Hauppauge DCR-2650 Dual CableCard Tuner - Owner's Thread

Help with tuners from ATI, Hauppauge, AverMedia and more.
Brainsuck

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#41

Post by Brainsuck » Mon Feb 11, 2013 4:28 am

I have this tuner setup and friend just got one can I setup theirs here and sent it home with them to use or do I have to setup over there

soccerdad

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#42

Post by soccerdad » Mon Feb 11, 2013 9:16 pm

With TWC, they need to know everything on the account and then send signals to it to check it. It might work from your house, as long as you are on the same cable system and live close to him. You will need to make sure you use his account though. Cable cards are quite picky so YMMV.

Brainsuck

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#43

Post by Brainsuck » Tue Feb 19, 2013 5:17 pm

Brainsuck wrote:I have this tuner setup and friend just got one can I setup theirs here and sent it home with them to use or do I have to setup over there
just setup from my home prefect and did it the first time thumb up to Charter

wilkcards

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#44

Post by wilkcards » Wed Feb 20, 2013 5:12 pm

I've had it since november, and haven't had any problems. I had to reset it only once...

danglading

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#45

Post by danglading » Sat Mar 02, 2013 6:05 pm

New user here. I have had the worst trouble getting this tuner to work for me. I've been using it for a few months with the local "free" channels being sent to my tuner via the cable service ($9.99/month tier, local channels only, from TWC). It has been working, for the most part.

I recently purchased an indoor HDTV antenna on the recommendation of a number of friends. I have been trying all day to get that set up without success. I've plugged it into the coax input, restarted the tuner, unplugged/replugged the usb line, completely removed all drivers and reinstalled the latest everything from scratch, but no matter what I do I can not get WMC to find any channels through the antenna. I live in an urban area about 2-4 miles from the towers, so I should be getting SOME signal. Now, I've plugged the TWC coax back in and it's not finding the half dozen local channels either.

I'm certain that I'm missing something stupid and simple here. Can anyone give me any advice? Settings to check? Connections to confirm? Questions to ask? Thanks!

richard1980

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#46

Post by richard1980 » Sat Mar 02, 2013 10:05 pm

You need an ATSC tuner to tune ATSC channels. The DCR-2650 does not contain an ATSC tuner.

danglading

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#47

Post by danglading » Sat Mar 02, 2013 11:01 pm

Ahhh. Thanks for that. I would have spent ages spinning my wheels on this.

Not only am I still learning about the difference between ATSC vs QAM, but I did not realize that this tuner was QAM only. That wasn't really clear in the literature when I bought it, and I wasn't smart enough to know what to look for. Might you recommend an alternative tuner to either supplement or replace this? I would like at least a dual tuner, I would like ATSC and QAM capability (but would settle for ATSC-only), I would prefer internal but will deal with external, and I would like something that will play nice with XBMC and NPVR (I have still not had success getting this tuner to work with those alternatives).

I definitely appreciate your assistance so far, and would be very glad for any further insights you might be able to provide. Even just pointing me to a good centralized research/discussion source would be very helpful.

Thanks.

soccerdad

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#48

Post by soccerdad » Sat Mar 02, 2013 11:24 pm

The Hauppauge HVR-2250 is a ATSC and QAM tuner. It has two tuners and can do either of them. There are others, but I use the Hauppauge stuff. Just google ATSC and Windows Media Center

richard1980

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#49

Post by richard1980 » Sun Mar 03, 2013 12:57 am

To be clear, the DCR-2650 is a CableCARD tuner. It is designed to be used with a CableCARD (which is leased from the cable company at a rate of $0 to $4 per month, depending on the provider) to enable the tuning of encrypted QAM channels. It sounds like you only have a subscription to the basic tier channels, so those channels should be unencrypted. You won't get into encrypted channels until you subscribe to a higher service tier. So really, it doesn't sound like you need a CableCARD tuner at all. A standard ClearQAM/ATSC tuner sounds like a better fit for you. The HVR-2250 is a good match for what you want.

On a side note, until recently, it was against FCC rules to encrypt the basic tier. However, the FCC recently changed their rules and now allow all-digital cable systems to encrypt the basic tier. AFAIK, no cable companies have acted on the rule change, however, at any time they are free to do so. So you might find yourself in a situation soon where even the basic tier requires a CableCARD tuner.

danglading

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#50

Post by danglading » Sun Mar 03, 2013 2:22 am

Thank you again for a quick reply and such thorough information.

