[mythtv-users] Comcast Equipment Update

[Kirk Bocek]

On September 8, 2016 2:56:26 PM PDT, 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).


Also look at
https://www.mythtv.org/wiki/IPTV_Encoders_as_a_Capture_Device