[mythtv-users] Cablevision requiring STB for all TVs in my area soon

[Fred]

Eric,

I am willing to buy a new TV card to record from a digital feed. I think
converting from digital to analog (which I am doing now with a STB) is a
temporary solution at best. It's disappointing that Cablevision won't allow
people to use the digital tuners in their TVs, for example, because they
want to squeeze more money out of their customers. Comcast isn't in our
area, but Verizon Fios might be. I don't know if it's just delaying the
inevitable with those carriers too, in which case maybe OTA or less TV is
the answer.

Thanks for the heads up about the HD HomeRun Prime. That sounds promising.

Fred

On Tue, Aug 31, 2010 at 10:58 AM, Eric Sharkey <eric at lisaneric.org> wrote:

> On Tue, Aug 31, 2010 at 10:22 AM, Fred <ffluvssg1 at gmail.com> wrote:
> > I am trying to figure out my options now that I have received a letter in
> > the mail from Cablevision on Long Island (NY) informing me that "all your
> > televisions will require a digital cable box by September 28, 2010. Also,
> > without a digital cable box, your TV cannot access iO TV (r)." For those
> who
> > don't know, iO TV is Cablevision's digital channel package (anything over
> > channel 99). I have done some web searches which seem to indicate I will
> not
> > be able to record anything unencrypted, even with digital tuner cards. I
> > have one STB with an IR blaster, but currently I am also recording as
> much
> > as possible with two other analog cards.
> >
> > Does anyone know if the STB with firewire that Cablevision rents will
> > provide any additional benefit? I am not renting three boxes, so I will
> have
> > to look at alternatives if necessary.
>
> I don't know what options Cablevision offers, but if you're happy with
> the video quality of your current analog cards, Comcast and Verizon
> both offer low cost/no cost rentals for very low end sd only digital
> to analog converters that do decryption.  You might want to look into
> what the real costs are before you completely rule out "renting three
> boxes".
>
> Later this year, Silicon Dust is releasing the HD HomeRun Prime which
> will allow MythTV to record some portion of the encrypted content
> without using a STB (just renting one cable card that can feed the
> three tuners on the HDHR Prime) but there are still a lot of unknowns
> here.  The expectation is that the HDHR Prime won't be able to record
> anything that wouldn't have been available over firewire, but it might
> be easier to get working reliably, since firewire can be a bit of a
> black art.  It'll also be a lot cheaper in the long run.
>
> Eric
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