<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Wed, Aug 18, 2010 at 3:36 PM, Robert McNamara <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:robert.mcnamara@gmail.com">robert.mcnamara@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding-left: 1ex;">
The Prime will tune by virtual channel, and will allow "fetch channels from listings source" as a means to avoid scanning at all. This is basically all that was necessary short term to make the Prime work. longer term (but still probably pre-.24) we spoke with the HDHR guys about offering a capabilities API to detect whether a given HDHR was CC-capable, and indeed whether that HDHR has a cablecard installed, so that we can activate or disable those UI functions as necessary. That's what we're still waiting on. But from a baseline *functional* level, the HDHR prime would work right now.<div class="gmail_quote">
<div><br></div><div>As far as how the channel changing will work, it will be basically transparent to the user (and indeed, to myth itself)... it'll just tell the HDHR "give me this channel" and the HDHR will stream it as ever. The only difference will be that on the HDHR Prime, the request will be for a logical channel number.</div>
<div><br></div><div>Anyhoo, should be fun regardless. We MythTV devs were wondering if the Silicondust guys would shortcut us to the front of the line for being such awesome people. ;)</div><div><br></div><font color="#888888"><div>
Robert</div>
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<br></blockquote></div>Thanks for the follow up, Robert, what you describe is how I understood it will work. You guys are awesome, so Silicondust will have no choice but to put you at the front of the line. Seriously, since they used your software for their development, it's the least they can do. And it's in their own interest to do so, to broaden their customer base. And in my interest, as I want you guys to go through the pain of getting your M-card installed, so you can tell the rest of us exactly what to do and expect! ;) I know it was a challenge for me to get my original CableCard installed in my TV circa 2003, and it only worked after several tech visits, card swaps, and Toshiba firmware updates on the TV. Trying to talk to someone who understood the technical details was perhaps the most difficult part of the process. I'm a little apprehensive of going through that again to "prove" that a Prime should be working but isn't because of something upstream. Having the Prime function in a non-CC mode (where automagically or by manual config) will certainly be helpful if there is a problem.<br>
<br>It's amazing, that from 8 months ago, when CableLabs initially relented and removed the onerous OEM hardware requirements (at Microsoft's prodding, I guess, so a grudging thank you is owed) and these new tuner products being announced around CES, I held out the faint hope that in a couple of years maybe some way would be found to eventually get this to work (legally) with non-Windows platforms. I was thinking that maybe a protocol would be developed like what SageTV people were floating, where an app runs on the Win7MC box and takes in external recording schedules and network shares the directory of unencrypted recordings. And now, we're on the brink of it all being seamless, for those lucky enough to have service on a well-behaved cable head-end.<br>