[kwlug-disc] Future of [Rogers] PVR (wrt HDMI)? Black boxes? MythBuntu?

[Paul Gallaway]

On Wed, Sep 9, 2009 at 9:54 AM, <john at netdirect.ca> wrote:
> kwlug-disc-bounces at kwlug.org wrote on 09/09/2009 08:35:46 AM:
>> From: "L.D. Paniak" <ldpaniak at fourpisolutions.com>
>>
>> You aren't going to see black-box HDMI-in for DRM reasons.  Even
>> HDMI-out for over-the-air digital signals is potentially subject to DRM
>> (see: broadcast flag)

So far as I know Rogers does not (yet) implement a broadcast flag
which would also prevent component output on their black boxes
(probably angering a lot of their customers - not that it's stopped
them before). See the HD Fury 2 which does HDMI to analogue conversion
for you : http://www.hdfury.com/ For the record it appears to ship
from Taiwan.

It's unclear as to whether it can be disabled through key methods
described by John. That said you would still need a connection chain
something like HDMI > HDFury > Hauppague HD PVR > MythTV to make use
of it with a PVR. Freedom is getting expensive! For now any black box
plus the Hauppauge HD PVR /should/ work. The HD PVR is supported in
MythTV 0.22 which is currently in trunk. I believe the 0.22 feature
freeze has occurred and is expected to be released as stable circa
October.

>> It looks like the only way to capture HD TV in a F/LOSS manner is to use
>> the Hauppauge HD-PVR.  It captures HD signals from the composite ports
>> on your cable box/digital source and outputs them over USB to H264.
>> While the captured signal is not the native digital, I find the results
>> are more than satisfactory for TV watching.

An other method for getting HD is an antenna pointed at Toronto or
Buffalo plus any ATSC tuner that has linux drivers. I asked on the
list some months ago whether anyone had set up an antenna in the area
for the purposes of recording with MythTV but no one had any feedback
at that time. I have had a DB-8 antenna sitting in my living room for
a month now just waiting to go on the roof... I'll report back with my
findings when I get it up there.

Also see this thread discussing reception in the KW/Guelph/Cambridge
areas. There are people in the area receiving the signals even if not
using MythTV
http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=94075

> Myth is still a tinkerer's PVR. You would have to want to select the
> hardware, choose the placement (a PC is loud), install, tweak and fix. If
> you want analog TV it's easy, just pick a tuner card with TV out and
> you're done (hauppauge 350).

I agree. I've had many compliments on my system but I've also steered
a number of people away from MythTV. It's a hobby as much as anything
and if people don't have the time or background or desire to learn,
then I can't recommend it as I can't be full time support.

On Wed, Sep 9, 2009 at 10:37 AM, L.D.
Paniak<ldpaniak at fourpisolutions.com> wrote:
> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
[snip]
> Myth 0.21+updates will play many ISOs, but not all. This is not
> insurmountable though as VLC seemingly works with everything and is a
> player option in myth.

I've not had any luck with mythvideo playback - including with ISO
files. Apparently there are many improvements in 0.22 that address
many of the problems experienced with mythvideo in 0.21-fixes. I use
mplayer for all video files and VLC for ISO files. Mythvideo launches
the appropriate player for me (as defined in the settings). Both
mplayer and VLC have support for LIRC so you never loose control of
programs. However, you loose the unified interface but gain usability.
I'll be testing the internal player again when I switch to 0.22. I
believe the default player in 0.21-fixes is mplayer (or maybe that was
0.20). I understand  the internal player will be the default for new
installs of 0.22.

~pAul.