[mythtv-users] HDHomeRun Prime up for pre-order at Amazon

[Eric Sharkey]

On Mon, May 2, 2011 at 2:18 PM, Ronald Frazier <ron at ronfrazier.net> wrote:
>> They are all the same flags.  The confusion arises from the fact that
>> firewire can be used to positively indicate a channel will be available, but
>> not to negatively indicate a channel will not be available.  Since the copy
>> freely content is uncontrolled, there is no specification on how a 5C device
>> should behave with such material.  Some cable box firmwares will still
>> require the 5C handshake that MythTV is incapable of performing, resulting
>> in a copy-freely show being unrecordable.
>
> Assuming your are correct in that statement, it basically boils down
> to "restricted firewire doesn't mean cable card will be similarly
> restricted",

Right.  Also remember that firewire is also "restricted" not just by
5C but by being a generally difficult tuner to get working reliably,
compared to other tuners (e.g. figuring out what priming or other
voodoo is require to get whatever random STB the cable provider gives
you to work).  I was never able to stabilize the one I got from
Comcast, although since switching to Verizon this works a lot better
for me.  Not to mention that the FCC has dropped the requirement for
cable companies to provide firewire capable boxes at all, and the
increasing difficulty in finding micro-ATX motherboards with on-board
firewire, I think the HDHR Prime is here just in time.

Eric