[mythtv-users] Ceton InfiniTV 4

[Brian Wood]

On Monday, August 30, 2010 07:31:23 pm Phil Bridges wrote:
> On Mon, Aug 30, 2010 at 8:59 PM, jedi <jedi at mishnet.org> wrote:
> > On Mon, Aug 30, 2010 at 02:10:12PM -0400, MacNean Tyrrell wrote:
> >> On Mon, Aug 30, 2010 at 12:48 PM, Phil Bridges <gravityhammer at gmail.com>wrote:
> >> > On Mon, Aug 30, 2010 at 12:42 PM, Raymond Wagner
> >> > <raymond at wagnerrp.com>
> >> > 
> >> > wrote:
> >> > >  On 8/30/2010 12:37, Phil Bridges wrote:
> >> > >> On Mon, Aug 30, 2010 at 11:55 AM, Chris Pinkham<cpinkham at bc2va.org>
> >> > >> 
> >> > >>  wrote:
> >> > >>> On Mon Aug 30, 2010 at 09:32:27AM -0400, Bryan Cromwell wrote:
> > [deletia]
> > 
> >> > > Please understand the limitations of such a tuner card.  As MythTV
> >> > > will likely never be licensed by CableLabs, all we will be able to
> >> > > capture is that content which the tuner outputs unencrypted.  That
> >> > > means content
> >> > 
> >> > marked
> >> > 
> >> > > copy-freely.  This card will replace firewire capture off STBs, but
> >> > > not analog capture.
> >> > 
> >> > I absolutely understand the limitations.  My cable headend has nearly
> >> > everything except Premiums marked copy-freely, so this card could
> >> > replace 4 Firewire-equipped cable boxes.
> >> 
> >> Who's your cable provider?  And how do a I tell this?  I have TWC, and
> >> they only unencrypt straight through cable the OTA channels
> >> (cbs/fox/cw/etc.) but with a CableCard cabable device are you saying I
> >> could get basically everything but the premiums (ie get
> >> discovery/espn/etc which are given free if i rent a cable box)?  Just
> >> trying to understand all of this.
> > 
> >    Frankly, I would never be able to trust the cable company not to screw
> > me over at some later date. I would rather have an output that I know I
> > can always record from even if it is a degraded one.
> 
> Pretty sure the only way that's going to happen is if you use an antenna.

For some of us that's not an option, unless I want CBS.

I'm not necessarily advocating satellite here, just pointing out that DISH and DirectTV are at least consistent continent-
wide, unlike cable providers where the same operator might be different even in adjacent markets. 

At least you know what you are going to get, with less chance of weekly changes.

My fear with my DISH receiver is that the forces of evil will be able to get the component outputs disabled, but they 
would have to deal with a LOT more unhappy older set users than a single CATV franchise might, so they might be less 
inclined to do so. 

I have both CATV and DISH, if I want to be as certain as possible that a recording will happen I go with DISH, except 
during a major snowstorm of course, but in that case both providers are unreliable, and even my electrical power is iffy. I 
only have UPS capacity for an hour or so.

In my experience  the satellite providers seem to be more Myth-friendly than most cable systems. Decrypting premium 
channels is not a problem, whatever you pay for comes out in the clear as HDMI, component or composite (automatically 
converted to SD). You can even get an (SD) RF output. I've not encountered SOC (yet).

Granted you need an STB (receiver, IRD, whatever you want to call it), but nothing's perfect.