[mythtv-users] Is satellite/cable HDTV possible w/ MythTV, or alternatives?

Jeremy Grosser zerotrace at gmail.com
Sat Jan 14 21:59:45 UTC 2006


I was at CES (Consumer Electronics Show) last week and gathered a bit
of information on CableCard. Basically, it allows you to record
digital cable (read: premium and HD) content without having to have a
digital cable box and IR blaster. You just stick one of these things
in your computer, buy a decoder card from your cable provider, and it
works. In theory.

The reality is that these CableCard devices will only be able through
OEMs so don't expect to be buying one from NewEgg any time soon. You
might be able to find one on Ebay when they become widespread but
don't count on it. It also appears that the hardware will remain
closed and undocumented, further hindering Linux adoption. AFAIK,
Microsoft Vista Media Center will be the only way to make use of these
cards.

Finally, not all cable providers have signed on to support CableCard
and the ones that have are planning to charge a higher monthly fee
than a normal digital cable box. The only two providers that I know
for sure are going to be providing CableCard support are DirecTV and
Comcast.

That being said, CableCard isn't a viable option for MythTV. If
over-the-air HDTV isn't an alternative either, your choices are fairly
limited. pcHDTV sells the HD-3000 card that does to cable HDTV and is
supported by MythTV but there appear to be some limitations on the
content available to you (other than the fact that most of it is
encrypted).

I don't know much about the pcHDTV cards but I think that's probably
your best bet.

On 1/14/06, Reshat Sabiq <sabiq at csociety.org> wrote:
> I assume no, because the HDTV cards for PCs only do over-the-air. But
> i'd appreciate your feedback.
>
> Basically, i'm considering buying an HDTV monitor, and i have a strong
> feeling that not buying a tuner, and probably also a DVR to go w/ it
> (since i'm likely to need to record things for later viewing), is not an
> option.
>
> Thanks.
>
>
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--
Jeremy Grosser
Student
Rochester Institute of Technology


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