Help with connecting the cable box to WMC to TV

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ehughston

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Help with connecting the cable box to WMC to TV

#1

Post by ehughston » Mon Dec 30, 2013 7:57 pm

Hi
I'm not your typical techie. I'm an almost 60 gal but I love the MC concept. I had an old one that didn't work and my hubby threatened to throw it out so I traded it for a newer HP MC with Windows MCXP.

I'm having more luck with this. Have it connected to a 70" DLP Toshiba HD tv. I also have cable.
the MC has a dual tuner Hauppage 1600

TV has HDMI (x2). It is connected to cable box with the RGB cables and RedWhite Audio cable.

I need some help with connecting the cable box to MC to TV so I can record things from cable on the DVR.

Thanks in advance for "simple instructions"

Elaine in Arizona

kingwr

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#2

Post by kingwr » Wed Apr 02, 2014 11:35 am

Elaine, you need a cable card tuner. You can get them from Silicon Dust (silicondust.com) or Ceton (www.cetoncorp.com), or from Amazon or newegg.com. Your TV should be connected to your HTPC via an HDMI cable. Ideally, you want to make sure that the video card in the HTPC also passes audio over the HDMI cable.

mdavej

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#3

Post by mdavej » Wed Apr 02, 2014 2:58 pm

And when you get your cable card tuner, unplug your cable box and connect the coax from the wall directly to the new tuner instead. Get a cable card from your cable company and plug it into the tuner, call to activate it. They'll ask you for some numbers that you see during your MC setup. Some cable companies also give you an additional box called a tuning adapter. This connects to your coax too, via a splitter if necessary, and also plugs into your tuner via USB.

When you're done, your old cable box has been disconnected and can be returned to the cable company. So no red/white/yellow cables are involved. Just coax to your cable card tuner and HDMI from PC to TV. That Hauppauge you have today can go on ebay or sit unused in your PC.

Having said that, while all this works on Vista, Win7 and Win8, I'm not sure about XP.

mike_ekim

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#4

Post by mike_ekim » Wed Apr 02, 2014 3:51 pm

You probably want to connect the computer to the coax cable coming out of the wall, and not to the cable box. You can use a splitter so both the cable box and the computer can receive cable while you test everything out.

Another option is to use an 'IR blaster' so the computer can control the cable box, and then connect the cable box to the computer using the RBG and audio connections. But that will only work if the computer has those inputs, and it's not an 'easy' solution.
ehughston wrote:... I'm having more luck with this. Have it connected to a 70" DLP Toshiba HD tv. I also have cable.
the MC has a dual tuner Hauppage 1600
...
I need some help with connecting the cable box to MC to TV so I can record things from cable on the DVR...
Since your PC has a tuner, you might as well see if it works. A lot of cable companies encrypt/scramble channels so you can't see them without a cable card, but they often send out standard-definition TV and basic cable packages unencrypted. Let's find out what you have from your cable company.

Step 1: Try out your cable service using the TVs tuner. We will do this because you don't need to 'set up' your TV like you will need to set up your computer. TV tuners 'just work' (unless they are broken).

Remove the coax cable connection (the wire coming out of the wall) from your cable box and attach it to your TV. Turn on the TV and see if you can watch any channels. If you can, then those are the channels you can (probably) watch with the tuner in your computer. You may be limited to basic cable even if you have a better cable package. If you can not watch certain channels with the wire attached to your TV, then you probably can't watch them with your computer's tuner either. Channels you probably can't watch include most/all HD channels and any premium channels like HBO, Showtime etc.

Side note: I have a basic cable package that does not include 'ABC Family'. I can not watch 'ABC Family' with my cable box or my computer, but I can watch that channel using my TVs tuner. :D

Step 2: Try watching with your Computer's tuner. I googled the Hauppage 1600 and it looks like it will work with clear QAM digital cable TV and analog cable TV, so chances are good that you can watch basic cable.

Remove the coax cable connection from your TV and screw it into your computer. Go through the process to set up your cable card. You will need to start media center. I don't know the next steps because I don't have XP If you have any questions you can ask here:
http://www.thegreenbutton.tv/forums/viewforum.php?f=93

Step 3: Try recording TV. You have a tuner without a cable card, so you can might be only able to record a few stations (if any). But it's worth a shot.

slowbiscuit

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#5

Post by slowbiscuit » Wed Apr 02, 2014 4:34 pm

Y'all know that OP posted this 3 months ago and was a one-and-done drive-by, right?

mdavej

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#6

Post by mdavej » Wed Apr 02, 2014 4:50 pm

Doh!

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