[mythtv-users] Digital cable and two tuner cards

[Tom Walsh]

Cory Megitt wrote:

>I was going to do the same thing ...Since I work for Rogers Cable here in
>Toronto, I was going to get a 2nd Digital box for $5/month (employee rate).
>
>This question is to all in the group:  How can you tell 2 IR Blasters to
>tune two different boxes.  I would also imagine that the IR blasters can't
>be anywhere near each other (due to line of sight) .. The box that you don't
>want to change the channel on, will change ... 
>  
>

How about taping the second IR blaster to the face of the second cable 
box?  Do it in such a way as to:

1. mask the IR signal from cable box #1
2. mash the IR receiver of cable box #2 so it only sees the IR blaster 
taped to its' face.

Regards

TomW

> 
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: mythtv-users-bounces at mythtv.org
>[mailto:mythtv-users-bounces at mythtv.org] On Behalf Of Nathan Richardson
>Sent: Thursday, July 08, 2004 9:21 AM
>To: mythtv-users at mythtv.org
>Subject: [mythtv-users] Digital cable and two tuner cards
>
>I'm working on setting up a MythTV system with two tuner cards so I can do
>picture-in-picture, record two programs at once, or watch a different
>channel from what I'm recording.
>
>Anyway, I have digital cable, and I understand that to use it with MythTV
>(or any HTPC), I need to routh the signal through the digital cable box
>first, then use a serial cable or IR blaster to change the channel. That's
>the setup I intend to use with the first card, but it raises two questions I
>hope someone can help with:
>
>1) If I do this, aren't the tuner capabilities of the PVR-250 and similar
>cards useless? Does any company offer an MPEG encoder card without a tuner
>(at a better price, of course). Am I wrong about this?
>
>2) For the second tuner/encoder card, I intend to connect it directly to the
>cable. I realize this will prevent me from getting channels over 125 (or
>maybe 60, I've heard different reports). This is fine, since It will only be
>used if I want to watch a second channel. As long as I can get ESPN or CNN,
>or my girlfriend can find something to watch while I record the Bloodhound
>Gang's video back catalog on channel 700 (or whatever). Is there any reason
>why this wouldn't work?
>And if I later conned comcast into giving me a second cable decoder box,
>could MythTV handle changing channels on 2 boxes separately with IR
>blasters?
>
>Thanks,
>
>Nathan Richardson
>
>Setup (planned)
>Asus Pundit
>Celeron 2.4GHz
>Hauppauge 250 (x2, unless there is a cheaper solution as above) 512MB RAM
>
>
>  
>
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>


-- 
Tom Walsh - WN3L - Embedded Systems Consultant
http://openhardware.net, http://cyberiansoftware.com
"Windows? No thanks, I have work to do..."
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