[mythtv-users] QAM vs. Firewire

[jmk]

On Thu, 2007-03-15 at 10:16 -0500, Jerry Rubinow wrote:

Thanks for the feedback.

> I did this for a while, but I was never really that happy with the
> reliability of the firewire recording.  This may have been due to the
> crappiness of the coax in my 30+ year-old house, I don't know, but
> every so often things wouldn't record right.  For the most part it
> worked though, and due to the particular shows we watch, there was
> rarely a conflict due to trying to tune to something on s-video at the
> same time as the firewire.  Of course, I have a pvr-500 as well.  So
> in my setup, I used the pvr-500 for all the analog channels only, the
> s-video for all the digital channels only, and the firewire just for
> the HD channels which were in the clear (in my area, just the
> broadcast channels).  However, then Verizon started offering FIOS TV
> in my area... 

Did you just setup two capture devices (1 firewire, 1 ivtv s-vid) and
hope for the best? I'm curious if you had to make any additional
modifications to Myth to try and limit collisions. 

> This is what I use now instead of firewire.  The pvr-500 and s-video
> is still set up the same as it was.  But I get all my HD and broadcast
> SD over QAM.  I've found this to be rock solid, plus I don't get
> tuning conflicts with the set top box.  It's more of a hassle to set
> up initially, but once it's done, who cares?  On both the cable that I
> used to have (Comcast in the Philly area) and the FIOS, only the local
> broadcast channels (SD and HD) and analog channels were unencumbered
> by any protection over QAM and firewire.  But like you say, I've heard
> of people who get everything unencrypted in other areas (but I think
> this is more the exception). 

This may be a dumb question... I'm wondering what level of cable service
I need in order to access QAM. Do I need the HD tier, if I decide that
all I want is the OTA HD via QAM? 

Thanks,
Joe