A Couple of Questions If You Guys Don't Mind...

[toxictwister00]

I have a question to ask for those who are interested in watching this as a favor for me. I started using my TV tuner with Windows Media Center tonight (Will be Tuesday for most of you all when you see this) and I was wondering does this video look like it's at least 720p HD quality? The video quality has NEVER looked this great when using my TV Tuner as a standalone, it usually looks grainy. (SD and HD) I guess that's because I still use a VCR  to connect the other end of the coaxial cable from the tuner.

Does This Video Look Like It's In HD Quality?

That actually leads me to my next question. Anyone know or can help me find any info on how to set up my WinTV HVR 850 tuner directly with my Comcast HD Set Up Box? I really just want a better way to watch and record shows without having to use a VCR anymore. I wanna be able to get HD quality or at the least better video quality than what I am getting using my VCR/Coaxial Cable/A/V cables.

Thanks for any ounce of help you can give!

[Zach]

HD and cable do not match when it comes to a WinTV HVR 850

If you want HD from your cable box, you need an HD PVR at best. If you want HD from only unencrypted channels, upgrade to a WinTV HVR 950Q (ClearQAM). Also, the only reason your videos come out "grainy" is because of the 850's limitation: it does not have AV/S-Video capabilities.

Also, if you want to record off your cable box, and you have a desktop, use a TV tuner that has IR blaster capabilities, such as the WinTV HVR 1600 or HD PVR.

I'm not trying to be forceful, but those are just some suggestions. 

[toxictwister00]

Thank you Zach,

Getting a new tuner was my plan B anyway, but I wanted to make sure before I bought one. I was thinking about getting a HD PVR  like you suggested.

[toxictwister00]

Sorry for the double post, but I've done some more digging around today about component cables and I was wondering are component cables (green/blue/red) generally show a better video quality than composite (yellow/white/red) cables? Throwing out what I said about recording true HD quality, would it at least be a step ahead in video quality than the composite setup I'm using now? I'm not trying to come up with an excuse to keep from upgrading, I've been planning on getting a new tuner for a couple of years now, but I've always heard and read that was the case, but I don't know because I've never tried them myself to test that theory. 

[Zach]

You bet component is! In fact, each color represents the 3 different color streams (red, green and blue) that composite cables would have synthesized into one. Component video also has the capability of recording HD signals as well.

[toxictwister00]

I have some component cables around I think. I'll have to try and see if that would work. Also, from what I watched from this video, there's not a big difference between the 850 and 950Q version in what they can do, only what comes with each one.

Hauppauge Hybrid Video Recorder Sticks

[Zach]

Oh there is a difference. The 850 can only record from analog TV and digital OTA. The 950Q can record analog TV, digital OTA, ClearQAM, S-Video and Composite video.

[toxictwister00]

Oh there is a difference. The 850 can only record from analog TV and digital OTA. The 950Q can record analog TV, digital OTA, ClearQAM, S-Video and Composite video.

When using  WinTV v7 in the Tuner Setup, those two options are there. 

[Zach]

Oh there is a difference. The 850 can only record from analog TV and digital OTA. The 950Q can record analog TV, digital OTA, ClearQAM, S-Video and Composite video.

When using  WinTV v7 in the Tuner Setup, those two options are there. 

Oh, I forgot that it can support A/V.. however Hauppauge doesnt sell the adapters, and they never have with the 850 but still there isnt a ClearQAM choice..

[toxictwister00]

This doesn't really have anything to do with my original question, but it is about a TV tuner so I'll mention it here.
I saw this Hauppauge PCTV HD TV Pro TV Tuner and I was wondering is Hauppauge associated with Pinnacle? I ask because this product isn't listed on Hauppauge's website, but it has that logo on it that looks similar to Pinnacle products.

Site being used as examples of how they look (2 different versions)
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Hauppauge+-+PCTV+801e+SE+HD+Pro+TV+Tuner/3336598.p?id=1218395121826&skuId=3336598

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Hauppauge+-+PCTV+801e+HD+Pro+TV+Tuner/3336589.p?id=1218395194086&skuId=3336589

Btw, I bought some Component cables a couple of weeks ago from Target and you were right Zach, the picture quality is just as great on my HDTV when I put it on the Component channel as it does when it's on a HDMI channel.

[Zach]

A couple of years ago, Hauppauge bought the PCTV branding from Pinnacle (it was after I purchased my Pinnacle tuner, though).. as for that specific model, you won't be able to record HD off of your cable box just ClearQAM channels at most.. if you want to record HD off of your cable box, then I really recommend that you get the Hauppauge HD PVR 1212.

[toxictwister00]

A couple of years ago, Hauppauge bought the PCTV branding from Pinnacle (it was after I purchased my Pinnacle tuner, though).. as for that specific model, you won't be able to record HD off of your cable box just ClearQAM channels at most.. if you want to record HD off of your cable box, then I really recommend that you get the Hauppauge HD PVR 1212.

I've been planning on getting this one for the past two years, but I just wanted to make sure there weren't (*cough* cheaper) alternatives. Thinking it over, $200 isn't that bad considering what it can do which is miles ahead of what my current tuner can do. I'm going to try and get this one as soon as I can within the next few days. 

[toxictwister00]

My test videos! I used the component cable setup for both.  I can only record videos up to 720p though because my HDTV only goes up that high. I can always save it as 1080i in Windows Live Movie Maker, but the quality isn't that much different so I don't see the need to.

IntelliStar

Hauppauge HD PVR 1212 Video Test (Component Cable Setup) 1/2

Partial HD National Forecast

Hauppauge HD PVR 1212 Video Test (Component Setup 720p) 2/2

EDIT: Something I wanted to add, I'm very surprised at how small the video size is for a 2 minute HD video (when edited in Windows Live Movie Maker) only 68mb! I was expecting it to be twice as large. I used the option "Recommended For This Project" which automatically saves the video up to 720p anyway.