Dish VIP211 with Artec T19ARD receiver?

[jdeaver]

I just recently subscribed to DishTV. I have a second receiver box (VIP211) in my study, as I assumed I would not have any problems using it the my Artec T19ARD Digital TV Receiver. I would post the product URL, but the forums won't let me here until I have 5 posts.

It's their most recently model and supposedly handles Unencrypted Digital Cable signal. I have successfully accomplished receiving a good video and audio feed from the box through the adaptor, but there appears to be some type of interference which causes some waviness and lines. It really doesn't look sharp enough to be digital, either. I have confirmed there is not a grounding issue with the adaptor or cable (coax from box to adaptor, dvi from PC to monitor). The monitor is a 23-inch AcerH233H, which is very sharp and capable of 1080p.

OS is Windows Vista 64-bit Ultimate on an Athlon64 3200+ and 256MB Radeon
X1300/X1550 series graphics adaptor. 4GB of PC3200 memory on board.

I talked to tech support at Artec, but they are very lacking. I get the impression they have one guy answering the tech support line and he didn't want to put any effort into it at all. He simply said it was not compatible with DishTV and claimed the encoding was proprietary. (I assume once the signal comes out of the box, it's not encoded or TVs would not be able to display it.)

At least the DishTV tech guy gave me some suggestions on support like this forum and the Monday Dish tech call-in show. Any suggestions to smooth out the quality of the display would be appreciated.

[BattleZone]

So, let me see if I understand you. You've got an ARTEC USB TV tuner for your PC and are trying to watch your Dish Network 211 on your PC with the 211 hooked to the Artec's coax input. Is that right?

Most USB TV tuners are primarily intended for tuning digital OTA antenna content or Clear QAM cable signals, and most have lousy analog capabilities. If you want something to do analog captures with, you're best off with a PCI card from someone like Hauppauge. Note that there is currently almost zero support for capturing HD from a setup box into the computer. Hauppauge makes a product called the HD-PVR, but support for it is currently limited. And that's the only thing I know of that does HD at all, aside from OTA or Clear QAM.

[jdeaver]

So, let me see if I understand you. You've got an ARTEC USB TV tuner for your PC and are trying to watch your Dish Network 211 on your PC with the 211 hooked to the Artec's coax input. Is that right?

Yes, I assumed since the adaptor accepts digital signals and I have a decoding receiver, there would be no compatibility problems.

Most USB TV tuners are primarily intended for tuning digital OTA antenna content or Clear QAM cable signals, and most have lousy analog capabilities. If you want something to do analog captures with, you're best off with a PCI card from someone like Hauppauge. Note that there is currently almost zero support for capturing HD from a setup box into the computer. Hauppauge makes a product called the HD-PVR, but support for it is currently limited. And that's the only thing I know of that does HD at all, aside from OTA or Clear QAM.

So, the Dish box does not totally decode the signal into clear? The USB adaptor is only accepting the signal as analog and not digital? That's disappointing, Since I have not been able to use the adaptor for OTA reception, I guess it was a waste of money. It's been a couple of months since I bought it, so unfortunately, I cannot take it back. Ah well, I can buy an HDMI cable for the VIP211 to the monitor directly at least. Can't use the software DVR that way, though.

Thanks for the info.