[mythtv-users] Firewire Recordings in Rochester, NY (TWCable)

[Brian Meehan]

Just an FYI to the rest of the group. I'm running MythTV 0.20.2 with
all the appropriate 1394 fixins. I have 2 PVR-500s and a SA-3250HD
cable box with 2 1394 ports. Sometime about 1-1.5 yrs ago I attempted
to record over the 1394 connection and met with very limited success.
As many of you also experienced at that time, it would record, and
only for some channels, and then reset the connection. Channel
changing was still a mystery back then.

It seems as though 1394 recording had made some leaps and bounds over
the past 18 months, so I decided to have another go at it. Imaging my
chagrin when I found that firewire_tester failed on all accounts! Of
course, I check the diagnostics screen on the STB next and found that
1394 was "UNAVAILABLE" D'oh!

Immediately, I called Time Warner. They told me that "if the port is
unused for more than 30 days, it goes inactive, and only a service
call can change that." Of course, this is a load of crap. Not only had
the 1394 connection been connected the entire time, when the tech came
out today here's what he told me...

1) TW Cable pushed out software updates to all boxes in July
2) Only DVR capable boxes can use firewire now
3) If firewire is being used, the DVR capability of the box is
disabled (fine with me)
4) This is to comply with the use of CableCards in all STBs.
5) SA3250s and 4200's can no longer use firewire
6) There's a jumper inside to enable/disable features (hmmm...)
7) To his knowledge, there are only about 4-5 firewire-enabled STB's
in this configuration in the county (pop ~500,000)

Unfortunately, this service call was on a Sunday and he couldn't call
the service center or replace my STB. I'll post more tomorrow when I
get an update.