[mythtv-users] Cablevision requiring STB for all TVs in my area soon

[Eric Sharkey]

On Tue, Aug 31, 2010 at 10:22 AM, Fred <ffluvssg1 at gmail.com> wrote:
> I am trying to figure out my options now that I have received a letter in
> the mail from Cablevision on Long Island (NY) informing me that "all your
> televisions will require a digital cable box by September 28, 2010. Also,
> without a digital cable box, your TV cannot access iO TV (r)." For those who
> don't know, iO TV is Cablevision's digital channel package (anything over
> channel 99). I have done some web searches which seem to indicate I will not
> be able to record anything unencrypted, even with digital tuner cards. I
> have one STB with an IR blaster, but currently I am also recording as much
> as possible with two other analog cards.
>
> Does anyone know if the STB with firewire that Cablevision rents will
> provide any additional benefit? I am not renting three boxes, so I will have
> to look at alternatives if necessary.

I don't know what options Cablevision offers, but if you're happy with
the video quality of your current analog cards, Comcast and Verizon
both offer low cost/no cost rentals for very low end sd only digital
to analog converters that do decryption.  You might want to look into
what the real costs are before you completely rule out "renting three
boxes".

Later this year, Silicon Dust is releasing the HD HomeRun Prime which
will allow MythTV to record some portion of the encrypted content
without using a STB (just renting one cable card that can feed the
three tuners on the HDHR Prime) but there are still a lot of unknowns
here.  The expectation is that the HDHR Prime won't be able to record
anything that wouldn't have been available over firewire, but it might
be easier to get working reliably, since firewire can be a bit of a
black art.  It'll also be a lot cheaper in the long run.

Eric