[mythtv-users] Seeking advice on transition to Ceton InfiniTV

Craig Huff huffcslists at gmail.com
Mon Dec 31 21:37:51 UTC 2012


In short, I'm wondering how much additional grief/work will be
involved in converting to the InfiniTV from my current setup beyond
the already planned upgrade to a newer MythTV/Ubuntu combination?

Currently, I am running Mythbuntu 10.04 LTS with MythTV 0.23.  Once I
had it working, I never invested any more time figuring out how to get
updates, so it's basically straight off the original iso.  I am
currently running a pair of PVR-500s drawing video feeds from a
three-pack of Comcast DTAs and a STB, but Comcast has just changed
their pricing so I now have to pay $2/mo for each of the DTAs.  I have
a fourth DTA in use on a TV that my wife uses because she doesn't want
to be bothered with the MythTV when she just wants some noise to keep
her company.  The fourth DTA could just as easily be put on the
backend, but it was acquired after I got the system set up and I
didn't feel like messing with a working solution.  The new monthly
charges for the DTAs combined with the sale notice I received today
from NewEgg offering the Ceton InfiniTV 4 for $170 got me thinking
maybe it was time to get around to updating Mythbuntu and make some
bigger changes, as well.  I have been meaning to get MythTV updated to
at least the 12.04 LTS based version of Mythbuntu and I see that I'd
need to do that at a minimum if I'm going to move to the InfiniTV with
a Comcast cablecard.

More about my current configuration that may bear on the answer:
    I still don't own a digital TV, but the current CRT-based units
won't last forever... :)

    Most of my video library is recorded, but I have a few DVDs that I
added to the library using Handbrake so I didn't have to go find the
media and put them in the DVD tray to play them.

    The current backend is running in a mid-tower case with an ASUS
A8N-SLI Premium ATX mobo with a Socket 939 Athlon X2 3800+ processor
and 1GB DDR RAM (no, that's no typo, that's DDR, not DDR-2 or DDR-3)
which could be upgraded to 4GB max.  The O/S is on a WD 40GB IDE drive
with partitions for /, /boot, and /var all formatted EXT3, and a swap
partition.  Videos are stored on a WD 250GB IDE, a Seagate 500GB
SATA-II, and a pair of WD 1TB SATA-II drives, all of which are
formatted JFS.  I have several spare IDE and SATA-II drives I can use
to build a new environment on so I can test things out before
committing to a switch-over.

    Probably not critical is the video output on the backend (which I
sometimes use to watch shows) which is an LCD monitor connected by DVI
output from a fanless older Nvidia GeForce 7300GS adapter card.
Likewise, I currently drive the DTAs using an IguanaIR four-port IR
controller and a serial port controls the STB (a Motorola DCT2000 or
compatible), which I guess would all go away if I switched to the
InfiniTV.   :)

    I have visually confirmed that there is a PCI Express slot, and if
necessary, I can juggle cards around to get up to an X16 slot for the
InfiniTV to use (it may even be already open, but since a recording
was in progress I didn't want to move enough gear around to open the
case right now).

I know it will take almost two years to recoup the cost of the
InfiniTV in savings on rental costs for the four DTAs, but then it may
be longer than that before I'm ready to think about upgrading my
system software again. :)

Can anyone tell me if:
    A) There's a rental cost from Comcast for the cablecard,
    B) The rental cost for the cablecard would change if I upgrade to
HD recording,
    C) Comcast has finally learned how to provision the cablecard for
us "wierdos" that don't use it "right"
    D) I might need to upgrade my motherboard to support concurrently
recording four HD streams

Craig.


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