My family uses Mediacom as our cable provider and we have 3 set top boxes in our house. We subscribe to Showtime, HBO, and Starz as well as another digital channel package that includes G4, Nat Geo, and a ton of other non-basic channels including HD channels. So as it stands now 3 TVs in the house get these channels because they have set top boxes. I was wondering if I bought a TV tuner with a Clear QAM tuner(this one to be exact), would I be able to receive these channels through it?
I believe only local channels will be available in the clear. I can try to verify this for you tonight as I may get a chance to talk to a friend of mine who worked for Mediacom until recently. Sadly, without a CableCARD interface you're pretty much screwed when it comes to even basic cable channels.
All the set top boxes are, are QAM tuners right? That's the reason my analog TV in my room doesn't get the digital channels, correct? Or is there more to it than that? I feel as though I should get the digital channels, but wouldn't be surprised if I didn't.
Yes, they're QAM tuners, but they also include decryption, which you can't get outside a cable box without a CableCARD interface. AFAIK there has been no progress made toward getting that technology in a capture card. The technology is there. I believe ATI had a demo card with CableCARD support as long ago as 2006, but in order to make such a card you have to get the blessing of CableLabs, a consortium of cable companies. I've read rumors that Microsoft was working on a deal for some kind of Windows Media Center support, but even if that's true nothing seems to have come of it so far.
The set top boxes have a "Ant In", and a "To TV/VCR" with a coaxial connector. If I run a cable from the "To TV/VCR" to a capture card, do you think it would be possible to get the decryption benefits of the set top box?
You'll get the decryption benefits, but not the QAM signal. The TV/VCR connection gives you a signal that's been decoded and converted to analog. If you capture that you'll essentially be doing an analog capture.
This is very inconvenient. If we pay for these channels, everyone in the house should have access to them.
It's more than inconvenient. It's shortsighted on the part of cable companies. I had the same complaint with Dish Network when I used their service. Their DVB signal could have been captured by a number of cards, and their access cards used in existing card reader technology, but instead of embracing this chance to enter a new and exciting market they chose to ignore it, and concentrate on suing anyone who bought card programming hardware compatible with their system.
Is there some sort of software that would emulate the cable card? Or some decryption software that works with a capture card?
