[mythtv-users] Questions about conversion from analog to digital recording (PVR500 to Ceton InfiniTV 6 ETH)

[Tom Bishop]

On Dec 3, 2016 12:58 PM, "Gary Buhrmaster" <gary.buhrmaster at gmail.com>
wrote:

On Sat, Dec 3, 2016 at 6:01 PM, Craig Huff <huffcslists at gmail.com> wrote:
,,,,
> Now for my questions:
>
> What file format will recordings from the Ceton tuner default to on my
> system storage? Still mpg? H.264? mpeg4 (m4v?)?

digital MPEG2 transport stream.  The encoding could vary,
but in Comcast land, all SD channels are still H.262.
Non-local HD channels may be in H.264 if your region
has made that switch.

> Will it be to my benefit to transcode recordings made with the Ceton to
> reduce storage requirements?

You can save some disk space, but in general the savings
are simply not worth it if you record, watch, delete in a
"reasonable" time frame, especially for SD content.

> Will I need to change my SchedulesDirect configuration?  If so, what am I
> looking to change?

I think not, but there are multiple ways to have things
configured, so never say never.

> What pitfalls should I be aware of as I make this transition (besides the
> travail of dealing with Comcast to get the CableCard working?) -- On that
> score, any "magic words" to use when working with Comcast to get the
> CableCard provisioned properly?

Comcast is one of the MSOs where getting a CableCARD
working tends to be easy.  There are lots of edge cases
but it mostly just works if you follow the directions, and
have the information available to provide them.  I *think*
that Ceton has directions on their site to point to where
you need to find the various pieces of information Comcast
needs (the CableCARD ID, the Host ID, and the DATA),
although I would not be surprised they are all in the Windows
instructions, as Ceton only officially supports Windows,
but if not, I recall it is on their device web page, CableCARD
tab, CableCARD Pairing page (or something like that).


As I recall for the Ceton, if you are in a Cisco CableCARD
franchise, you may need to install a "beta" firmware, which
has only been referenced on the greenbutton forums
to deal with a non-CCI setting case.  I know this has
been mentioned in this list before, so you might want to
check the archives.


Be aware that with network based tuners that you may
need to work to explicitly prioritize the video traffic to
avoid lost packets in the presence of heavy network
traffic and/or tune your UDP buffers in your linux stack.
____________


I would add to that your i3 cpu is a dual core cpu with hyperthreading.
Keep that in mind when thinking about converting stuff.

I would add that I found when talking to the cable folks if you talk like
you have a TiVo unit, once you can find the folks that handles them they
are more familiar with the cable cards.

Good luck!
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