[mythtv-users] Question about QAM

[Dan Ritter]

On Mon, Mar 24, 2008 at 08:12:00AM -0400, Ronald Frazier wrote:
> > I'm about to get FiOS TV installed, and I read that it provides QAM local channels.
> 
> We don't have verizon Fios in our area, but AT&T is rolling out a
> fiber based plan. Is Verizon doing it in a different way? The reason I
> ask is because with AT&T's plan, my understanding is that it doesn't
> handle cable in the traditional way. You can't hook it up to a TV
> directly...you need to hook every tv up to a converter box (and your
> whole house combined is limited to watching 4 channels
> simultaneously). In such a situation, there would be no QAM, because
> everything is IP based up to the converter box.
> 
> I wouldn't be surprised to learn it can be done better and that AT&T
> took the half-assed approach.

Most cable companies run fiber to the neighborhood, and coax
cable from the 'head end' down the street. They allocate QAM
channels for MPEG2 Transport Streams, which can hold multiple
programs at once, and for IP connectivity. They might run a
private VOIP network with its own IP allocations. Any QAM
channel without encryption can be viewed by a suitable
commercial off-the-shelf QAM tuner, like an HDHomeRun.

ATT U-Verse is also fiber-to-the-neighborhood, but is all IP
delivery. There are no QAM channels at all; voice is VOIP and
video is whatever-they-are-using over IP. If they were kind to
MythTV users, they could give you a directory of RTSP URLs, one
per channel, and you could use the IP recorder tuner. Have as
many as you want to use bandwidth for... Needless to say, they
don't. 

VZ FIOS is fiber-to-the-house, where the basically put a
mininode on your wall. That box doles out QAM cable channels, IP
networking, and handles VOIP. If they offer you unencrypted QAM
channels, Bob's your uncle.

Of these three, the cable companies are actually required to
supply you with unencrypted QAM channels for the OTA signals you
would otherwise receive. In most areas this is ABC/NBC/CBS/PBS.
If your cable company is feeling well-intentioned, they can put
anything they want out in the clear. I currently get about
thirty useful channels (including Food Network, Comedy Central,
Sci-Fi, Discovery and Nickelodeon) and forty or so useless
channels (like ABC Family, four different religious channels,
and every home-shopping-channel in existence.) Most of these are
in two versions, one in SD resolution and one in HD.

Thanks, RCN! Thanks, SiliconDust!

-dsr-

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