Hello

Recently I bought a ATSC(digital) only TV tuner: Kworld 340U PlusTV.
I was able to find about 20 channels with its antenna and even some HD ones.
Next step: hook it up to my comcast cable (I have Comcast digital starter). I've tried 2 configurations:
A) Direct connection (no comcast box)
The result: about 70 channels from which I could see about half, but all of them either local or national free digital channels, like ABC and CBS.
The rest were either locked or shown as radio stations.
B) Connection through the Comcast box (which is a Motorola DCT2000).
The result: no channels found.

My question is:
Why am I not able to find the one channel on which the box is sending the signal?
On my normal CRT TV I'm getting the box signal on channel 3 of the TV.
I think I'm confused on what the Comcast box is doing. I know it is a digital tuner and a decrypter, but is the output?
Is it supposed to work with both my normal CRT TV and my digital TV tuner?
Should I try another TV viewing software(not from Kworld) and try to tune manually?

Thanks
Dan

The RF out on the DCT2000 must be enabled in the configuration settings, and then it only works if the box is off. It is an RF bypass.

To get the signal of the converter box, you need to use the component or S-Video output and the RCA audio outputs. I believe the signal should also be converted to RF and sent out on Channel 3 or 4. Sounds like your box might have been off and the RF bypass disabled when you did your RF scan through the box.

Thanks SeattleAl
When I scanned the box was on and a normal channel was selected.
I've seen the manual for the box, but the thing is I don't have the version with RF OUT on the back. I only have the following I/O: RF IN, TO RF IN, CABLE IN and TO TV/VCR.
If I understand this correctly, the bypass should enable me to see all the channels (like ESPN, TNT) using my digital tv tuner instead of the box. The only thing the box will do is decrypt the locked channels.
Is this a correct statement?
And should I be able to do a RF bypass on my box?

Thanks again
Dan (also from Seattle)

Ok, I didn't realize the Kworld 340U PlusTV is a USB tuner for a laptop or a PC.

The RF bypass may filter out bandwidth needed for some QAM channels, so I would recommend bypassing the box for native reception. The only thing you would need the cable box for is for encrypted QAM channels like BBC America. Those you would pick up on channel 3 when the box is on and tuned to the digital channel, and your USB tuner is connected to the RF OUT on the cable box (the TO RF IN is the same thing as RF OUT).

I had 2 DCT-2000's from Comcast Seattle back in the day, and one had a working RF bypass and one didn't. If it works for you then fine, if not, then it doesn't work on your box.

Hope this helps. The Home Theater Computers topic is probably better for this inquiry.

I've tried what you suggested(connecting the tuner to RF OUT), but no luck - I cannot see the encrypted channels.
Bypass works, but I'm receiving the same channels as if I'm connecting the cable directly from the wall. If I'm trying with the box on and with bypass-off I'm getting the same channels - like in bypass mode.
And finally, when i connect the tuner to the tv/vcr out - just like mu crt tv, I'm not getting any channels. It looks like this is analog signal only.
I'm planning of returning the TV-tuner as it is useless.
And as far as I can see there is no use to have a TV with Digital Tuner because no cable provider will give a decoder without the tuner.
I'm a little bit disappointed because I cannot make use of my 30 inch Apple Monitor.
Even if I'm getting the HD box, I won't be able to connect it to the monitor as it does not have HDCP, but only DVI.
Thank You
Dan

Having been through a similar experience recently, I can tell you the best way I found to get all the digital channels into my PC was to buy a TV tuner with an S-video input and connect the STB to that. I use a Happauge HVR-1600, but any card with the S-video input will work. Be sure to get one with a hardware decoder built into the card, much more efficient. I looked for a card with just the S-video input and audio connections as I was using the STB for the tuner, but I could not find the card with the hardware decoder built in, best I could find was the Happauge TV tuner cards. I use SageTV for my software. You can select the s-video input in the SageTV setup. Then there are 2 methods to allow the SageTV software change the channel on the box. The most stable is a serial cable from the computer to the 9 pin connector on the back of the STB. There is a plugin for SageTV called MultiDCTTuner that allows the computer to control the channels. If there is not 9 pin connector on the back of the STB there are several IR solutions.

Great, than I will return my USB TV tuner and get one with S-Video.
In case I will get the HD package from Comcast, will I be able to get HD through the S-video? I'm not sure if the HD box from Comcast even has an s-video out like the normal digital box.
Thanks

You cannot get HD through S-video. The only way I know to get HD into the computer is through a QAM tuner in which case you only get the clear channels, or the R5000-hd from http://www.nextcomwireless.com/R5000/home.htm. The R5000-HD is pricey, over $500.00, but people that have it seem to like it very much. They make a mod to your cable box and from what I can tell you can then get HD through a USB connector that they install. Lots of info on this thread http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=13268719. There are a couple of boxes made to get HD out of the high speed data port on the DCT2224, which is a 9 pin Dsub connection. The one I just ordered is the HDD-200. However I could not find a reasonable way to get the signal from that into my PC. The output from the HDD-200 is component video and I could not find a PC card under $1,200 to accept conponent video. I intend to just use a regular cable box hooked to the HDD-200 for my main TV.

I was looking for a TV tuner with some kind of an advanced input like component or DVI/HDMI but I could not find.
I'm disappointed that I cannot use my 30" Apple Cinema Display to its full capabilities. Even though it has DVI input, hooking it directly to the hd cable box won't work.
Thanks.

use a two way splitter on the coax before the cable box.

I could not get my LCD to get the QAM HD-channels while using RF bypass
on the (SD) cable box.


There is also a way to get HD channels through the firewire port in the cable box.
http://home.comcast.net/~timmmoore/firewire/readme.htm

I have the same question that my TV (which does not have QAM or any other stuff) can tune encrpted channels like say for example Discovery channel,
But the tuner i have Kworld 340U cannot do that inspite of having a QAM tuner.

So my question is what is in the tv which allows these channels to be seen.I don't have a Set top box etc.The coax cable directly feeds into the TV(which just has the OTA/NTSC tuner).

If your TV does not have a QAM tuner then it could be an analog set, so when you tune to discovery it is the analog version of discovery.