[mythtv-users] HD Homerun Prime with MythTV

[lists.md301]

On Wed, Aug 18, 2010 at 2:19 PM, Robert McNamara
<robert.mcnamara at gmail.com>wrote:

>
>
> On Wed, Aug 18, 2010 at 11:11 AM, Justin Johnson <
> justin.johnson3 at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> On Wed, Aug 18, 2010 at 1:05 PM, lists.md301 <lists.md301 at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>> > Since Silicon Dust uses MythTV internally, will this capability make it
>> onto
>> > the public release roadmap?  Personally I care, as I'm one of the lucky
>> ones
>> > where my Comcast system has all of my digital tier flagged Copy Freely
>> (I
>> > don't subscribe to any Premiums, which I presume are locked down), which
>> I
>> > can get through STB firewire.  I'll mention here that I've heard they
>> are
>> > flagged Free for compatibility with Tivo's capability, since they have
>> some
>> > kind of working relationship with Comcast, but haven't found anything
>> > definitely authoritative to confirm this.  The implementation can vary
>> > greatly by your particular head end-YMMV.
>> >
>> >
>>
>> Is it safe to assume that if I can get stuff over firewire, then they
>> are marked "Copy Freely"?
>> --Justin Johnson
>>
>>
> It's probably not safe to assume anything until you actually test (just as
> firewire availability and QAM availability have little relation to one
> another) but my semi-informed opinion is that it greatly increases the
> chances of it being marked copy-free.
>
> Robert
>
>
As I mentioned above, but I can't point to a particular authority, it's my
understanding (from googling over several years) that the way MOST set top
boxes decide the firewire 5C encryption state of output content is from the
upstream DRM flagging of the cable system, which CableCard is also required
to enforce.  Which is why, for the case of Comcast and Tivo, that the former
adjusted how content was flagged so that the latter would be able to better
share across a household.  There is no guarantee of course that any
particular head-end is set up this way, as I suppose it could override this
handed-down relationship and the boxes be directed to 5C Copy Never
everything.  Bottom line is that I believe firewire users such as myself
achieved Nirvana as a side effect of Comcast cooperating with Tivo.  I'm
sharing this theory in the hopes that someone might share something more
definitive, or offer a correction.

I'm seriously tempted to ditch one (or both) of my set top boxes if HDHR
Prime lives up to my expectations.  I've got a master backend/frontend in
the basement on the Toshiba DLP-TV with a built-in CableCard tuner plus
external STB (primary MythTV capture device for digital), original HDHR, and
a frontend only (slave backend dormant but connected by FW to second STB) in
the first floor family room with an LCD-TV.  I haven't made use of that
slave backend because of the previous (0.20) bug where that handshake could
crash the master backend.  I presume that issue is resolved, but I haven't
had need of it, frankly.

Of course, ditching the STB's puts me at Comcast's mercy, should they ever
mess-up or change their content flagging policy.  OTOH, I've come to realize
that MythTV has significantly changed my viewing habits.  In theory, my
setup could work just like the proposed FCC gateway proposal, which in my
case means each MythTV frontend can truly act as my STB.  My only
apprehension is how the HDHR Prime CableCard install will go, trying to
explain to the visiting tech that you can put an M-Card in something other
than a Tivo.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mythtv.org/pipermail/mythtv-users/attachments/20100818/9e16b4ef/attachment.htm>