one TV tuner card for each box. The exception to this is if you get a tuner card with more than one coax in. A lot of cards have 2 these days, some with one ATSC and one NTSC.

3. I use SageTV for my HTPC and have never used MCE (the DRM keeps me away) so I can't say for sure, but the TV listings function should still work. Many people have built HTPCs with MCE and I believe that the listing service works for them OOTB without having to go to a 3rd party.

4. Most HTPCs, if properly configured can do all that stuff. It is a learning curve though, navigating through all the hazards of recording HD, drivers, filters, decoders... but once you get it working, you'll never go back to watching live TV again!

Hey guys, i've been lookin around the forums to figure out if this is at all possible. I have a rogers hd box and I want to route the signal from the box to my htpc. On the htpc i'm running VistaMC and I can get all the channels to come through but the quality of the image just isnt the same and there is definately no HD coming through... Is what I'm trying to do possible? If it is could you tell me what I need to get the quality up.

http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=50162

That link has info about recording HD... I just want to view it. I want to use VistaMC as an all in one. I just need some info on getting the quality of the image throught the PC. Right now it looks worse than regular cable. Please, just looking for a straight up answer... yes or no.. and a little explination on how to or why not.

Thanks,

Ok after some more research it seems like i'll need a capture card with a HDMI, DVI, or Component inputs... I'm going to go out on a lim and say that there are none available right now...am I right... or is there something out there.

There was an HD over component capture card announced at CES, but I don't think it's available yet.

There are also some "pro-line" type capture cards designed for studio type work but I don't think any of those integrate with the various HTPC apps.

If you just want to view it, not record it, try running a DVI or HDMI cable from your Rogers HD box to the DVI connection on your LCD monitor. Your monitor should be HDCP compliant and it may only accept a 720p signal though. I'm not guaranteeing it will work for you but it works on my HD Bell system. The quality will be as good or better than any TV.

There was an HD over component capture card announced at CES, but I don't think it's available yet.

Yes, this is the device to be waiting for.

That or you could move to New Brunswick where we can do the fancy firewire trick. :D

And that fancy firewire trick he speaks of is great!

Firewire is also available in Ontario since early 2007, but it can be somewhat problematical.

http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=56259