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I'll be setting up xbmc as soon as my hardware arrives. Do I need to attach a cable box in order to get TV channels?
Maybe. Depending on where you are (US I'm assuming, as I think we're the only country that calls it a cable box), what channels you want, and what backend you are using for LiveTV.

I use NextPVR and have a HDHomeRun QAM tuner that will get the broadcast channels. I think with a cablecard it could also get any channel marked as "copy freely" by the cable company, although most everything on my lineup is marked copy once. So I also have a cable box and a Haupauge HDPVR that takes the analog singal and encodes it. The HDPVR has an IR blaster to change channels on the box.

The reality is that if you are in the US, it's somewhat complicated and dependent lots of factors. Windows Media Center is the only thing with a "seamless" experience with encrypted cable. There is an option to use WMC as a backend to XBMC, but if you record encrypted channels, you'll have to figure out a way to play the encrypted files with Windows Media Player. Again, somewhat complicated.
Ouch. Can you recommend a simple way to get started with even just a few channels on Linux?
I'd suggest looking at an HDHomeRun. You'll want a version that does QAM. I use the PRIME without a cable card in it. That will get you the broadcast channels (ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, the CW, and PBS at least). You'll need a PVR backend that works on Linux. You can see that list here:

http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title=PVR...ware#Linux
So the HDHomeRun pulls in channels over the air and sends them to your computer over the network so xbmc can display them? And if I subscribe with my local cable provider and get a cable card and connect the HDHomeRun to the cable jack then I will get more channels?
Yes, basically. But anything other than the network channels will probably be encrypted and will require you to use Windows Media Center to record and play them.
OK so maybe the cable card is a waste of time. The network channels come over the air?

How does the HDHomeRun send the channels to the computer? Does it listen on a port that xbmc connects to over the network?

The next step up from this would be a full-blown cable box and something like a Haupauge HDPVR?
First things first is what are your cable provider options. Then from there you can look to see what hardware you can use. Or you can pay for a ustvnow subscription and use Lunatixz fork of PseudoTV Live.
Like pkscout I have a HDhomerun prime except I use my cable card. My setup does not require a backend because at the moment I could care less about scheduling recordings. I use strm files with PseudoTV Live for me display. When I get home I'll to remember to take a few screens shots.
I use a cablecard in my hdhomerun prime. It costs a whopping $1.50/mo with Comcast and gives access to all of my HD channels (I have the expanded line up with ESPN, TNT etc -- no premium channels). I use ServerWMC as my back end and it works really well on xmbc. My only problem is that my main xbmc device is the RaspberryPi which is a bit slow for live TV. However it works well on a laptop and tablet.

Once Windows Media Center is setup to work with the Prime, serverWMC basically tags onto it to stream to XBMC. In other rooms I use media center in XBOX 360 to connect directly to Windows Media Center. This setup works almost as well as a DVR / cable box with the exception of the loud fan and the boot up time for the Xbox. More reasons for me to upgrade my Pi to a nettop, NUC, or USFF desktop.
I too use a HDHomeRun Prime w/ CableCard. My provider is Verizon (FIOS). I have a few nettops around the house a Gigabyte Brix, an Acer Revo RL70 and a homebuilt PC for the theater room which all run Windows 7 x64 with Windows Media Center. I wrote a small app that switches between XBMC and WMC (a very mini EventGhost/AutoHotKey type thing). The Prime/CableCard/WMC solution works just okay. Windows Media Center is flaky as hell; it often loses connectivity with the Prime (get Tuner Not Found or Tuner Busy messages a lot when changing channels). It's so bad that I have to start WMC in wrapper that executes the following:

c:\Windows\ehome\ehprivjob.exe /OCURDiscovery

This rediscovers the Prime. Sometimes I have to reconfigure the TV tuner in WMC altogether. It's a pain in the ass, to be honest. I love doing this stuff, but there are some days that I want to throw it all out and just get boxes. I can't tell you how much it pisses me off that WMC is the only viable option to interact with a CableCard to watch all content (DRM stuff) and WMC is not being enhanced or improved upon any longer whereas other solutions are MUCH better but can't display all content.

