So I ordered Comcast digital cable. When I was ordering I asked them whether the STB would come with Firewire ports. They said "yes, but they are disabled". I figured that was probably typical but I'd complain about it once I got the box (wasn't expecting really use them anyway).
<br><br>Well, it turns out they aren't disabled. In addition, some quick experimenting with my XP laptop and I was capturing video nicely through Firewire. I figured a few more tweaks and I'd have it integrated into MythTV. Well, almost. :-) So I'm looking for any assistance.
<br><br>First, the strange part...I naturally assumed that the only channels I would be able to get (at least in HD) would be broadcast channels. Well, it turns out that HD Theater is also available through my Firewire port (and unencrypted QAM too). So I wondered what else. I went to A&EHD and I could record that with my XP laptop. So I went to the diagnostic screen on my Motorola 3412 (Cable-Power-Select) and checked the port status (d11) and sure enough it very clearly said "5C=0 - Copy Free". I thought that was pretty cool so I started poking around. I went to TNTHD and did the same thing. That was also listed as "5C=0 - Copy Free". Even HBOHD said this. Wow, I thought.
<br><br>Well, this is odd because what I have noticed is that when I try to record from HBOHD or TNTHD, it doesn't work. My guess is that this is a 5C encryption issue but I'm not really sure. If something is 5C'd, can you still grab the video (just not watch it)? Or does the encryption interfere with the "grab". (I'm using dvgrab
3.0 with the -f hdv option, BTW)<br><br>Assuming that 5C prevents dvgrab from working then it appears that the cable box very clearly says 5C=0, but that there is, in fact, some kind of 5C?!? I double checked the tuner channel and the 5C settings several times in the diagnostic screens.
<br><br>Now, I wanted to try and figure out what channels were available via Firewire so I started doing a "firewire_tester -b -n 0" on various channels. Some seem to work consistently while others don't. So I made sure to do a "firewire_tester -B -n 0" before actually trying to grab packets (this is all in a script, no manual). That helped, but things were still a bit inconsistent. So I currently do the following:
<br><br>6200ch $CHL<br>firewire_tester -R<br>firewire_tester -B -n 0<br>firewire_tester -b -n 0 -r 5<br><br>(then I check the return status of the last command)<br><br>It still doesn't give me a reliable result about what can be acquired via Firewire and what can't. Would "priming" help in this case (
i.e. doing a grab as well)? My feeling is that if "firewire_tester -b" doesn't work, there is really no point in attempting a grab...but what do I know.<br><br>Now for my last question and this is with regards to managing the tuner with MythTV. Channel changing works fine so right now I'm just grabbing the S-video output from the 3412 and recording it with a PVR-150. It doesn't give me HD video for anything, but at least I can record every channel the box provides. If I go with Firewire as the "preferred input" then I could get at least some of the HD channels to my Myth box. BUT, if Myth tries to simultaneously record one show via the PVR-150 input and another through Firewire, there is really only one tuner between them so it won't work. Is there some way to tell Myth that it has to use either the Firewire or the PVR-150 but not both?
<br><br>On a related note, I need to setup two different channel lineups in SchedulesDirect corresponding to the same provider but with different channels available. I'm assuming there is a way to do this, but there are any tricks related to this I'd be happy to hear them.
<br><br>Thanks for any guidance and assistance on any of this. I'm hoping to be able to use the Firewire port to get HD off of channels that I would otherwise not be able to record in HD. :-)<br><br>--<br>Mike<br><br>
<br><br>