[LoREvanescence]

I just ordered a Tivo Series 3 last week and should be getting sometime between today and the end of the week.

The situation for the setup I will require is to get all the HD channels for now of the air, and the rest from cable. I know Tivo S3 supports both. But I was wondering, how do you switch between the 2. For example if you change the channel from discovery on cable to abc hd over the air. Also for recording, how can you pick the abc hd from the air and not have it record the cable sd hd?

Thanks

 

[mchips]

It's seamless... you won't have to switch between anything...

When you set it up, you have the option to state that you're using both OTA (over-the-air) and cable... the S3 has inputs in the back for both cable and OTA...

After setup, both cable and OTA channels will be available to record from... simply choose by channel; e.g., 11-1 for an HD OTA channel, and then like 64 for a cable channel...

 

[LoREvanescence]

It's seamless... you won't have to switch between anything...

When you set it up, you have the option to state that you're using both OTA (over-the-air) and cable... the S3 has inputs in the back for both cable and OTA...

After setup, both cable and OTA channels will be available to record from... simply choose by channel; e.g., 11-1 for an HD OTA channel, and then like 64 for a cable channel...

Thank you, that is good news.

But signs, I just found out My Tivo has not shipped yet 8 days after the time it was ordered. I guess I'll just have to wait a little longer before I get a chance to set it up.

 

[MickeS]

The only thing you might want to do manually (once) is go in to the "Channels I receive" and remove the analog cable versions of your HD channels. It makes for a simpler experience so you don't accidentally record analog versions of a show instead of the digital or HD version.

 

[LoREvanescence]

That sounds like a good idea, especialy when you have multiples in analog, for example I have two abc, pbs and so on. One from Boston, MA, and one from Manchester, NH on the cable system. Add the HD's and you got a clean one from manchester and broken one from boston over the antenna.

That's just for now too, Once my university upgrades their cable system this summer to allow digital content in from the comcast system. I'll have 2 analog pbs and abc's, 2 digital sd, and 2 hd in adition to whats on the air. Talk about duplicates and wasted bandwidth, lol!

 

[astrohip]

When you set it up, you have the option to state that you're using both OTA (over-the-air) and cable... the S3 has inputs in the back for both cable and OTA...

I'm a veteran S3 user, using two cablecards at the moment. Is it possible to continue using two cablecards, and an external antenna input? For some reason, I thought I read that if you use an external antenna, you can only use one cablecard slot?

I am thinking about adding a decent antenna on our roof, since HD reception should be good in Houston (think FLAT, only flatter). Mainly to feed other (non-TiVo) TVs. But it couldn't hurt to run a feed to the S3 . . . :up:

 

[jrm01]

OTA antenna can definately work with S3, even if you have two cablecards installed.

 

[Poochie]

I'm a veteran S3 user, using two cablecards at the moment. Is it possible to continue using two cablecards, and an external antenna input? For some reason, I thought I read that if you use an external antenna, you can only use one cablecard slot?

Yes, it it possible to use two CableCards, and use an external antenna. You'll be able to record 2 programs at once, from any mix of inputs (2 from cable, 2 from antenaa, or 1 cable+1 antenna). Using an antenna should NOT restrict you to one CableCard only. Yay!

I believe you might be getting confused with what happens if you only have 1 CableCard installed - in that case you'd only be able to use one tuner.

In the S3 FAQ, see the answers to "How many programs can be recorded at the same time?" and for what happens with only one CableCard - which is NOT what you've got set up - "What about one single-stream card?"

Hope this helps!

 

[moyekj]

I'm a veteran S3 user, using two cablecards at the moment. Is it possible to continue using two cablecards, and an external antenna input? For some reason, I thought I read that if you use an external antenna, you can only use one cablecard slot?

Yes you can use 2 cablecards and antenna inputs all together - that's the configuration I have. Then as suggested you need to modify your "channels I receive" setup to only include ones from both cable & ota lineups that you really want. As an example for ABC I get 4 versions in the channel lineup:
cable standard definition (SD)
cable high definition (HD)
OTA analog (SD)
OTA digital (HD)
So I choose to remove all versions except the OTA HD version.

 

[Bierboy]

The only thing you might want to do manually (once) is go in to the "Channels I receive" and remove the analog cable versions of your HD channels. It makes for a simpler experience so you don't accidentally record analog versions of a show instead of the digital or HD version.

I concur (not that it matters...I just like to say that!). I removed all the SD versions of channels I get on HD...plus, when cable goes out, then I still get them!

And I also concur (!) that the TiVo handles integration of tuning cable and OTA effortlessly.

