[mythtv-users] OT: mencoder recording

[Kevin J. Cummings]

Nick Rout wrote:
> On Tue, Sep 16, 2008 at 2:07 PM, Bob <mythtv at cox.net> wrote:

[snip]

>> My neighborhood has "on demand" now.  I can tune to 1 of about 5
>> channels and sometimes get lucky and find a show playing.  I have a
>> spare DVB tuner (as you noticed) and would like to create a cron job to
>> detect when content is available.  Once I determine that content is
>> available, I can use mythweb to schedule the recording.
>>
>> However, sounds like this idea will not work.
> 
> I don't quite know what you mean by "on demand". Can you explain what
> it is and how it differs from other TV channels, as well as the
> delivery mechanism?

"on demand" is a cable company content delivery service where the 
customer essentially gets to select content to watch from a list of 
available shows.  After the customer makes the selection, the cable 
company determines on which "channel" that content will be delivered to 
the customer's cable box, which will then "find it" and display it for 
the "paying" customer.  (I quote paying, because sometimes "on demand" 
content is actually "free" to the customer.  Other times, the customer 
pays to see it.  Depends on the content.)  Some cable companies have 
been known to broadcast this "content" in the clear on "channels" that 
their cable boxes can only access through the "on demand" feature.  This 
is so that your neighbours cannot view the program that you are paying 
for "by accident".  If it is being broadcast "in the clear" on a hidden 
channel, it might be possible for someone with a QAM tuner (in the USA, 
probably DVB "across the pond" or elsewhere) to "sniff" what's being 
broadcast and "watch" it.  I've read some stories in some of the 
discussion boards about MythTV users sniffing their neighbour's late 
night porn (and other) movies.  Usually, MythTV users who do channel 
scans late during the evening and early morning hours have a greater 
chance of finding some on demand content channels.  Of course, there is 
no way for you to know what's actually playing on those channels without 
looking at them.  Some cable companies have resorted to encrypting all 
of the on-demand content.  Others still send it in the clear.  And of 
course cable companies may switch which frequencies they use for this at 
their whim, so if you create a cron job to scan certain channels, you 
might miss some things.

YMMV, and I'm promising you nothing about your particular content provider.

-- 
Kevin J. Cummings
kjchome at rcn.com
cummings at kjchome.homeip.net
cummings at kjc386.framingham.ma.us
Registered Linux User #1232 (http://counter.li.org)