[mythtv-users] HW CAMs, CI support, legal subscription viewing (DVB-S2)

[Michael T. Dean]

On 01/17/2010 08:09 AM, Mark wrote:
> David Kubicek wrote:
>> Hello to you all.
>>
>> I'm bringing up "the big" question - there is some general knowledge
>> about some cards' CI's (mostly KNC1) working with Linux - at least
>> Kaffeine, if not MythTV. Most of these reports are rather old so I
>> looked into MythTV sources and current dvbcam.cpp seems to support
>> CAM menus, selections, etc. I guess the developers came a long way
>> since those dark days. There must have been people actually testing
>> this code, I'm kindly asking these people and anybody else with some
>> experience to step up and share their tips. :) Like you, I don't want
>> to settle for less - MythTV is the best in this area.
>>
>> However, there aren't many DVB-S cards with CI slots supported by
>> Linux and my impression is that those which work are incompatible
>> with MythTV. I've searched and read the whole -dev and -users lists
>> and it seems to me that most MythTV enthusiasts are eventually forced
>> to turn to the "dark side" and end up using borderline-legal sortcam
>> setups. After that, nobody will respond to their questions, because
>> such discussions are forbidden here. I conclude that there are
>> basically two options - watch FTA (useless) or go rogue and loose all
>> sympathy and support, which is impractical to say the least. :)
>>
>> I'd like to prevent this happening to me. I'm going to build a new
>> MythTV box and I would prefer if everything was stable, clean, legal
>> and without non-documented hacks like DVB loop devices. MythTV code
>> shows there have been some development in this area and there were
>> people with some HW CAM's writing and testing the new code. This
>> means there really is a working HW CAM for MythTV. Also, with the
>> majority of people here against softcams, there must be many users
>> with HW CAM cards. I don't think people would have gone all the way
>> to polish (rather complicated) MythTV setups just for FTA viewing.
>>
>> My question, my plea is to hear from you what you've been through,
>> how you ended up realizing your setup and any tips along the way.
>> Everything to do with DVB-S2 (or even DVB-C) and MythTV. I really
>> hope to collect some hard-to-get information and put it up on the
>> MythTV wiki for other people like me. Please, do let me know. 
> You'll get no help here.  Go here:  dvbn.happysat.org.   Keep this
> stuff off list.

Talk of legal hardware CAM is fine here.  Just make sure it stays away
from the softcam topic or other ways of circumventing the provider's
access protections.

As a matter of fact, I'd very much like to see some people who have
legal hardware CAM usage implemented in MythTV provide some information
to help people who want to use it (and whose providers allow it).

Mike