[mythtv-users] Odds of Linux CableCARD support?

Jason Werpy jwwerpy at gmail.com
Wed Jan 11 14:44:12 UTC 2006


On 1/10/06, Joe Votour <joevph at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>
>
> --- Yeechang Lee <ylee at pobox.com> wrote:
>
> > Jonathan Oexner <jonathan.oexner at alum.wpi.edu> says:
> > > Yeah, I was happy to learn that RCN Boston doesn't
> > use 5C
> > > encryption.
> >
> > I'm happy to report that RCN San Francisco does not
> > either.
> >
> > Once CableCARD 2.0 ships, what do y'all think are
> > the odds of a
> > PCI-slot expansion board that comes with one or two
> > CableCARD slots,
> > *regardless of Linux support*? I figure that having
> > the hardware
> > actually available (as opposed to slots only being
> > available on new,
> > presumably MCE-enabled, PCs) is more than 50% of
> > getting MythTV
> > support done, and if it takes binary, non-free
> > drivers for Linux
> > support--� la Nvidia or ATi--I don't mind as long
> as
> > they
> > work.
> >
> > --
> > Yeechang Lee <ylee at pobox.com> | +1 650 776 7763 |
> > San Francisco CA US
> > _______________________________________________
> > mythtv-users mailing list
> > mythtv-users at mythtv.org
> >
> http://mythtv.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users
> >
>
> It's hard to say whether or not there would be a PCI
> board.  The only design that I've heard of with
> CableCARD (1.0) support was a Shuttle (I think)
> machine, and thus, it was built into the motherboard.
> Normally I'd say that some company would just
> manufacture them unlicensed, but they'd be slapped
> with some sort of DMCA lawsuit, likely.  Then I'd say,
> manufacture and sell them outside of the U.S., but I'm
> not even sure if CableCARD has been proposed outside
> of North America.  (CableLabs is the CableCARD and
> DOCSIS specifications writer in the United States,
> Europe, although they have EuroDOCSIS, it is done by a
> different consortium of European cable operators).
>
> I'm predicting 0% chance of official CableCARD support
> in Linux.  Unofficially, there might be binary
> drivers, but I really doubt that.  I'm pretty sure
> that Microsoft had to jump through hoops to get
> CableCARD support allowed in MCE (CableLabs is pretty
> bad, I've worked for two companies that dealt with
> them), and anything that is seen as an "open platform"
> is just begging to get the big red rubber stamp of
> denial.
>
> To me, the bigger challenge is not necessarily whether
> or not a PCI card could be reverse engineered (because
> it could, it just takes a talented person with the
> right equipment, even if they encrypt everything on
> the bus), but what kind of data the CableCARD gives
> us.  If the data that we get from the CableCARD is
> completely encrypted, then we'll be limited in the
> things we can do with it (commercial flagging would
> likely not be possible, since MythTV has to analyze
> the contents of the stream).
>
> I would really like a legitmate CableCARD solution for
> Linux, but I want it to have the current featureset of
> analog cable.  Wishful thinking, I know.
>
> -- Joe
>
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The newest HDTivo uses cablecard.   I think there is a chance of making it
work in Linux.

The more I keep looking at the state of HD television that they are trying
to roll out the more I get the impression that they want to give us "a much
better picture" in exchanged for us not continuing to time shift anymore.
So we'll have resolution and detail for the 21st century and usability and
flexibiltiy from the 1970's.
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