[mythtv-users] Thinking of adding DirecTV, have questions

[William Powers]

On Jul 21, 2011, at 3:49 PM, Andrew Theurer <andrew.theurer at gmail.com> wrote:

> I currently have 2 HD-HR's for local channels, but I would like to
> have a little more content.  I think DirecTV would be my first choice.
> I would want at least 2 HD tuners.  Is there anything I should watch
> out for?  I assume I need 2 HD-PVR's.  It looks like I might need a
> couple coax to toslink audio adapters, depending on the STB's I get
> from DirecTV.  I would like to use http to change channels on the
> STB's.  Is there something I am missing?  Any issue with using 2
> HD-PVRs to a single back-end?  Any issues to watch out for with USB?
> How is the quality of 1080i recordings?

I have a similar setup with two OTA HDHR's and a single HDPVR hooked up to a DirecTV H24 STB.  My H24 only has coax audio output so I did buy  a converter but there were issues with capturing the 5.1 audio reliably so now I settle for reliable stereo capture.

I have a second H24 connected directly to the main TV set. I have no need for an additional STB and HDPVR but YMMV.

I have used IR, http and USB-serial to control the STB.  I had to change the default delays in the directv.pl script to get USB-serial to work reliably. I currently use a channel changing script that commands channels via http and then verifies the result via USB-serial. If no joy, the script tries a USB-serial channel change. Belt and suspenders. Details are in the archives of this mailing list.

Don't bother trying to "power down" the  STB. The power control only turns off the front panel LED and video output; the box consumes the same amount of power while 'off' as it does while 'on'.

If you ever use IR, plan on using different command sets for the two STB's. You'll get bleed-over otherwise. You really only need a single emitter (or two emitters ganged on one output.)

You will probably need to write udev rules to keep Myth and the HDPVR talking to each other. At least I did. Otherwise the video devices will move around every reboot.

Hi def recording quality is great unless it is raining very hard or DirecTV decides to update and reboot the STB during the program, which has happened once or twice, usually in the middle of the night.