dfn_doe posted:

What you want to do should work fine, I'd recommend adding a 1>2 splitter inline with your cable and hooking up both the analog and digital tuner on your hvr-1600. You will probably find that most of your basic lineup is available in digital over unencrypted QAM, but the channels which aren't available there will be available in analog (since that is what your are tuning now with your existing set's built in analog tuner.)
Getting guide info for some of your digital channels may be a hassle and depending on what dvr software you use this can be a considerable pain in the rear end to get working correctly. That said, I use beyondtv with an hvr1600 hooked up as I've recommended (with an extra 2 digital tuners by way of an hd homerun) and after the initial process of identifying each of the digital channels and mapping it to an appropriate "channel" of the supplied guide service everything works great. There are only a handful of channels which I actually watch that are only available as standard def analog signals (primarily espn) but seeing as how you're happy with your current selection of standard def analog channels I think you'll find that the channels which you do end up getting in hidef digital are a nice bonus that don't cost end up costing you a dime extra. You needn't get any upgrade from your cableco, although they'll probably tell you different if you ask them.

Good luck.

ah, forgot to mention that only some versions of the hvr1600 support QAM, the only way to tell (unless they've changed the packaging) is by a model number revision sticker that is on the card itself. There is a KB article on the Hauppage website which spells out in plain language how to locate the sticker and confirm your card's capabilities.