[mythtv-users] [Slightly OT] comcast moving to settop on Bay Area - goodbye analog

[Mark Knecht]

On Sun, Mar 8, 2009 at 1:53 PM, Brad Fuller <bradallenfuller at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Sun, Mar 8, 2009 at 12:29 PM, Mark Knecht <markknecht at gmail.com> wrote:
>> Only that what the HDHR gives me is essentially all the stuff below
>> channel 34 that I can get from the free converters that Comcast
>> provides for SD->analog conversion. (Assuming I ever get USB-IR
>> Blasters working.) The HDHR gives me my major networks, OTA type
>> stations. I estimate that these stations account for about 50% of what
>> we record. The other 50% is FX, TBS, TNT, USA, FOOD, HGTV, Comedy
>> Central, Bravo, SciFi, etc. I'll be shot if we loss Monk, Psych,
>> Saving Grace, Damages, The Closer, etc. I'll be nothing but blood on
>> the wall. ;-)
>
> I'm in the exact same boat as you Mark, and we live close to each
> other. I need those upper channels. Have you heard when comcast is
> switching in our area? I haven't heard a word from them.
>
> --

Hi Brad,
   As I said in the original post the installers didn't know but felt
it would start 1-2 months after the conversion date.

   Clearly Comcast is going to use it to leverage us into buying more
STBs. More money for them.

   I'm at an impass with this whole MythTV thing. Our PG&E bill is
running $350/month right now, about 60% is electricity. ($200 last
month) We have a gas heater and gas water heater, but electric pool
pumps and oven/range. My Kill-a-Watt told me that if I assume the
MythTV server is the most expensive electricity I buy (because it is a
luxury) then it's costing me about $18/month to run the backend. My
old fridge is about $30. We've got 6 PCs running here, 1 STB, 1 HDHR,
a couple of TVs, monitors, wireless phones, network equipment, etc.,
etc., etc. so I'm pretty sensitive to the electricity usage at this
point. We converted the whole house to CFL already. I figure it's
probably $10-$15/month to rent an STB and also pay the electricity
bill to run it. If I end up with 3 - 1 on the main TV and 2 for
recording, then MythTV is starting to look like $40-$60/month in
reoccurring costs along with about $125 going to Comcast already.
Ugly...

   95032 for me. I haven't looked at what's available through the
HDHR. I tried to build a slave backend and never got it actually
working. As I cannot get the HDHR recordings around on my wireless
network - I've never used transcoding, don't know how to get it
working and simply don't have ANY time to RTFM, I'm looking at a world
of pain.

   Maybe it's too broad a topic of conversation but I wonder what an
experienced MythTV developer/user thinks they would do 6 months after
the conversion date if they were to build a completely new home
network from scratch with a requirement to record at least two
programs at the same time. I guess it depends on how much you watch
these additional cable channels but in this house they've been a
requirement up to now. However with things like Hulu and NetFlix
streaming more content possibly they will be less important in the
future, sort of like movie theaters are for me today. I haven't seen a
movie in a theater for about 3 years now. I'm just time shifted by 2-3
months and watch using NetFlix. That delay will only get smaller in
the future. Do I need to be such a slave to TV?

- Mark