[mythtv-users] Keep losing p2p firewire connection on dch3200

[Gary Buhrmaster]

On Tue, May 1, 2012 at 7:31 PM, Eric Sharkey <eric at lisaneric.org> wrote:
....
> I had a DCH-3200 from Comcast and had all sorts of trouble with it
> over firewire.  I was never able to get it to work reliably.  I went
> to Verizon FiOS for a few months, then switched back to Comcast and
> got another DCH-3200.  This one has worked flawlessly, with the same
> MythTV backend hardware.  I have no idea what the difference is.

As obvious from all the updates for the firewire vendor id, there
have been many revisions of the box.  Apparently some work
better than others.  Of course it is also possible that between
the first and the second box Comcast rolled out another firmware
upgrade.

If the revision id's that matter (perhaps on the diagnostic pages?)
are obtainable, it *might* be valuable to document (on the wiki?)
those revisions that work better or worse so that when someone
goes into the Comcast office they can try to "negotiate" with the
CSR to get one that works better with MythTV.  Perhaps a new
page of "Motorola STB quirks"?

> For Comcast, I can't recommend the HD HomeRun Prime highly enough.  I
> now only rely on the firewire connection when I have at least three
> other recordings going.

I agree that OCUR devices are just easier to deal with, and
are far less likely to encounter problems with the next
Comcast STB firmware upgrade(*).

Gary

(*) I do not know what happened to it, but I recall that
Comcast was going to roll out a new and improved(**)
gui for their STBs across the country.  It may have been
bundled into their channel remap plans, or maybe it got
lost in the Xfinity branding, or maybe it happened and I
never noticed.

(**) It cannot be BOTH new, and improved (pick at most one).