ATI All in Wonder HD Cable Card

[cowen]

I am unable to get digital stations with my ATI All-in-Wonder HD Video Card with the Catalst Media Center and Windows Media Center. I am looking for a PCI card that will hold a Comcast Cable Card, descramble the digital stations, then go back out to my video card via the comcast cable. Does anyone know of how I can find one?

Chris Owen

 

[Merlin]

Never got mine to work with Media Center
And when the stations go ALL digital, soon they will be scrambled, so a digital tuner is a waste
I use mine for security cameras

 

[Kougar]

I am not aware of any tuners that have the ability to use Cablecards.

The closest thing I am aware of is this which was released two years ago: http://ati.amd.com/products/tvwonderdigital/index.html

Unfortunately Anand has written some very thorough articles on the troubles he had just attempting to use this device. As far as I know it's not gone anywhere since then, although I see they can be bought online now...

Engadget: Link

Anand's first review: Link

Never got mine to work with Media Center
And when the stations go ALL digital, soon they will be scrambled, so a digital tuner is a waste
I use mine for security cameras

That's what the cablecard is for.

 

[cowen]

Thanks Kouger

Kouger,

Thanks for the link. I have seen this one, but it uses USB to connect with the comuter. Would it still go through the ATI TV Wonder Video HD card and out to the monitor via the HVI cable?

Also, thanks for the links. Very helpful.

Chris Owen

 

[cowen]

Thanks Merlin

Thanks for the feedback. It seems the digital stations that are in the cable do not come into Catayst Media Player or Windows Media Player now, so I doubt if it will change when they all go digital. Comcast says I need a "cable card" to translate into digital, so I was hoping to find a PCI card that used the cable card to get the digital stations. I don't think I need another "tuner" Is not the ATI All-Wonder Card a tuner itself? I think it just need the descrambled cable digital stations entering the video card. Is that correct?

Chris Owen

 

[Kougar]

Someone is free to correct me if I'm wrong, but there is no such thing as a tuner card that accepts cablecards. None whatsoever, the closest thing is what I linked to above.

 

[cowen]

This may inform you that there is such a card:

http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-INTERNAL-AT...5|66:2|65:12|39:1|240:1318|301:1|293:1|294:50

 

[Rob Williams]

Alright, you'll have to excuse my lack of knowledge on this subject, but how exactly do you acquire a cable card in the first place? Do you take it out of your digital box or something?

It's cool that something like that does indeed exist, but it would be even cooler to know just how well it worked (and you know, if it also cost less than $200).

 

[Merlin]

Alright, you'll have to excuse my lack of knowledge on this subject, but how exactly do you acquire a cable card in the first place? Do you take it out of your digital box or something?

It's cool that something like that does indeed exist, but it would be even cooler to know just how well it worked (and you know, if it also cost less than $200).

You can get a cable card from your friendly cable provider, it would match the system that your cable is using, such as 76 Quam or 286 Quam service

 

[Kougar]

This may inform you that there is such a card:

http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-INTERNAL-AT...5|66:2|65:12|39:1|240:1318|301:1|293:1|294:50

Interesting, I hadn't heard nor seen anything about this one. It is exactly the same as the external box I linked to above but they made it internal based. Still no Video on Demand or ability to send information back to their servers though. It would still suffer the problems Anand ran into in his reivew as well, unless those have since been fixed....

Alright, you'll have to excuse my lack of knowledge on this subject, but how exactly do you acquire a cable card in the first place? Do you take it out of your digital box or something?

It's cool that something like that does indeed exist, but it would be even cooler to know just how well it worked (and you know, if it also cost less than $200).

As Merlin said you must get it directly from your cable company, because a cablecard is the key that allows you the ability to unlock their DRM (their encrypted channels). Some cable companies charge you a monthly fee just to have one, just as they will charge you to have a DVR or PVR.

 

[Merlin]

As Merlin said you must get it directly from your cable company, because a cablecard is the key that allows you the ability to unlock their DRM (their encrypted channels). Some cable companies charge you a monthly fee just to have one, just as they will charge you to have a DVR or PVR.

We don't charge anything for the Cable Card, but the service ( chanel Lineup ) has a certain monthly charge for the amount of channels you want to see. And now we have two way cards ( M Cards ) that can use VOD ( video on demand )

 

[Kougar]

Mcards allow two way signaling, and the user will receive access to everything they would on a cable box then?? I thought the only difference was an Mcard allowed multiple station reception/recording, whereas Scards were just a single channel at a time? Either way it's good info to know.

 

[Merlin]

Mcards allow two way signaling, and the user will receive access to everything they would on a cable box then?? I thought the only difference was an Mcard allowed multiple station reception/recording, whereas Scards were just a single channel at a time? Either way it's good info to know.

Yes, M Cards are multistream, in the system here, you get a limited VOD, The digital box will still get everything. I hate the MCards, they are hard to set up. If everything is set up the right way, they work. It's just hard as hell to get others to do their job the right way. ( rant over )

 

[cowen]

Merlin - How did you do it?

Merlin,

I sent back my internal cable card tuner and purchased the external one, but it does not work either. I get a flag when I use Windows Media Center that says my computer is "not digitally ready"

Do you have any tips on how I can get it to work. ATI does not support is, even though it has there card in it. Comcast activated it, but still no signal. Any info would be appreciated.

Thanks. Chris

 

[Merlin]

Merlin,

I sent back my internal cable card tuner and purchased the external one, but it does not work either. I get a flag when I use Windows Media Center that says my computer is "not digitally ready"

Do you have any tips on how I can get it to work. ATI does not support is, even though it has there card in it. Comcast activated it, but still no signal. Any info would be appreciated.

Thanks. Chris

I NEVER got media center to work on two of my cards ( ATI and Divco ), you mihgt want to contact microsoft