[mythtv-users] digital cable is upon me for real now

[Jerome Yuzyk]

Well after almost 5 years of fantastic 24/7 operation that has forever 
changed what I'm willing to tolerate in "watching TV"* my MythTV life faces 
the oncoming switch-over to digital as my provider has sent notice that all 
their non-Basic analog channels are going digital by September 12.

Right now I have an eMachines box with a PVR-500 (plus MCE remote and IR 
blaster and composite bracket) and Shaw cable analog SD basic + 3 tiers. A 
FE/BE running Myth 0.21 on RedHat 9.

I get 1 digital box free if I want, a Motorola DCT700 as near as I can 
tell.


What's the easiest way to add the digital box to the PVR-500 and use it for 
the Tier 1-3 channels? Is it possible to use it simultaneously with the 2 
analog tuners to give me 3 input sources?

How hard is it to use the DCT700 without a TV for setup and such?

Any chance there are some Shaw (Western Canada) PVR-500 users who have done 
this?

It's 50/50 whether I will bother with the Tiered channels since I watch 
only a handful of them and this might be some sign I should do other things 
with my time, but if it's easy enough and I get the STB for free then I'm 
game to try it. I know my setup is pretty old but It Just Works Fabulously 
and a rebuild/replace is just not worth it right now.



* Another thanks while I'm here to all the MythTV people for their spirit 
and efforts. Since TV is a mostly-inescapable part of our lives the ability 
to make me a master of TV rather than the reverse is the greatest feature 
of MythTV to me.