ServerWMC is simply an app that uses WMC's guide and DVR but uses uPNP to communicate with the Primes to watch Live TV. All recordings are done through WMC and sometimes you can't view them with the XBMC PVR add-on because of PlayReady copy protection. I really like the idea of ServerWMC, but in my experience it's still a ways away from being stable. Channels will suddenly stop, the guide is a pain to deal with, and channel changing is pretty slow. I played with this for about a week before finally going back to using WMC full-time and I only watch media I have through XBMC.

The short answer is unless you want this to be a hobby that requires daily care and feeding, get a cable box, especially if you have other people who aren't technical and want to watch TV without you being around just in case.
(2014-07-10, 11:10)noliaboy Wrote: [ -> ]I use a cablecard in my hdhomerun prime. It costs a whopping $1.50/mo with Comcast and gives access to all of my HD channels (I have the expanded line up with ESPN, TNT etc -- no premium channels). I use ServerWMC as my back end and it works really well on xmbc. My only problem is that my main xbmc device is the RaspberryPi which is a bit slow for live TV. However it works well on a laptop and tablet.

Once Windows Media Center is setup to work with the Prime, serverWMC basically tags onto it to stream to XBMC. In other rooms I use media center in XBOX 360 to connect directly to Windows Media Center. This setup works almost as well as a DVR / cable box with the exception of the loud fan and the boot up time for the Xbox. More reasons for me to upgrade my Pi to a nettop, NUC, or USFF desktop.

If this is your first cablecard that is used in a device you provide (as in, not counting cable cards in Comcast hardware/boxes) then it should be free. They should actually give you a credit on your bill for providing your own hardware.
That is correct but I have an hddvr which came free as a promo for 6 months. So the cablecard has to be paid for.
(2014-07-11, 12:54)noliaboy Wrote: [ -> ]That is correct but I have an hddvr which came free as a promo for 6 months. So the cablecard has to be paid for.

i'm hoping to have some time to write up a tutorial on how to use hdhr with pseudotv live. I have found this to be the best implementation of live tv for me since I do not care about recording just viewing.
(2014-07-10, 15:59)KennethC Wrote: [ -> ]The short answer is unless you want this to be a hobby that requires daily care and feeding, get a cable box, especially if you have other people who aren't technical and want to watch TV without you being around just in case.

Honestly, it's the same answer if you get a cable box and an analog encoder like the Haupaguge HDDVR. My setup is pretty solid, but I still check in on it every few days and randomly check recordings to make sure they work. The real pain is that if the cable company updates the box (or you lose power), but cable box defaults to OFF (at least on TWC), so you have to turn it back on or you won't get any recordings.

So while in "hobby" mode, I bought a servo and controller board so I can programmatically push the power button on the cable box. I have my PVR software do a test recording at 5am every day. A custom written add-on checks that directory daily, and if the test recording isn't there, it assumes the cable box is off and triggers the servo to push the power button on the cable box. It mostly works, but I tend to check the power on the box every morning when I get up.

So if the goal is something stupid simple and relatively stable, just get a TiVo or the cable company DVR.
As others have said, who you have as a cable provider will determine your options. I use an HD HomeRun prime and I love it.
In my last place I had Verizon and they worked great. I was just using WMC for TV and sharing the folder to the other pc' s in the house until the ServerWMC was being tested and I jumped on board. I thought it worked well, but I dindnt stay in my place long enough to fully try it.

I now have brighthouse networks (Time Warner (or as I call them Suckhouse Networks)) and they are copy once on almost all channel's so im stuck using WMC and I cant share recordings with other pc's. I'm going to be switching to WOW soon (formerly Knology in my area) because I heard they are copy freely.

I do have WMC setup nicely where I am able to switch seemlessly between hulu, wmc, and xbmc from the wmc menu and whenever I exit hulu or xbmc it restarts wmc automatically. Every once in a while WMC acts up but a quick exit from the menu and relaunch using the guide or menu button from my remote fixes the problem. I even finally got the misses to love the setup (she was stubborn, but once I showed her we can use it to record her favorite shows, she nearly stopped using the bedroom tv all together)

The providers that I think serverWMC would work with are Verizon (verified by me), Comcast (verified above by noliaboy), Xfinity (I think they are Comcast), and WOW (based on info I found online, not verified by me yet). Although, I beleive no matter who you have, premium channels (eg: HBO, Cinamax, Starz, ect) will have copy protections on them. (Maybe this would make for a nice chart or page on the LiveTV portion of the wiki: "Known copy freely and copy once US providers" (if it doesn't already exist.))