Series3/HD Cable Card or Cable Box or both?

I've kept an S2 with a digital STB as well as having an S3 TiVo at one
location. I then can do VOD on the STD and capture it with the S2. I
can record HD with the S3. I cannot capture VOD in HD. I don't know
if there are any boxes that take HD output from an STD and capture
them. [Wes, here's your chance to plug a MythTV solution if it can do
that. And, honestly, if it can, it would be appropriate to plug here.]

However, as to HD, I find that the TiVo output over the HDMI cable of
most programs that I watch in HD is only marginally better than the SD
output from the other TiVo using component video, both connected to
the same Sony Bravia 42" TV, watched from a 6' distance.

If I were in the orignal poster's shoes, I would get an S3 and pony-up
for the monthly cablecards, but leave (or upgrade) whatever STB I had
to digital at least. It may or may not make sense to upgrade it to an
HD STB depending on whether there is something to record the HD or
not. That's essentially what I've done, and I'm happy with the
results. I didn't upgrade my STB to HD, since I didn't have a
recorder for it, but I do have it connected to an S2, so that I can
get some stuff I can't get via the S3 (and I have the ability to
record 3 channels at once).

Of course, in my case, the digital STB is essentially free (and
possibly literally so, I think it shows up as $0 on my monthly bill).
I need to buy the digital service to get the HD I record with the
cablecards. I don't think it costs extra to have the STB--the price
is for the service, not the delivery method. Now, I do pay for the
cablecards, maybe $5/month (out of the well over $100/month I pay to
get all the available channels), but I want them to make the S3 fully
functional in any case.

Chris F Clark wrote:

> I've kept an S2 with a digital STB as well as having an S3 TiVo at one
> location. I then can do VOD on the STD and capture it with the S2. I
> can record HD with the S3. I cannot capture VOD in HD. I don't know
> if there are any boxes that take HD output from an STD and capture
> them. [Wes, here's your chance to plug a MythTV solution if it can do
> that. And, honestly, if it can, it would be appropriate to plug here.]
>
> However, as to HD, I find that the TiVo output over the HDMI cable of
> most programs that I watch in HD is only marginally better than the SD
> output from the other TiVo using component video, both connected to
> the same Sony Bravia 42" TV, watched from a 6' distance.
>
> If I were in the orignal poster's shoes, I would get an S3 and pony-up
> for the monthly cablecards, but leave (or upgrade) whatever STB I had
> to digital at least. It may or may not make sense to upgrade it to an
> HD STB depending on whether there is something to record the HD or
> not. That's essentially what I've done, and I'm happy with the
> results. I didn't upgrade my STB to HD, since I didn't have a
> recorder for it, but I do have it connected to an S2, so that I can
> get some stuff I can't get via the S3 (and I have the ability to
> record 3 channels at once).

We'll probably end up doing something like that. Right now, with HDTV
but no HD STB or Tivo, when watching something live (I know, that's
unheard of in this group), it's unencoded HD with the direct
cable-to-tv, while simultaneously recording in std density on an S1 or
S2, so we effectively have the replay and pause capability.

- Character

> Of course, in my case, the digital STB is essentially free (and
> possibly literally so, I think it shows up as $0 on my monthly bill).
> I need to buy the digital service to get the HD I record with the
> cablecards. I don't think it costs extra to have the STB--the price
> is for the service, not the delivery method. Now, I do pay for the
> cablecards, maybe $5/month (out of the well over $100/month I pay to
> get all the available channels), but I want them to make the S3 fully
> functional in any case.

Some day ...