[mythtv-users] Advice Needed: Best Solution for Bell 9241 HD PVR --> MythTV?

Nick Rout nick.rout at gmail.com
Sun Dec 5 23:19:15 UTC 2010


On Mon, Dec 6, 2010 at 11:38 AM, Martin Lynch
<martin.lynch.toronto at gmail.com> wrote:
> Have been using MythTV for about four years, and love it. I recently
> switched from Rogers to Bell here in Toronto. Previously, I had a firewire
> connection between the Rogers STB and my MythTV box, which worked fairly
> well (except for the many 5C encrypted channels). The new Bell 9241 HD PVR
> STB does not have a firewire output (unlike in the US, there is no mandate
> in Canada that providers must include a functioning firewire port). So I've
> begun some research on how to get my beloved MythTV working with the new
> box. What seems to be the most common solution I'm coming across is to
> connect the STB to a Hauppage HD PVR 1212 via component cables. I assume
> (but am not certain) that the 1212 then connects via USB to the MythTV box.
>
> Is this considered the best approach?

That seems to be the current best practice if your channels are
encrypted. Of course if they are unencrypted you could use a DVB-S (S
for satellite) card to record them.

With the HDPVR you are restricted to recording one channel per STB/HDPVR combo.

> Are there viable alternatives (I
> assume any alternative will ultimately need to use component cables from the
> STB - correct? Or are there HDMI solutions? I did some reading on the HD
> Fury, but that just seems to me to be a way to turn an HDMI signal into a
> component signal to subsequently feed an additional unit (like the 1212) in
> the chain - correct?)?

Yes but what it comes down to in the end is getting a component feed
to the hdpvr, if your stb only has hdmi out you will be forced to use
a HDFury, but if it has component out there is no need to get a Fury.

> From what I've read of the HD PVR 1212, I'll likely
> want to/have to upgrade my graphics card to one with VDPAU, so I'm currently
> looking at ~$200 for the 1212 and another ~$100 for something like an NVidia
> 8600.
>

Go for a 220 if you can.

> Some additional questions: I currently have a Hauppage PVR-350, which I used
> as a second tuner for SD programming. Am I correct in assuming I cannot use
> the coaxial output from the Bell STB, nor the wall coax out, as an input for
> the PVR-350?

If the STB has composite or s-video out you could feed the PVR350 with
it, but you will only get SD resolution because thats all
s-video/composite will do and that's all the PVR350 will do.

>I should clarify that the Bell system uses a satellite dish on
> the top of my building tower to feed individual units (the building is also
> wired for IPTV/Fibre TV, however because of an administrative issue, only
> random units in the building can actually sign up for IPTV). Also, strictly
> out of curiosity, why can't a coaxial cable be used for HDTV?

Because you are confusing the digital signal that comes from the
satellite (or cable company)  and the analogue signal that you need to
record.

>The HDTV
> signal, after all, gets to the STB via coaxial. Or is it the case that it
> could carry HDTV signals but it has intentionally been disabled? OK, one
> last one: the Bell 9241 has two tuners, however I can't seem to think of a
> way to use both tuners in MythTV, as it seems there's only one output signal
> (ie the second tuner can record while the first is also recording or
> watching live TV, but only one output can be selected at any one time). Are
> there any workarounds? Or, presuming the PVR-350 can't work with this
> STB/coax signal, in order to get two tuners, would I need to have two STBs
> connected to two HD-PVR 1212s?

yes see above.


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