Any way to capture ATSC/QAM stream directly?
 

I know there are TV hardware/software capture solutions out there, but broadcast being in MPEG-2 and H.264, I'm sure there's a way to capture what's being broadcast in its compressed TS form. I have seen this sparingly referred to but I'm not sure what hardware/software solution works best that is currently available.

People seem to like the stuff made by SiliconDust. If the content is encrypted, it will be captured encrypted and can't be converted, played on other computers, etc.

Allow me to rephrase: currently, most US TV is broadcast as an MPEG-2 telestream or H.264 telestream. Is it possible to capture the telestream itself without re-encoding?

I have read good things about the product and know that it can record, though I am not sure it does this.

I knew what you meant. Apparently their new models allow transcoding for the sake of streaming to other devices, but I believe those still record the original stream with WMC (into a Microsoft container, not Transport Stream).

You can't access On Demand content with anything besides cable company hardware, though.

Here is an overview someone wrote last year: Doom9 - How to capture digital broadcasts (In the United States)

I am going to pick that up. I just upgraded to Windows 8.1 home but I just found out that WMC is only purchaseable for $10 after the $100 upgrade to pro :(

I am going to try to make it work with XBMC. I already have a Slingbox, though I don't know if that works in the same way or if even HD.

It's been possible for 10+ years now. :P

I remember knowing folks that could download Dish Network streams years ago. The issue was that the streams were not compliant to any disc format. It has to be converted anyway, and was often a nuisance that required several steps. So capturing it as MPEG was better overall.

I know the torrent "scene" has excellent TV shows files as Xvid (AVI) or H.264 (MP4), but I've never really gotten into that. Assuming nothing that changed, they likely just capture H.264 at a high bitrate, made re-encode smaller, and call it a day.

Transport streams are a PITA. I avoid them whenever possible.

Why's that?

It was like video voodoo. I know several people that hated it. We all avoided it.