[mythtv-users] Disj Network or Direct TV?

Brian Wood beww at beww.org
Tue Jul 20 01:16:45 UTC 2010


On Monday, July 19, 2010 06:13:00 pm George Mari wrote:

> Confirmed that their receivers still are controllable with a serial
> port.  I'm using an H21 high-def-capable receiver and controlling it
> with the serial port.  Actually, from the computer, I have USB->Serial
> converter, and then a serial->USB cable to the H21 settop box, because
> physically, the H21's serial port is a USB port, but otherwise, it's
> really serial.  No need to mess with Lirc, at least not to communicate
> to the settop box.
> 
> I've been using DirecTV since 1990-something, and in conjunction with
> MythTV since 2005.  I capture the output of the S-video port with an old
> PVR-350.  It works great.

Those PVR-x50s are great, rock solid and great support, too bad the demise of analog, the move to HD resolutions and fast-
disappearing PCI slots make them rather elderly.

> 
> I was using an older, H20 settop box with MythTV, but it started to get
> flaky.  DirecTV came out and replaced it with their latest settop box,
> model number H24, I believe.  Much smaller than the H20s and H21s, and a
> major difference for me is that they have no S-video output - only
> composite for standard def, along with HDMI and component for the HD
> outputs.  Because I was really wanting to capture 480i over the S-video,
> I ended up swapping that H24 settop box with an H21 I had in another
> room.  (The H21 has S-video output.)

I assume it would put out component at 480i, better than S-Video, but you'd need an HD-PVR to capture that. Be silly to 
buy a component-to-composite/SV converter.

> 
> Anyway, bottom line - I like DirecTV, and it works great with MythTV.  I
> haven't ever used DishTV, but I agree with what Brian said - check out
> the sports packages available on each, and see if that influences your
> decision.
> 
> If you're just looking for a "basic" package, DishTV may be a little
> cheaper.

Probably, though they are close in cost. I went with DISH when I moved here since their uplink facility is just a few 
miles east, "Local Loyalty" I guess. I had DirectTV when I was in the NYC area, as well as Comcast :-(


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