[mythtv-users] Satellite TV and MythTV, getting started

Brad DerManouelian myth at dermanouelian.com
Thu Jan 22 06:04:27 UTC 2009


On Jan 21, 2009, at 9:33 PM, Marc Chamberlin wrote:

> I guess the time has arrived and I must byte the bullet on this  
> so... I live out in the countryside and with the upcoming switch to  
> HD TV, and I have determined that over the air  HDTV will not be an  
> option  for me (too far away and signal reception is pretty bad).  
> Nor is cable possible. So that leaves satellite. I been researching  
> on the internet and monitoring this group and the MythTV website,  
> but not really finding a good answer on just what is the best way to  
> accomplish merging satellite TV with MythTV.
>
> I am totally unfamiliar with satellite TV, never having used it, but  
> do understand that each supplier will give me some kind of a set top  
> box to control what channels I want to watch. They also offer  
> choices between a HD receivers for the HD channels,  PVR's  and  
> HDPVR's as options, but it seems to me that since MythTV IS a PVR I  
> don't want to get a PVR or HDPVR from the satellite TV dealers?? I  
> suspect that the video output from the satellite set top box, for  
> most of their regular channels, will be straight NTSC that I can  
> feed directly into my current Hauppauge 350 card? And I am guessing  
> that, like with cable TV set top boxes, I just set and leave the  
> Hauppauge 350 tuner on channel 3 or 4 and MythTV has the ability to  
> control the satellite set top box somehow, to select channels....  
> (i.e. I am guessing that MythTV will not try to change the channel  
> the Hauppauge card is set to and there is a way to inform MythTV  
> about this..)
>
> So what about these HD receivers? Do I need to have an HDTV card for  
> those? If so any recommendations would be much appreciated. In fact  
> I would like to hear how others are setting up MythTV to work with  
> satellite TV. (I probably am interested in either DirectTV or  
> DishNet) With a satellite set top box will it be possible to watch  
> one channel while recording another or (I suspect this is the case)  
> will I need two set top boxes and two cards...
>
> From watching a recent thread on DirectTV it appears there are some  
> issues with controlling the set top box via a USB/serial cable? I  
> have heard about something called IR Blaster which I gather is a  
> computer controllable IR transmitter? Will I have to acquire one of  
> these as well? Seems rather awkward if a simple USB cable can be  
> used instead..
>
> Anywise I sure could use a few pointers and recommendations on what  
> will be the most easy and wife compatible solutions available...   
> Thanks in advance...

Sounds like it. I've been using MythTV with DirecTV for about 2 1/2  
years in many different configurations, so I can lend some insight on  
many of them. Let's see how much of this I can get through before  
falling asleep. :)

1. STB Boxes - You can get either SD or HD set-top boxes. Obviously,  
HD looks better. HD DirecTV boxes even looks better when displaying on  
a SD TV. I highly recommend it if it's in your budget. No, you do not  
need to get a box that records anything from DirecTV since you will be  
doing the recording on your own.

2. Out of the STB - If you go with a SD STB, you output via s-video to  
an analog capture card like your PVR-350. If you go with HD, you can  
also do this (and it will look better - near DVD quality I found), or  
you can output via component to the Hauppauge HD-PVR box. Note that  
getting this box to work currently means patching MythTV (haven't  
tried with latest release, but I read it works) or running unstable  
code from trunk o get support for the box. This is what I do and it  
looks absolutely beautiful - full HD. There is no option for running a  
coax cable from your DirecTV box to your capture card when using  
Satellite that I am aware of.

3. Changing the channel - You basically have two choices here, too.  
You can use the service port on the back of a DirecTV box to control  
the box (there is no Dish support for this). The reason I refer to it  
as a service port and not a USB port is because while it looks like a  
USB port, it acts like a serial port. In order to get it to work, you  
need to communicate like a serial port which means getting a USB to  
Serial adaptor for the DirecTV box, then a null modem cable, then plug  
into the serial port of your MythTV box. If you don't have a free  
serial port on your MythTV box, you need to get a USB to Serial  
adaptor and plug it in that way. Now here's the rub - DirecTV boxes  
can only use a very specific USB to Serial chipset. pl2303 chips work,  
but every USB to Serial adaptor I've seen recently (I've tried MANY)  
use the pl2303X chip which does not work. I can't seem to find anyone  
using the old chips which is kind of a bummer for controlling this  
box. This leads to the second option which is an IR Blaster. This is a  
piece of hardware that you plug into the serial port of your computer  
and pretends is the DirecTV's remote control. When the time comes to  
record something, a script runs sending IR commands from the blaster  
which the STB receives, thinks it's the regular remote control and  
obeys the channel change. This is not as reliable just as it's not  
100% reliable when you point your remote at the TV and press a bunch  
of buttons.

4. Watch while recording? - You can record a single stream for each  
STB/tuner/channel change method set. If you want to record one and  
watch another, you need two of each of these. This gets expensive and  
a little confusing, but certainly can be done. (In fact, I have three  
of each.) If you want more than 1, keep in mind that you can buy an ir  
blaster with two blasters on it and control them independently. You  
just need to make sure to isolate each blaster to each box so you  
don't start changing channels on both boxes.

Now, doesn't the PVR from DirecTV sound easy? It is, but not nearly as  
cool as MythTV. :)

-Brad



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