[mythtv-users] A General Directions Question

[Fred Squires]

On Thu, Jul 3, 2008 at 8:28 AM, NoName Anonymous <iwmdil at yahoo.com> wrote:
> Thank you Steve and iamlindoro.
>
> One of these days I'll figure out mailing lists.  I've included your
> responses below.
>
> Actually, I haven't thought much about HD.  My TV is capable of it (HD) and
> the day will come, but right now I'm worried about the Analog to Digital
> switch.  To me, the HD switch is just a bandwidth and processing problem.  I
> don't mind waiting a bit for MythTV HD code to get out of alpha, and won't
> mind playing a bit with a beta.

Right now with comcast you don't really need to worry about the Analog
to Digital switch, they've announced that they're going to make the
switch in 2010, but if enough people complain who knows if it will
happen that soon.  The mandatory analog to digital switch required by
the FCC only applies to Over the Air Signals.
If you have no interest in HD right now, I would suggest starting with
analog cable (simply because it's simpler and you already have it) and
then switch to digital when you're ready for it.

>      +  Comcast is using Set Top Boxes (STB's) via firewire (and I assume IR
> blaster to control the box(es).   The catch here is how long Comcast will
> maintain Firewire ports for the output signal.  Other posts have discussed
> their probably intentions to go all digital, sometime after OTA goes all
> digital.  The big question then becomes whether the digital signal is
> encrypted or not.  It it's encrypted then every TV (or PVR) would require
> it's own STB and internal TV tuners would become worthless.  At this point,
> to the best of my knowledge, if you want digital from Comcast you MUST get
> an STB.

The FCC requires that cable companys provide a set top box with an
active Firewire port to any HD subscribers that request it.  The only
problem is that it's not required to output anything unencrypted
(except possibly local OTA stations), so you might or might not get
anything useful with it.  One advantage of firewire is that it can be
used to record from and also to change channels, so even if it doesn't
output anything useful you can use it to change channels more reliably
than with an ir blaster.

>      +  DirecTV is via an HDPVR (wanting a second) and I don't understand
> how the signal gets to MythTV (or if it does at all).  What viable options
> might exist to get DirecTV signals to a MythTV box (Generic PVR)?

The HDPVR is an HDTV encoder from Hauppage.  Unlike most HDTV tuners,
which simply record any unencrypted Digital channels directly to disk,
the HDPVR can actauly encode an HD signal from a component input, such
as from a digital cable or direct tv box (this was possible before,
but only with very expensive equipment).  This allows us to get around
the encryption on most channels.  It isn't the greatest situation to
go from digital to analog then back to digital, but it is the only way
to record most channels in HD.

> I'll do some research but could you elaborate on the Hauppauge HDPVR?  It's
> capable of "talking" to DirecTV and/or receiving satellite signals?  I
> thought the only DirecTV options came directly from DirecTV and since
> they've abandoned TiVo their stuff was all proprietary.

You'll have to use an IR blaster, serial, or firewire connection to
control the directtv or cable box to change channels while using the
HDPVR.  I think it comes with an IR Blaster.

> What a mess.  Not only that but we've not even touched on the method of
> connecting the MythTV to the TV (component, composite, S-Video, DVI and
> HDMI, etc.).  Hopefully things will settle down to one interface (HDMI) in
> this regard.

There's not really anything to settle down.  You simply use the
interface you have available to you.
Hopefully non HDMI TV's will be around for a while, which will force
the cable/satallite companys to keep their analog connections active.