[mythtv-users] Digital cable and two tuner cards

[Cory Megitt]

I was going to do the same thing ...Since I work for Rogers Cable here in
Toronto, I was going to get a 2nd Digital box for $5/month (employee rate).

This question is to all in the group:  How can you tell 2 IR Blasters to
tune two different boxes.  I would also imagine that the IR blasters can't
be anywhere near each other (due to line of sight) .. The box that you don't
want to change the channel on, will change ... 
 

-----Original Message-----
From: mythtv-users-bounces at mythtv.org
[mailto:mythtv-users-bounces at mythtv.org] On Behalf Of Nathan Richardson
Sent: Thursday, July 08, 2004 9:21 AM
To: mythtv-users at mythtv.org
Subject: [mythtv-users] Digital cable and two tuner cards

I'm working on setting up a MythTV system with two tuner cards so I can do
picture-in-picture, record two programs at once, or watch a different
channel from what I'm recording.

Anyway, I have digital cable, and I understand that to use it with MythTV
(or any HTPC), I need to routh the signal through the digital cable box
first, then use a serial cable or IR blaster to change the channel. That's
the setup I intend to use with the first card, but it raises two questions I
hope someone can help with:

1) If I do this, aren't the tuner capabilities of the PVR-250 and similar
cards useless? Does any company offer an MPEG encoder card without a tuner
(at a better price, of course). Am I wrong about this?

2) For the second tuner/encoder card, I intend to connect it directly to the
cable. I realize this will prevent me from getting channels over 125 (or
maybe 60, I've heard different reports). This is fine, since It will only be
used if I want to watch a second channel. As long as I can get ESPN or CNN,
or my girlfriend can find something to watch while I record the Bloodhound
Gang's video back catalog on channel 700 (or whatever). Is there any reason
why this wouldn't work?
And if I later conned comcast into giving me a second cable decoder box,
could MythTV handle changing channels on 2 boxes separately with IR
blasters?

Thanks,

Nathan Richardson

Setup (planned)
Asus Pundit
Celeron 2.4GHz
Hauppauge 250 (x2, unless there is a cheaper solution as above) 512MB RAM