 

[astrohip]

Thank you all for your responses. I am definitely doing this before the Fall shows start. :up:

 

[MScottC]

There is a very valid reason to leave the analog channels or Digital SD (assuming your cable system feeds digital simulcasts) in your TiVo lineup. Many shows are still not in HD, and when you record those off the digital HD channel, they occupy the same amount of disk space as any HD show. If you record them via analog or digital SD, they occupy somewhere between a fifth and one tenth the disk space. I always record any show that is not HD off the SD equivalent. Another smaller issue is that some channels, such as our PBS affiliate here in NYC, do not always air the same thing on their HD channel and their Analog channel.

 

[Bierboy]

There is a very valid reason to leave the analog channels or Digital SD (assuming your cable system feeds digital simulcasts) in your TiVo lineup. Many shows are still not in HD, and when you record those off the digital HD channel, they occupy the same amount of disk space as any HD show. If you record them via analog or digital SD, they occupy somewhere between a fifth and one tenth the disk space. I always record any show that is not HD off the SD equivalent. Another smaller issue is that some channels, such as our PBS affiliate here in NYC, do not always air the same thing on their HD channel and their Analog channel.

Doesn't matter to me....I have a larger HD in my TiVo, so space isn't an issue. But, besides that, I thought I read somewhere that a digital SD show does NOT occupy the same space as an HD show. It's still more than an analog show, but not as much as an HD show. 'Nuther reason I don't program in the SD versions of my HD channels is that, for the most part, those shows that AREN'T HD are the crappy "reality" shows, dance shows, game shows, etc. :down: :down: :down:

 

[Leo_N]

Doesn't matter to me....I have a larger HD in my TiVo, so space isn't an issue. But, besides that, I thought I read somewhere that a digital SD show does NOT occupy the same space as an HD show. It's still more than an analog show, but not as much as an HD show. 'Nuther reason I don't program in the SD versions of my HD channels is that, for the most part, those shows that AREN'T HD are the crappy "reality" shows, dance shows, game shows, etc. :down: :down: :down:

I think that depends on your cable company. On any of my HD network stations off of cable, they always distribute at either 720p or 1080i even if what they are showing is only 4:3 standard def content. And it takes up almost exactly the same space as regular HD content. I'm sure if they wanted to they could compress it better, seeing as two big blocks of black space would be very easy to compress, but I think they just take the easy route.

By the way, I'm with you on the crappy programming :down:

 

[LoREvanescence]

I think that depends on your cable company. On any of my HD network stations off of cable, they always distribute at either 720p or 1080i even if what they are showing is only 4:3 standard def content. And it takes up almost exactly the same space as regular HD content. I'm sure if they wanted to they could compress it better, seeing as two big blocks of black space would be very easy to compress, but I think they just take the easy route.

By the way, I'm with you on the crappy programming :down:

I think it is the station, not the cable company. As it is the same way on over the air broadcasts. 4:3 sd content is upconverted to 720p or 1080i with black letter boxing on the right and left.

In this area PBS actualy turnes off pbs hd from 8 am to 8pm (meaning no national hd network) to make room for multicasting 5 other networks, pbs kids, sprot, create, world and sd copy of their main station broadcast. The sd copy is in the place where thre hd network is at 480p. Then these networks are switched off air at 8pm and abc hd comes back.

Fox also occasionaly goes to 480p durring sd content here, but only occasionaly, it's a rare sight.

 

[Leo_N]

I think it is the station, not the cable company. As it is the same way on over the air broadcasts. 4:3 sd content is upconverted to 720p or 1080i with black letter boxing on the right and left.

In this area PBS actualy turnes off pbs hd from 8 am to 8pm (meaning no national hd network) to make room for multicasting 5 other networks, pbs kids, sprot, create, world and sd copy of their main station broadcast. The sd copy is in the place where thre hd network is at 480p. Then these networks are switched off air at 8pm and abc hd comes back.

Fox also occasionaly goes to 480p durring sd content here, but only occasionaly, it's a rare sight.

I agree that the network stations do flip back and forth, which is why I said it is a cable thing, my cable company does not switch to a 480 setting even if the network does. They still send everything over at the higher 720p/1080i resolution with black bars attached. And very likely that not all cable companies/headends do it the same way mine does.

 

[LoREvanescence]

I agree that the network stations do flip back and forth, which is why I said it is a cable thing, my cable company does not switch to a 480 setting even if the network does. They still send everything over at the higher 720p/1080i resolution with black bars attached. And very likely that not all cable companies/headends do it the same way mine does.

With comcast if the channel switches it 100% of the time is instant on the cable system. What I was trying to say is manytimes stations do not switch, abc, nbc, cbs, fox (99.9% of the time), cw and what not all continue to broadcast sd stuff unconverted to 720p/1080i with letterboxing over the air. So essentially, a cable company would have to down convert and remove the letter boxing, which isn't realy the ideal thing.

The cable company's just reserve the maximum bandwidth a station will require, and pipe through the networks broadcast at what ever definition or aspect ratio it is, they do not up convert or add letterboxing what so ever.