We purchased the 2650 because my original intent was to go the cable card route. That plan soured when I came to learn that our provider (Time Warner Cable, Rochester, NY) has one of the most bizarre and punitive pricing structures I've ever seen in a provider. They charge $7/month for the cable card, and to top that off they do not "charge" anything for the converter box, so returning the cable box gets you no reduction on your bill. Basically if we return a complex piece of equipment that requires maintenance and repair, and exchange it for a piece of plastic with some form of decryption capability, I need to pay them more money. But it gets better. In "our geographic area", there is no price difference between basic cable (locals plus old school standard cable like ESPN, CNN, etc.) and digital cable. They charge $90/month for either tier. The only choice I have is $10/month local channel only, or $90/month with or without digital.

So I went with the $10 option, which does not call for the cable card. It's only recently that I've decided to test the over-the-air waters, and now I'm really truly learning the importance of the two tuner standards. Since I doubt, seriously, that TWC's pricing structure will change any time soon, it sounds like the 2250 would be a workable option. I should probably sell my very lightly used 2650 and make the switch.

Thank you again, your assistance has been timely and critical.

richard1980

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#51

Post by richard1980 » Sun Mar 03, 2013 3:20 am

Either the TWC rep you talked with told you an outright lie or you misunderstood what they told you. Here's the real prices:
Untitled.jpg
This was pulled straight from http://www.timewarnercable.com/en/resid ... pment.html using the ZIP code 14610, which is for Rochester, NY.

danglading

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#52

Post by danglading » Sun Mar 03, 2013 3:59 am

The third option is that they could be changing their pricing structure in the few months since I cut back my service. They have been getting a lot of blow-back and a lot of dropped customers. When I turned my box in there was some desperation in the rep's eyes as they tried to keep me. When they asked if there was anything they could do I told them to fix their draconian pricing. Maybe they finally are!

So, follow up question for you. Can you give me some thoughts about the Hauppauge 2250 vs the Hauppauge 1250 vs. the AverMedia A188 HD Duet? The 2250 only has one TV input (the second coax is for FM radio) and I would like to use the antenna and the local channel cable both, if possible. That is two coax lines, so I need two inputs. I can get two of the A188's for the same price as the 2250, and have four total tuners, but there have been some questions of the longevity of the A188 in some reviews I've read. Or I can get two 1250's for the same price, but that's only one tuner per, and limits me in the future if I drop the antenna or cable. What do you think?

richard1980

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#53

Post by richard1980 » Sun Mar 03, 2013 5:48 am

danglading wrote:The third option is that they could be changing their pricing structure in the few months since I cut back my service. They have been getting a lot of blow-back and a lot of dropped customers. When I turned my box in there was some desperation in the rep's eyes as they tried to keep me. When they asked if there was anything they could do I told them to fix their draconian pricing. Maybe they finally are!
I seriously doubt the pricing you posted was ever actually correct. It is inconsistent with FCC rules and TWCs past pricing practices. However, CSRs not knowing what they are talking about WRT CableCARD is very consistent with TWC.
danglading wrote:So, follow up question for you. Can you give me some thoughts about the Hauppauge 2250 vs the Hauppauge 1250 vs. the AverMedia A188 HD Duet? The 2250 only has one TV input (the second coax is for FM radio) and I would like to use the antenna and the local channel cable both, if possible. That is two coax lines, so I need two inputs. I can get two of the A188's for the same price as the 2250, and have four total tuners, but there have been some questions of the longevity of the A188 in some reviews I've read. Or I can get two 1250's for the same price, but that's only one tuner per, and limits me in the future if I drop the antenna or cable. What do you think?
First, why do you want to do both QAM and ATSC tuning? The only reason to do that is if there are channels that you can receive via QAM that you can't receive via ATSC, AND vice versa. In any other scenario, you are better off just picking one tuning method.

Second, I would immediately rule out the 1250 due to the fact that it only contains one tuner. The other two cards you mentioned both contain two tuners. I don't have any experience with AVerMedia's tuners, but I have used a number of different Hauppauge tuners in the past, all of which have worked perfectly. That said, the AVerMedia tuner is discontinued and reviews on both Amazon and Newgg favor the 2250.

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#54

Post by staknhalo » Sun Mar 03, 2013 6:07 am

richard1980 wrote:First, why do you want to do both QAM and ATSC tuning? The only reason to do that is if there are channels that you can receive via QAM that you can't receive via ATSC, AND vice versa. In any other scenario, you are better off just picking one tuning method.

Second, I would immediately rule out the 1250 due to the fact that it only contains one tuner. The other two cards you mentioned both contain two tuners. I don't have any experience with AVerMedia's tuners, but I have used a number of different Hauppauge tuners in the past, all of which have worked perfectly. That said, the AVerMedia tuner is discontinued and reviews on both Amazon and Newgg favor the 2250.
ATSC is higher quality than cable. Higher bitrate/less compression. I used to have ATSC + QAM in my old place when I had Comcast QAM. Also, while the big network channels were in HD (CBS, ABC, NBC, ect) over QAM, some stations were only in SD (WGN America, smaller-local PBS affiliates); while OTA they were in HD as well. Only reason I don't do that anymore is antenna reception sucks where I currently live.

