[mythtv-users] Size of firewire recordings

[Mike Perkins]

On 10/04/15 10:57, Yeechang Lee wrote:
> Ryan Lavender <ryanlavender at comcast.net> says:
>> I would really rather get this working than go with a Cablecard,
>> partly because trading our working cablebox out for MythTV would not
>> go over very well in the family. And I like the challenge of problem
>> solving.
>
> You have Comcast, which people consistent report is among the better
> large cable providers regarding CableCARD. I used FireWire from 2005
> to 2012, and recommend that you follow Gary's advice about switching
> to CableCARD:
>
> * Aside from the upfront cost of the device itself, rent for the
>    CableCARD will be much cheaper than the cable box (I pay $1.50 per
>    month).
> * While FireWire was 99.44% reliable for me, I achieve that
>    reliability only by running a script (there are several extant) to
>    regularly "prime" the FireWire connection. A potential point of
>    FireWire failure, for example, was channel changing; despite the
>    digits sent to the box via FireWire I nonetheless occasionally
>    experienced a problem when switching channels. CableCARD has been
>    100% reliable out of the box.
> * Related to the above, CableCARD is simpler. Linux distributions
>    have varying FireWire stacks, some not compatible; by using the
>    network (even the PCI card ones, CableCARD devices avoid the issue
>    entirely.
> * I agree with the others regarding the outsized nature of your
>    recordings. Whether because of your RNG-110 patch or not, no
>    FireWire MPEG-2 recording should be larger than 7-8GB per hour—it's
>    just not possible, according to the codec specifications—and
>    nowadays with compression you won't see anything larger than 3.5-4GB
>    per hour. CableCARD will give you, as with FireWire, the pure 100%
>    digital feed straight from the cable company.
>
...you're assuming that he only wants to use the STB for feeding myth; perhaps 
his family have other ideas.

-- 

Mike Perkins