[mythtv-users] Looking to set up a new Myth Box.

Brian Walter blwalter at gmail.com
Wed Apr 25 20:51:57 UTC 2007


Shiloh Madsen wrote:
> Ok, I dug around in the last few months of posts for a while and I am
> having a hard time figuring out if I am sunk before I get started or
> not. Basically, I am wanting to set up a PC as a MythTV box, however I
> am getting TV via satellite. I gather that piping HD content into the
> box is pretty near impossible (though I am not sure I understand why
> exactly that is), however, what about your standard run of the mill
> TV? I am not going to be watching anything on an HD display for a few
> years yet anyway (Poor college student heh) so that is no big deal.
> The problem is, someone told me that there are no tv capture/tuner
> cards that will work with a satellite box. Is this true or not? If it
> is not true, can someone recommend to me some good cards that work
> well with MythTV? Thanks in advance.
>
> Shiloh
>
>   
Shiloh,

I'm capturing Directv via the svideo and L/R out of a directv set top 
box.  So, yes, it *is* possible to capture from a satellite service, you 
just can't capture *directly* from it, like you do an antenna or cable 
source.  You need to have a set top box to receive and decode the 
signal, then, transmit *that* to a capture card.

To do HD from satellite is *expensive*, and requires a modified set top 
box, and an intermediate box (basically an XP or Linux box, depending on 
the solution), which *then* transmitts the signal via Firewire to Myth.

In my setup, I'm using a PVR-150 from Hauppauge to capture the 
svideo/audio out from a DirecTV satellite receiver, 1 PVR-500 to handle 
cable stations, and 2 HD Homeruns for HD content (unencrypted, broadcast 
channels over cable).

Hope that helps somewhat.

Brian


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