I've used AverMedia tuners, they work fine (still have one); yet I also just prefer Hauppage for some reason.

richard1980

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#55

Post by richard1980 » Sun Mar 03, 2013 12:59 pm

staknhalo wrote:ATSC is higher quality than cable. Higher bitrate/less compression. I used to have ATSC + QAM in my old place when I had Comcast QAM. Also, while the big network channels were in HD (CBS, ABC, NBC, ect) over QAM, some stations were only in SD (WGN America, smaller-local PBS affiliates); while OTA they were in HD as well. Only reason I don't do that anymore is antenna reception sucks where I currently live.
I realize that, but I don't see how that necessitates a QAM tuner....or a $10 per month cable bill.

danglading

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#56

Post by danglading » Sun Mar 03, 2013 1:40 pm

richard1980 wrote: First, why do you want to do both QAM and ATSC tuning? The only reason to do that is if there are channels that you can receive via QAM that you can't receive via ATSC, AND vice versa. In any other scenario, you are better off just picking one tuning method.
Honestly, I've been a cable user for so long, I'm probably just having trouble cutting the final cord. :D I'm thinking about TV during bad weather, but I'm probably just being an idiot. I wanted the two inputs so I could test both ATSC and QAM, and make a tested decision that ATSC will work for me before cutting that last $10/month out of my bill. I already did the major work by cutting it from $90 to $10.

Given the fact that the AVerMedia is discontinued, and the reviews favoring the Hauppauge, I'll probably just stick with the 2250 and test ATSC vs QAM one at a time.

Thank you again for all your help. And my deepest apologies to any future readers for hijacking this thread!

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#57

Post by mrharrymccracken » Fri Apr 26, 2013 10:54 pm

Ok, so I've been using the Hauppauge DCR-2650 for about a year now and all in all its been a pretty good experience. I have had to do the occasional reboot of the box but that's very rare in my case and for the price I can live with it (maybe once every other month at most). I have found one issue though that I wanted to see if anybody on here could enlighten me on. Recently my cable operator Comc&st changed its channel lineup and following that most of my channels were not tune-able and the ones that were didn't match the guide. In other words the channel list from the OOB data stream didn't seem to map to the correct channel frequency. This would explain why some channels would tune in but not actually be that channel and others wouldn't tune in at all. I first thought that maybe just a channel re-scan in windows media center would fix it, but nope, tried that and several other measures to no avail. finely I figured out that the issue wasn't in WMCE and it was with the DCR-2600. several resets (power off/on) had no effect. God help me I had comcast repair the card (gun to head, lol) , still no joy. So finely after noticing a new firmware for the the box I flashed it and that solved the problem. Now the question I have is did the firmware fix that problem or did flashing it have the effect of forcing the DCR-2650 to ( ? ) reload the OOB data. This is were my understanding of the the tuner ( which I know is a Silicon Dust at heart) hits a brick wall. I have nothing to guide me on if the tuner in the DCR-2650 is supposed to automatically check the channel list periodicity (which would make sense) or not, because if it was that why did it not correct the Chanel lineup even after 12 hours.

Now since a new firmware isn't always going to be aviliable, is there a way to (through shell on DCR-2650, etc) get into the DCR-2650 and force it to reset , rescan OOB data etc?

danart

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#58

Post by danart » Sat May 11, 2013 11:31 pm

Hi guys,
I'm looking for help with my dcr2650. I was so excited when FIOS added BEIN Sports a couple weeks ago. But, looks like my dcr2650 does not like it. I can watch all HD channels with no problems. BEIN sports is the only pixelated channel. I tried to reinstall the firmware and everything but no change, I checked the splitters, connections ....nothing. I dont know what else to do. Windows 7 pro. Thanks in advance.

TMan459

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#59

Post by TMan459 » Sun May 12, 2013 12:06 am

danart wrote:Hi guys,
I'm looking for help with my dcr2650. I was so excited when FIOS added BEIN Sports a couple weeks ago. But, looks like my dcr2650 does not like it. I can watch all HD channels with no problems. BEIN sports is the only pixelated channel. I tried to reinstall the firmware and everything but no change, I checked the splitters, connections ....nothing. I dont know what else to do. Windows 7 pro. Thanks in advance.
That's odd. Do you have a STB from FIOS to confirm the channel is working properly?

danart

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#60

Post by danart » Sun May 12, 2013 2:38 am

Yes, I dont have any problems watching BEIN on fios DVR or HD box...the only problem is with my hauppauge on this channel...

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