[mythtv-users] Newbie Question about tuners, IR Blasters, and Cable Box

[Viitasaari]

I am with Brett...the www.irblaster.info ones are the way to go if your
buying.

On Mon, 2006-11-20 at 20:58 -0700, Brett Kosinski wrote:
> 
>         I have researching Myth but have been drowning in information
>         and the various ways that folks have been setting up their
>         systems. 
>         
>         I have Comcast/Time Warner and a Motorola DCT2224 and plan to
>         get a couple of PVR-250 or 350 tuner/decoder cards.
>         
>         My questions are:
>         
>         1. The PVR-250's are tuners, why do I need an IR Blaster?
> 
> Such devices can only tune regular broadcast cable.  If you have a
> DCT2224, I can only assume you have digital cable, which is encrypted.
> Thus, there's no way for the capture card to directly tune the digital
> streams.  Hence the need for an STB, which can. 
> 
> 
>         2. Don't the tuners select the proper channel based on
>         freqency, without using the STB?
> 
> Not in this case, unfortunately.  For basic, non-digital cable, this
> is the case.  For digital, however, the streams are QAM modulated and
> encrypted.
> 
> 
>         3. -or- Does the channel have to change on the STB to record
>         on the tuner card?
> 
> Correct. 
> 
> 
>         4. Do I need more than one STB if I plan to have more than one
>         tuner card?
> 
> Yes. 
> 
> 
>         5. Does Motorola (or anyone else) make a dual tuner STB?
> 
> Probably not for what you need (two tuners *and* two video outputs,
> with the ability to receive and output both feeds simultaneously).
> 
> You'll just need to pick up another STB.  Fortunately, they can be had
> for peanuts on ebay. 
> 
> As for STB control, you'll need a pair of IR blasters.  If you have
> soldering experience, you can build 'em pretty cheaply.  However, if
> you're lazy like me :), you can always buy them online.  I went with
> www.irblaster.info, and they work terrific for my DCT2500.
> 
> 
> Brett.
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