[mythtv-users] ATTENTION: Want to help remove 5C FireWire encryption?

[Scott Alfter]

Eric Smith top-posted (grr):
> Not too long ago I got an update on my STB from time warner and I lost
> FOX over firewire.  I was under the impression that this was one of
> those channels that would be required to be unencrypted so I called TW
> to investigate.  The story I received was that the encryption levels
> had not changed but that certain channels would no longer stream over
> firewire because the firewire stream could not support the emergency
> broadcast signal.  Has any one else run into this?

That sounds like an excuse worthy of the BOFH.  The "emergency broadcast
signal" in question is just some audio that cuts off the original audio and
some graphics genlocked over the video, which would then be (re)encoded and
sent down the pipe.  How else would it be viewable on a TV?

Lately, I've noticed that local HD channels no longer come in over FireWire; I
keep getting a bunch of errors.  I've since installed an A180, which does a
better job capturing HD than I ever got through FireWire anyway.  I still have
the cable box plugged in to pick up the non-HD digital cable channels.

On the plus side, it seems like Cox is making more of the channels <100
available in digital form.  I can now pick up SciFi over FireWire, which means
I now get clean recordings of Battlestar Galactica instead of the
interference-riddled recordings I got with the crappy tuners on my PVR500.
(I've had half a thought about just yanking the PVR500 back out and putting a
PVR150 in its place, as most of the analog channels I watch are now available
digitally as well.)

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