I'm a Maryland Comcast customer and recently got their Motorola DCT6200 set top box. It has 2 firewire ports on the back but when I connect my computer to the DCT6200 and use XP/Nero to try and detect/record video nero does not detect that any device is attached.

I've tested the computer hardare/firewire port by hooking up a Sony camcorder and it works perfectly.

Are the firewire ports on the DCT6200 activated? Has anyone else gotten this to work? Any trouble-shooting hints, tips or suggestions most apprec.

Thanks,

Kevin

http://mythtv.org/wiki/index.php/FireWire

Start from plugctl.

if you have problems after this do:

tail -f /var/log/mythtv/mythbackend.log&

You can test it out and make necessary changes.

kill %1

stops it btw.

Post the logs, i am sure we can figure it out from there.

I'll tell you firsthand there are pitfalls and limitations to using Firewire. It's cool when it works though.

To begin with, you must find out which node and connection it's using. In Knoppmyth, open a terminal (alt-X) and run plugreport after you plug the firewire cable into your knoppmyth box. You should get some mention of a node and some random details. Write down the node number then run (as root) mythtv-setup. There you can configure all your tuner and input details.

Also most of the time, point-to-point won't work, you have to select broadcast. Don't mess with the bus speed, 100Mb is plenty even for HD.

Don't forget that your local cable company has put controls on your firewire box also. They have flags that set record-once and record-never which will force the box to disable firewire on specific channels. I've even seen channels that normally tune over firewire be temporarily nuked by broadcast flags for specific shows on a channel.

A good rule of thumb is that anything you pay extra for will be flagged and therefore you can't tune it. This includes Showtime, HBO, Cinemax, etc. Anything that's 'standard' including the Free-To-Air HD channels should always tune in. In my area this is all the TNT-HD stuff, ABC-HD, NBC-HD and a ton of other regular channels. HBO-HD will not tune.

You may want to consider having a dual-tuner setup, so that firewire captures most of your channels and the special channels come in over a standard CATV cable via a Hauppauge or other tuner card. Not sure if anyone has accomplished this but I'm sure there's a way to do it.

Good luck and if you have any questions, just ask.

I setup my backend like this: PVR-250 receives all the analog channels up to 76 (Comcast), and my DCT-6200 covers the rest, including HD. I don't include HBO or any pay channels in my cable package, but ABC, CBS, NBC, TNTHD, FOXHD, DHD, ESPNHD, ESPN2HD, MHD and INHD are decoded by my DCT-6200 and I can record at-will from them via firewire. It works very well, and the HD recordings are HUGE! Make sure you have a lot of disk space! I also noticed that comm-flagging on HD recordings isn't as good as it could be, and that process will consume 100% CPU cycles on my backend!

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R7.3 Backend
CPU: 1.8 GHz
RAM: 2Gb
Drives: 500Gb IDE; IDE DVD-RW
Mobo: eMachines
Tuners (Analog): PVR-250
Tuners (Digital): DCT-6200 Motorola Cable Box, HDHomeRun (OTA + cable)

That's cool but it's not really what I was getting at.

The DC6200 and other boxen with firewire out also have rf out to a television. What I was trying to convey was a best-of-both-worlds compromise. In my scenario, you have firewire from the box to your mythtv box, and rf-out from the 6200 to your tuner card. Also there would be an ir blaster involved to change channels on the 6200 when you weren't using the firewire input.

This way you could use the firewire input to tune the FTA HD channels and other unlocked channels, and use the RF out from the 6200 to tune all other channels. Since 5c and the retarded record-once or record-never flags are handled inside the cable box, anything will go out over RF that would normally shut down the firewire output.

I hope I'm being clear...I know this stuff gets confusing.

Are you saying that you can record encrypted HD channels from the RF out of a 6200? (I'm referring to the channels that I am legally paying for, but can't record in Myth on the Firewire out.) I thought that was impossible.

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Currently running: R5.5, HD5000 x 2, PVR150, Athlon 64 3000+, Chaintech VNF4, 1GB RAM, 2 x 250GB in LVM, MSI NX6200TC -> AA 9A60 -> HDTV

Anything should record via the coax or composite outputs. Having said that I have come across strange issues with recording to a dvd recorder from hd channels. Causing box tuning problems after a failed recording etc. not sure how the flag is being passed over an analouge output unless it is similar to the way VHS tapes are encrypted (for lack of a better term)

I work for a cable Co and deal with these boxes in the field everyday.


Craig

What inputs are you using to record on the DVD recorders?

I'm wondering if Macrovision is enabled on the RF outputs and other analog outs on these cable boxes. I'm pretty sure it's not but I haven't tested it much. You would think that it wouldn't, because if you're feeding that signal to a TV, the TV would not know how to interpret Macrovision right?

It was my theory that RF out from a digital cable box would give you unencrypted everything at the expense of the signal itself and maybe the resolution. I've seen HD channels tune and display via RF on a standard TV through the cable box but they end up letterboxed. I guess the box is doing some scaling. I still kinda assert that this should be unencrypted and ready to record though.

Also with firewire you can change the channel and this affects all of the outputs, firewire, composite, s-video, etc. You can use firewire to change the channel regardless of the capture method and so won't need an IR blaster.

I haven't gotten around to this yet, but when I had my cable box TV out connected to one TV port and my mythbox connected to the other TV port I always had the same program on when switching the TV from one input to the other. This was with firewire channel changing (and capture) only as I don't have a video capture card yet. Unfortunately I have to get one because only OTA channels are coming in over firewire.

ok I admit I didn't read all the posts, but I didn't see anyone saying that there are FCC regulations that all cable providers have to offer all their HD boxes with "functional" firewire ports, though if yours is not functional it would not be the first time comcast ignored an FCC regulation. I have comcast and the 6200 and firewire works on mine.

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Have a question search the forum and have a look at the KnoppMythWiki.

Xsecrets

The firewire *should* work on everyone's digital box regardless of the provider. Each provider has to offer at least one box that outputs to firewire per FCC regulations. Here locally, Time Warner offers 2 digital boxes (they have a total of 3) that output to firewire, although only one of those boxes does both HDMI and component alongside the FW.

Do satalite providers fall under this same regulation?

I don't think so. You almost never see satellite boxes with decent outputs, and there are certain friendly monopoly rules that apply to cable providers only.