[mythtv-users] DTV upgrade questions: two-way compatible equipment

James Miller gajs-f0el at dea.spamcon.org
Tue Dec 10 23:04:32 UTC 2013


I'm still largely a SDTV viewer and don't watch all that much TV anyway. I 
actually got into Myth usage as much so as to undertake a tech project 
that would allow me to increase my knowledge of computing as because I 
wanted to record a lot of TV. But, here I am, a mythbuntu user of a few 
years now.

Of course the cable company that supplies a good deal of my programming is 
pushing all users toward DTV now, so one of the main sources from which 
I've been recording, timewarner (US), is "losing" channels insofar as some 
of my dated equipment can no longer handle them (for the record I've got 
three coax inputs between two capture cards: one DTV input that's devoted 
to OTA broadcasts, and two SDTV inputs that bring in clear QAM TW 
channels). I intend to stick to the really basic cable channel line-up my 
apartment building supplies, so, no need here for equipment to bring in 
special paid programming.

The cable company recently sent out a new channel line-up and, if I'm 
understanding correctly, a DTV-capable device like one of the SiliconDust 
models--or even one like my current DTV input--should enable me to bring 
in most of the cable programming I will want to record. The only two 
exceptions are channels from which I used to occasionally record 
something, and which are said in the cable company literature to require 
"two-way compatible digital cable ready equipment."

Undoubtedly the cable company is banking on most of their customers being 
overwhelmed by such technical mumbo-jumbo and simply asking the company to 
send out to them the relevant equipment--for which they will, either now 
or later, incur a monthly rental fee. But to me it's not worth paying any 
kind of ongoing fee just to have the ability to record occasionally from 
one or other of those channels. That said, I'm not averse to buying my own 
equipment in order to gain that ability. Problem is, I'm not exactly sure 
which make/model of equipment I'd need for this two-way compatibility. So 
I thought I'd ask here.

What off-the-shelf product could help me bring in those channels that 
require two-way compatible digital cable ready equipment? Would a device 
like the SiliconDust HDHomeRun PRIME CableCard TV 3-Tuner HDHR3-CC handle 
this? I.e., do I need something that takes a cable card or MCard? I might 
incur some monthly rental fee (for the MCard) in that case so I'm not sure 
I'd invest in something like that. Any other two-way compatible digital 
cable ready equipment I could purchase that will not entail that sort of 
recurring fee?

Thanks,
James


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