[mythtv-users] Recording IPTV?

[Stephen Worthington]

On Thu, 30 Jan 2020 08:21:20 +0100, you wrote:

>Hello!
>
>My MythTV is configured to record DVB-T and DVB-T2 but now we also
>have the house connected to fibre 100/100 Mbit/s with IPTV.
>
>Each TV needs to be connected with HDMI to a set-top box to be
>able to watch IPTV.
>
>What are my options if I want to record IPTV in MythTV as well?
>
>I guess I need one of those set-top boxes and perhaps an HDMI
>capture card? What else?
>
>Or would it be possible to record the IPTV stream directly from
>the network somehow?
>
>I live in Sweden and the IPTV provider is Telia.
>
>Best regards,
>Peter Carlsson

Does the STB have a smartcard you have to insert into it?  If so,
depending on the smartcard type, it may be possible to record directly
from the IPTV source by putting the smartcard in a card reader and
using the appropriate software.

If there is no smartcard, then you are unlikely to be able to record
directly from the IPTV streams unless someone has worked out how to
decrypt them, and you can extract your decryption credentials from the
STB (or get your provider to tell you them).  And you also need to
check what your local laws actually allow you to do.

To record from the STB, as well as an HDMI recording card/box, you
will need a means of changing the channel.  Does the STB do that with
a remote control?  If so, you will need to be able to send remote
control signals to the STB to turn it on and change channels.  Is it
an infrared remote?  If so, then it is easy enough to get an IR
blaster that can send it signals using lirc, but you also need to know
what signals to send, so do some research on the net to see if there
are any blaster tables for lirc for that STB.

One other thing you need to check is whether the STB sends the HDMI
with HDCP.  If so, then you will need to check if it is legal in your
locality to strip the HDCP out of the HDMI signals.  HDMI capture
cards/boxes do not do HDCP.  If you need to strip out HDCP, you have
to get an HDMI stripper (usually a splitter also) that does this.
Aliexpress.com has heaps to choose from, but check the net to see
which ones are any good.  Depending on your locality, the HDMI
splitters available locally are likely to not do HDCP stripping (and
will therefore be more expensive as they have to do full HDCP
processing and be properly certified for that).  The splitter will
need to be compatible with the HDMI version sent by the STB.  Are
there 4k channels?  If so, there are far fewer HDMI splitters
compatible with the higher HDMI versions used for 4k.