[mythtv-users] Newbie Questions

greg at nodecam.com greg at nodecam.com
Fri Dec 15 20:18:08 UTC 2006


> I am in Canada with Shaw as my cable provider.  There is not broadcast

I have shaw in Saskatoon (you didn't mention where you're from) and I get
most channels over firewire with the DCT6200.  When I had a free preview
of the movie channel earlier this year, I recorded several movies in HD
from the 6200.  They have since put 5C=1 on a couple of the digital
channels, so I don't know if the movie channel is still available over
firewire.

I subscribe to the absolute minimum digital lineup from Shaw, which is ok
for the time being.  Apparently they're going to take away some of my
"free" HD channels in the new year - charging $10/month or something for a
package of a few channels (TSN, Sportsnet, DiscoveryHD - maybe one more, I
don't remember)

> Can I have two tuners and record 2 shows at the same time?

Sort of.  I have the aforementioned 6200 hooked up via firewire. 
Apparently some people have troubles with having more than one box hooked
up via firewire, which would limit you to one tuner for digital channels
(and HD)  I've never tried it, because I've only got the one box.

I also have a PVR250 hooked up to the analog cable, so in effect, I have
two tuners on all the analog channels (which are also available over
firewire in Saskatoon)

> I recall reading that the ideal solution would be to have a dedicated box
> to record content (i.e. tuner cards, host the database etc) and a separate
> box to watch TV / content.  Is it realistic to not just build a high end
> system with lots of RAM etc and use it for both?

Quiet is the key - if you can build a box that's satisfactory for having
next to your TV, and also big enough to do all the backend and frontend
stuff, go for it.  I have a combined backend/frontend hooked up to a
digital projector in my "home theatre" but also a frontend in the
livingroom, the frontend installed on my laptop, and on my desktop
computer (intel mac mini)  Having multiple frontends is really simple to
do, but lots of folks have a single combined frontend/backend.

Greg


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