silicondust hdhomerun prime for regular cable?

[ivwshane]

I always get confused by what standards I should be looking at so I'm asking here. I currently have wave broadband cable which currently doesn't require any boxes or equipment to watch tv. I want a networked tuner so I can dvr and watch tv on various networked devices. However I will be upgrading my service in the future and they offer a cable card option which I would use for the shows I currently can't get HD for.

Can I use the HDhomerun prime without a cable card for basic cable until I upgrade?

 

[Dulanic]

Yes it supports normal qam channels. Aka mostly locals.

 

[ivwshane]

Yes it supports normal qam channels. Aka mostly locals.

Sorry for not being clear. I'm interested in more than just the local channels which I believe come in digital format already.

I guess what I'm asking is does it support NTSC or ATSC (I don't know the difference).

 

[ivwshane]

I found the answer by changing my query options.
Unfortunately it will not do what I want as the prime does not support analog signals (NTSC or ATSC).

I'll have to wait then.

 

[Dulanic]

If your cable is digital it's a qam channel. I used the prime and got all my basic digital channels including locals. NTSC and ATSC are for over the air which the prime does not support.

 

[ivwshane]

It's not digital in the sense that I need a box in order to watch tv. When I had their digital service it sucked. However my tv can get the qam channels so I dont know what is considered digital or not. I get channels 2-99 and then qam stuff at xxx.x

 

[Dulanic]

I'm almost positive it will work for you. I don't even officially have cable tv just Internet and I get hd channels with the prime.

 

[Binky]

Prime = cablecard and QAM only
Normal = off air (ATSC, NTSC) and QAM only

Buying the Prime for QAM seems a little odd, since it's more expensive than the normal model with no additional benefit except maybe future cablecard potential.

 

[ivwshane]

The future cable card factor was what I was looking at.

Oh well I'll just have to wait.