On Nov. 26, 2006, lunchtimelarry at gmail wrote:<br><br>> Will a DCT-6200 work "good enuff" to make it worth trading in the 6412 and<br>> losing the one PVR that can record all my digital channels and encrypted
<br>> premium channels?<br><br>I've experimented with multiple DCT-6200s and multiple DCT-6412s. I have observed no difference in the reliability of the firewire output between the models. Both are require persistence in establishing a reliable connection. Then they will work *extremely* reliably for an unforecastable period of time. Then they switch ports (or just decide to be flaky again) for no obvious reason.
<br><br>A while ago, after successfully deploying MythTV, I went on a international business trip. Just after I left, the firewire connections all decided to stop working (I had three boxes hooked to two backends). LiveTV did not work for over a week. The lost the WAF and had to re-connect all the DCT-6xxx boxes.
<br><br>It's been over a year, I still have not been able to regain the WAF. I currently use MythTV to record from via a dedicated DCT-6200 in a closet. With the limited storage capacity of the DCT-6412, my wife frequently gets frustrated that she can't keep movies for any period of time. Solution: we now record all movies (and most everything else) on MythTV. But we never use MythTV for live TV.
<br><br>I'm considering buying a HDHomeRun device, with the expectation that it will provide more reliable service. I believe I can get all the channels that I currently get via firewire from the DCT-6xxx boxes. Then, my plan would be use video capture card to grab the premium channels (along any not available via the QAM connection) off a DCT-6200.
<br><br>I've been waiting for the HDHomeRun to become more stable - and for a period when I will have some time to fiddle. Maybe January...<br><br>Good luck.<br><br>Tom<br>