[mythtv-users] interfacing MythTV with a DTA, lirc queries

[James Miller]

On Thu, 21 Jul 2016, Gary Buhrmaster wrote:

> You will likely (almost) always have one analog and one
> clear QAM "barker" channels that announce, in effect,
> "Go get a box".

Thanks for your input, Gary. Yeah, that's what I've begun seeing now 
whenever my MythTV tries to record from cable.

> Note that it is only free (as I recall) for the first year.  So if
> you are not willing to pay anything, you might want to cut
> your losses today, and go OTA now.

I was told that the apartment building in which I live negotiated with TWC 
to provide, indefinitely, these particular DTA's free of charge. 
Otherwise, I wouldn't even be looking into this. I'm already set up to 
record OTA programming and have been for some time, btw. I'm just trying 
to see whether there are any viable options for continuing to use the 
cable feed that comes to my unit.

> The HDMI signal is HDCP protected.  Unless you plan on
> violating the laws of your jurisdiction with that DTA you will
> need to capture the NTSC analog output signal (some capture
> cards will do that for you for NTSC analog signals), or you
> may be able to request a DTA with component output (although
> last I knew, only TWC STBs come with component output,
> but I am aware that some new model DTAs (which may or may
> not be in TWCs inventory) have started to come with
> component out), and then you need a HD-PVR.

I was under the impression that NTSC analog broadcasting had come to an 
end with this transition to digital. Am I wrong about that? Are you saying 
that, for example, the coaxial jack on this DTA that is labeled "to tv" 
will be putting out analog NTSC? As you might understand, I'm fairly 
clueless about the technology involved here. I'd be willing to purchase a 
device like the HD-PVR--assuming TWC would provide me, free of charge, a 
DTA with component output AND if that combination would enable me to 
access a video signal (analog NTSC?) I could record to my MythTV.

> And if you are planning to violate the laws of your jurisdiction,
> I would request that you take any further discussion
> elsewhere to protect the viability of the project in this
> jurisdiction.

It was not my intention to initiate on this list any discussion of the 
sort you describe. If it seemed I was attempting to do so, I apologize and 
will try harder in the future to avoid such. To my rather 
ill-informed--both technically and legally--sensibilities, there appear to 
exist some ways of capturing HDMI output that are, in my quite inexpert 
opinion, legally ambiguous. Apart from alluding to those, I was not 
intending to discuss them in any depth here and will certainly not do so 
in the future. Which is why I tried to make the main focus of my post 
interfacing, using lirc, with a DTA. And with your most recent remarks, 
the discussion could move decisively away from the HDMI topic to another 
area that I assume is a lot less legally ambiguous--the continued 
existence of analog NTSC and how to capture it. If I can really continue 
to record to my MythTV analog NTSC, that would be the least painful and 
most desirable solution. As I've mentioned previously, I can take or leave 
HD: if it's there, I'll record it, if not, SD suits my needs just fine.

Further clarifications will be appreciated.