[mythtv-users] HDHomeRun for SDTV?

R. G. Newbury newbury at mandamus.org
Wed Mar 21 05:09:52 UTC 2007


Don't top post please...See below.

jason maxwell wrote:
>>From what i understand, right now, the FCC mandate only covers analog
> broadcasts. They dont _have_ to send the digital channels
> unencrypted... yet. Most companies do send all local channels
> unencrypted though.

Because they are required by law to do so...Digital too. See below.
> 
> On 3/20/07, R. G. Newbury <newbury at mandamus.org> wrote:
>> Mark J. Scheller wrote:
>>> I'm in the Philadelphia area with FIOS TV currently recording on a PVR350
>>> attached to a cable box.  This is working OK, but I now have enough
>>> conflicts that I'm looking for an additional tuner.  Looking forward to the
>>> future, as I will "soon" have an HDTV capable set, I'm wondering whether I
>>> could get the HDHomeRun and use its 2 tuners now just to record SDTV
>>> content
>>> to my Myth (and eliminate the PVR350/cable box).
>>>
>>> Any input would be appreciated -- thanks in advance!
>>>
>>> [MjS]
>> It will depend entirely upon what unencrypted content your provider
>> pours down the 'wire'.
>> Content can be delivered by digital or analog streams.
>> Content can be SD or HD.
>> Some digital content is encrypted and you need a set top box.
>> Some digital content is not encrypted (although QAM256 encoded on cable').
>> The FCC mandates that cablecos provide the local off-air channels
>> through an unencrypted feed (ie: not 'premium content').
>> So you will get your local off-air available channels as HD content,
>> unencrypted, to the extent that the local network affiliates broadcast HD.
>> Other digital channels may bne HD or SD as the cableco decides.
>>
>> You will probably still need the 'cable box' as it probably does the
>> optical to wire conversion required to split out the tv signals.
>>
>> Geoff


Well a quick browse through US 47 CFR lead me to chapter 76.56 which 
says, in part...

  47 CFR 76.56
   ...
   (b) Carriage of local commercial tele-
   vision stations. Effective June 2, 1993, a
   cable television system shall carry
   local commercial broadcast television
   stations...
  (c) With respect to digital signals of
a television station carried in fulfill-
ment of the must-carry obligations, a
cable operator shall carry the informa-
tion necessary to identify and tune to
the broadcast television signal.
.....
  (f) Pursuant to § 76.64(f)(3), a local
commercial broadcast television station
that fails to make an election is
deemed a must-carry station. A cable
operator shall carry such a television
station on the cable system channel
number on which the local commercial
television station is broadcast over the
air, or ....or......[then] the cable operator shall place
the signal of such a television station
on a channel of the cable system's
choice, so long as that channel is included
on the basic service tier.

*********
That seems to me to dispose of the question: the basic service tier is 
not an encrypted service tier and a digital signal must carry the 
identification and tuning information.

I did NOT find the sections which provide penalties for failure to 
comply. However, I noted that the FCC pages have a section on the 
electronic filing of complaints. I would think that a complaint that a 
cableco had failed to comply with the regulations under which it is 
licenced would be dealt with by the FCC.

Geoff
IAAL and therefore had no problem reading the CFR's....


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