[mythtv-users] new to MythTV - general questions

[Nick Rout]

On Sat, Oct 1, 2011 at 5:31 PM, Joel <not12listen at gmail.com> wrote:
> firstly, i just joined the MythTV forum and mailing list a few days ago.
>
> secondly, i am just trying to get an understanding of what hardware is
> needed to get a MythTV box working.  so, here is my situation...
>
> Dish Network is my tv signal provider (not switching back to Comcast -
> hate it)
>
> i have an AMD 3800+ X2 (64bit) machine sitting here, aching to be put to
> good use.
>
> it has no capture card of any kind.  i was looking into purchasing an
> Hauppauge HD PVR 1212, and linking the Dish Network box to the HD PVR
> via Component cables, then to my tv.  the HD PVR would be connected to
> my MythTV machine by USB.  i would use this machine solely as the 'back
> end' machine, and use an identical machine (that has an nVidia card) for
> displaying the videos.
>
> so...  does this sound correct?  am i missing anything?

as a non dish user, that sounds right. I assume dish is a satellite
provider that rents you a set top box (STB) which is necessary because
their transmission is encrypted and needs the STB to decrypt? If so,
you will also need some method to change channels on the STB. Some
have firewire connectors that wil enable the backend to change
channels, if not you will need a "ir blaster" - a device that plugs
into the computer and sends IR signals to emulate a remote control to
change channels on the STB so you record the right channel, not the
soap channel your grandma was watching before she fell asleep...