Perhaps I'm not understanding the workings of QAM quite so good as I should (actually, that's not a perhaps, it's a for sure).

How can I tell if my service provider is giving me an unencrypted QAM signal? I'm in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada and am subscribed to Shaw cable. My system is using a pair of PVR 150 cards, and I'm wondering if perhaps there is better (QAM) hardware I can/should be using instead.

I tried to read this but the little twig in my brain snapped in half almost instantly.

Does anyone know a good article regarding QAM, what it is, kinda sorta how it works, and how to know if one can/should be taking advantage of it.

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Currently Running:
Too lazy to update this with my current hardware, I'll redo it during my next install =)

PVR-150s are analog tunners so they are not able to recieve a QAM signal. You will need a tunner that can recieve QAM.

There is a lot of info in the Digital TV Section of this forum

http://mysettopbox.tv/phpBB2/viewforum.php?f=15

QAM is what cable companies use to transmit digital cable. Basically it allows them to fit more channels on each frequency and add HD channels along with SD. The advantage of using a QAM capable tuner is that you are capturing MPEG-2 streams straight from the cable company as opposed to the PVR-150 that has to do its own MPEG-2 encoding from the analog signal. The result is that QAM recording are usually a better quality. You might check the avs forum to see if anyone can tell you what your local cable company is broadcasting.

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Backend R5E50
P4 1.3 - 384MB, 250GB HD, HD5000AV, PVR150 non MCE
Frontend R5E50
EPIA M1000 - 512MB, 40GB HD, Streamzap
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Thank you for pointing me towards some answers cameraready, I'll pop in there and take a look around to see what I can figure.

_________________
Currently Running:
Too lazy to update this with my current hardware, I'll redo it during my next install =)