[mythtv-users] Comcast Equipment Update

[John Adams]

On Thu, 8 Sep 2016 15:56:26 -0600
Greg Woods <greg at gregandeva.net> wrote:

> On Thu, Sep 8, 2016 at 7:30 AM, Gary Buhrmaster
> <gary.buhrmaster at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> > On Thu, Sep 8, 2016 at 1:06 PM, Greg Woods <greg at gregandeva.net>
> > wrote:
> > > Comcast sent me a letter yesterday indicating that if I don't
> > > replace my set-top boxes by Oct. 31, I might start losing
> > > channels.\
> >
> 
> >From the responses in this thread, it seems that this may be just
> >about as
> bad as I feared. I am going to most likely lose my HD-PVR tuners
> which have served me faithfully pretty much ever since the HDPVR-1212
> was originally released. There does not seem to be any way that I can
> be sure that my replacement boxes will have component interfaces and
> a way to change channels via firewire. (The latter issue could maybe
> be overcome with an IR blaster)
> 
> Where I live, the only alternative to cable is satellite. Century
> Link has TV service, but my particular neighborhood still has
> 1970's-vintage wiring, they have never been able to deliver decent
> DSL speeds, so I doubt their TV service will work either. I don't
> know if satellite provider boxes won't have the same issues as the
> Comcast ones do, there's no way to know what I'm going to get.
> 
> 
> 
> >
> > What box do you currently have?
> >
> 
> I've got three old Motorolas.  A DCT-6412 (a two-tuner DVR box), a
> DCH-3200R, and a MORN150NR. All of these have component outputs and
> accept channel changes via firewire (6200ch for the first two,
> mythchanger works on the latter). At one point I actually used the
> DVR box as a Myth tuner via HD-PVR and only used the DVR function as
> an emergency backup. Now I just have it hooked to the upstairs TV
> (still used as an emergency backup) and the other two boxes are
> hooked to the HD-PVRs.
> 
> >
> >
> >
> > * In Comcast markets, except for the premiums, an OCUR
> >   tuner is almost always the preferred solution for recording
> >   content.  It works with the minimum of hassles.
> >
> 
> I am beginning to think that the only way to save my MythTV system is
> to get something like the HDHomerun Prime and a dedicated NIC to
> connect it to. My major reason for hesitating there is that I really
> really hate to lose those HD-PVR's; they weren't cheap and they are
> still working great, so it's a big loss. I'm not worried about the
> expense of a cable card, as it probably costs lots less to rent than
> the two set-top boxes I have now. I have heard some horror stories
> about trying to get the damned thing activated though; not looking
> forward to that. The money saved on equipment rental will probably
> pay for the expense of a Prime before too long. So I am seriously
> considering going that route, it just sucks to take the financial hit
> of losing good working equipment and I'm not looking forward to the
> headaches and down time of switching tuner types. But that's probably
> what I'll do once I get over being pissed off about all this.
> 
> 
> >
> > * Local offices may (or may not) have any particular box
> >   available to hand out.  They may try to satisfy your
> >   request for a particular model (if they have it in the
> >   back room), but they will not (and can not) get any
> >   particular model.
> >
> 
> That's mostly what I thought. When I got my old boxes, HDMI was just
> coming into vogue and lots of people still had TVs with component and
> composite inputs only. So pretty much every box they had, had
> componentand firewire, so it didn't really matter which box they gave
> me. That seems to no longer be the case (I suspect not by
> coincidence, the MPAA has been trying to kill the analog hole for
> years).

There are quite a number of HDMI to Component converters available.


-- 
John Adams (johna at onevista.com)