Can someone explain to me whether or not DirectTV supports QAM.  I will be moving into an apartment with a DirectTV box next week.  I have never used DirectTV before but I had heard that there is no support for HD on vista media center (which I use).  As I understand it this is because media center has no support for H264.  Does this mean that I will not be able to view any HD over the cable line on my hvr 1600 even with the recent tv pack?

Thanks

QAM (quad-amplitude modulation?) is a signaling spec defined by the US cable industry.  A QAM signal is is the "digital cable signal" that you get with "digital cable service" from a US cable company - QAM is input to the cable co's set top box, and the set top box tunes to a channel and outputs the channel in various formats for connection to your TV (typically one or more of RF, composite, S-Video, component, and HDMI).

The US satellite companies do NOT use QAM.  Both Dish and DirectTV use their own proprietary signaling spec's, and these spec's are not QAM.  The satellites transmit their proprietary signals, which are received by the dish on your house and come through the cable to the satellite co's set top box.  The set top box tunes to a channel and outputs the channel in various formats for connection to your TV (see output formats above).

Since the cable co's QAM signal is on a spec, you can buy QAM tuners which tune the signal just like a set top box does.  (But you will only get the few unencrypted channels, unless you have a CableCard-equipped QAM tuner so you can decrypt the majority of the channels which are encrypted).

The satellite co's signal uses a proprietary format, and only the satellite co's set top boxes can tune it.

--Don

 

a bit off topic but they're not really proprietry they're dvb-s as far as I know, but that doesnt help in this situation.

---

http://www.spore.com/view/profile/Vengence_IRL

QAM ? Nope, not from any Sat company, at least in the US.

As for True HD from Directv, no support as of yet but, if you look on the sat fourms, people who have e-mailed Directv got replies that later this year it would be released (the HDPC-20), I guess time will tell...

---

-Dave

MCP, MCSA, MCSE 2003
Windows Vista Connected Exp:Home Theater for Technologists
Windows Vista Connected Exp:Home Theater for Sales professionals

Home theater specialist (10+ years)

So I guess I'm stuck with standard def.  What do you mean by "True HD" David?  Is there some other way of getting HD from Directv?

I think what David means by "True HD" is that you are getting the signal from the satellite dish to your PC through a tuner only.  The only way to do it now is to use a set top box and have the output go through a video card rather than your TV.  You are just copying the output signal rather than having the signal go directly to the PC.

---

My Network Project - Media Center Blog

You can capture HD from your DirecTV STB using a Hauppauge HD-PVR.  But you will have to switch your software to SageTV or BeyondTV to get support for that hardware.

I wouldn't hold my breath on the DirecTV HDPC-20.  Probably won't be supported by Microsoft until Windows 7 (best guess mid-to-late 2010).

Vengence_Irl:

a bit off topic but they're not really proprietry they're dvb-s as far as I know, but that doesnt help in this situation.

There might be some well-defined standards embedded in various places in the signal.  But overall, it sure walks like a "proprietary":  You have to get the set top boxes from the satellite company, there is absolutely no other source, and no other way to tune in the service (ignoring maybe some possible super-shady hacker stuff).

--Don

 

I was told there would be "cable boxes" when I arrived.  Are these the same boxes you speak of?  I thought you had to have a box to even use Directv at all.

mobius0:

I was told there would be "cable boxes" when I arrived.  Are these the same boxes you speak of?  I thought you had to have a box to even use Directv at all.

They might be using the term "cable boxes", but the proper term almost certainly "DirectTV set top boxes" (just to be picky).

--Don

 

mobius0:

I was told there would be "cable boxes" when I arrived.  Are these the same boxes you speak of?  I thought you had to have a box to even use Directv at all.

Hotels and some apartments provide "DirecTV programming" that they capture from the satellite and then redistribute locally using cable technology. In this case you may very well be using QAM and have a cable set top box. I doubt that you will have a dedicated dish installed just for you upon arrival, but I could be wrong.

mobius0:

I was told there would be "cable boxes" when I arrived.  Are these the same boxes you speak of?  I thought you had to have a box to even use Directv at all.

very possible they have a larger dish on the roof with multiplexers to deliver the signal to each dwelling, in which case you would have an actual directv set top box in your apartment.

---

Marvin on Disapproving Rabbits

masteroffm:

mobius0:

I was told there would be "cable boxes" when I arrived.  Are these the same boxes you speak of?  I thought you had to have a box to even use Directv at all.

very possible they have a larger dish on the roof with multiplexers to deliver the signal to each dwelling, in which case you would have an actual directv set top box in your apartment.

Yes, both Dish Network and DirectTV have hardware to serve multi-unit dwellings (aka "apartments") from a single set of dishes.  You don't typically see all of this special purpose multi-switch hardware listed on their web sites, but it exists.

--Don