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DirecTV HD
http://forums.linhes.org/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=17534		 Page 1 of 2
Author:  hcook [ Sat Jan 05, 2008 5:17 pm ]
Post subject:  DirecTV HD
Greetings all,

I'm giving some thought to getting DirecTV HD. I did a search for "DirecTV", but didn't find much in the way of recent posts.

So, some questions...

1. If you are a DirecTV subscriber, how easy was it to get everything set up?

2. If you are a DirecTV HD subscriber, what are you using for your tuner / capture?

3. If you are a DirecTV (HD or otherwise), would you mind sharing your setup specs? Please be sure to also include whether or not you are a HD subscriber or not.

Thanks in advance!
Author:  Liv2Cod [ Sat Jan 05, 2008 10:48 pm ]
Post subject: 
If your intent is to record HD from DirecTV, I'm not aware of any means to do this with Myth. There is no way to get the MPEG-2 stream from the DirecTV receiver (it may be encoded in MPEG-4 anyway). There is also no firewire interface from the DirecTV HD receiver.
Author:  hcook [ Mon Jan 07, 2008 1:54 pm ]
Post subject: 
That's disappointing and discouraging.

So...

What HD options are there? Cable only?

What about plain ol' DirecTV?

Thanks!
Author:  elgordo123 [ Mon Jan 07, 2008 4:18 pm ]
Post subject: 
The only HD options available now is HD over the air and some cable companies have firewire. I dont know how hard it is to find the right firewire-enabled cable box.
With plain old direct-tv or dish, etc you just run the coax from the box to your mythbox. No different than cable (cable w/out firewire) or even OTA for that matter. Either way you still have to use an IRBlaster to change channels. I think the firewire enabled ones allow you to change channels via firewire.
Author:  tscholl [ Mon Jan 07, 2008 4:51 pm ]
Post subject: 
There is one company out there that claims to be able to supply a modified DirectTv, Dishnet, receiver. (at a pretty hefty price I might add) However I have yet to hear from anyone that has actually used one. You can check it out here.
http://www.169time.com/
Has anyone used one?
Author:  Liv2Cod [ Mon Jan 07, 2008 5:50 pm ]
Post subject: 
There was discussion of 169time on the dev mailing lst at mythtv. The modified unit has no drivers for myth. The guy doing the mods did not offer any assistance or a unit to the devs, so its unlikely any drivers were created. I think the devs were not going to pursue it further, but things may have changed since I stopped reading the list every day.
Author:  hcook [ Mon Jan 07, 2008 9:07 pm ]
Post subject: 
Please forgive the endless questions, I'm a Linux / Myth newb...

So, what about a HDMI capture card? Wouldn't that capture HD, or am I missing something?
Author:  thornsoft [ Mon Jan 07, 2008 10:39 pm ]
Post subject: 
hcook wrote:
So, what about a HDMI capture card? Wouldn't that capture HD, or am I missing something?

I don't think there is such a thing. HDMI performs a handshake with the device on the other end to ensure that it's just a monitor, and isn't something that can record. It's very fussy. A cable or sat STB is not going to want to talk to something that can record. And people report problems with surround receivers that switch HDMI - the STB can't always verify that it's benign, and treats it as hostile.

As it stands, DirecTV would have to go out of their way to enable MythTV to work with their boxes (such as adding usable firewire) and I can't see them doing that. There's no upside for them. i.e. they're not going to revise their hardware to satisfy 4 guys on the KnoppMyth forum, even if it meant doubling their reach into the MythTV-dudes-who-want-SAT-tv market (which they probably estimate to be 4).
Author:  hcook [ Tue Jan 08, 2008 10:32 am ]
Post subject: 
Here's the HDMI capture card I found. FWIW, it's OS X compatible.
Author:  Liv2Cod [ Tue Jan 08, 2008 11:19 am ]
Post subject: 
Looks interesting. Read the web page and found this:

Quote:
he HDMI standard sometimes includes copy protection encryption, such as commonly found on DVD players and some brands of set top boxes. When connected to these copy protected sources, the HDMI specification defines that Intensity cards cannot capture.


Even if you managed to capture the UNCOMPRESSED stream, I don't think it's what you want. Your 1080i video source will require somewhat more space than a typical MPEG-2 transport stream (8G/hour). It will need 1080x1920x30x3x3600 bytes per hour. It adds up to 672 G/hour.
Author:  jpitlick [ Mon Feb 04, 2008 10:39 am ]
Post subject: 
I am a DirecTV subscriber with HD. I have my MythTV box connected to my H20 receiver using the S-Video and composite audio outputs going to a Hauppauge PVR-350 and a USB to serial null modem connected to the serial port (for channel changing). I am not able to record in HD quality, but I am able to record any channel that I get. For my purposes, the quality is fine. I'm more interested in the content.

DirecTV did announce at CES 2008 a device that will allow you to record to a PC running Vista. Maybe the MythTV developers will figure out how to connect it to their software once it is out.
Author:  thrillhouse [ Tue Feb 05, 2008 5:32 pm ]
Post subject: 
I'm kind of confused as to why Cable companies have to provide a set top box with a working firewire port but satellite companies don't. Could someone please shed some light on this?

http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/index.php/FireWire#FCC_regulations
Author:  ChapmanI [ Tue Feb 05, 2008 8:04 pm ]
Post subject: 
At CES 2008, Gefen showed the EXT-HD-PVR http://www.gefen.com/kvm/product.jsp?prod_id=4306

It is a HDMI, HDCP complient hi-def PVR - not cheep though $999.00.

Also at CES, Hauppauge announced the HD PVR. It will be an external USB device to capture from analogue component (YPrPb) video to H.264, or AVC/HD formats. It will thus exploit the so called "analogue hole" to allow recording of HD content. It will also include its own IR Blaster to control the satellite/cable box. Its suggested retail price is $249 and is expected to hit the market in March. Her's a link to the PDF of the press announcement. http://www.hauppauge.com/pdfs/Hauppauge_HD_recorder.pdf

I know I read somewhere an email exchange with Hauppauge that said they were working with the Linux community to develop drivers for it.

It sounds like the holly grail for those without firewire access to to their HD delivery system.
Author:  cameraready [ Wed Feb 06, 2008 8:14 am ]
Post subject: 
That Gefen unit looks interesting. The 80 GB drive would fill up pretty fast with HD recordings. Somehow I doubt you'll be able to record off the HDMI connection with it being HDCP compliant.

I wonder if Hauppaugge will come out with a PCI/PCIx version of their HD card. USB tuners can be a pain to setup. Ask anyone who has tried to use the Plextor USB tuner with Mythtv.
Author:  ceenvee703 [ Wed Feb 06, 2008 9:19 am ]
Post subject: 
One thing to point out about the Gefen: if it is truly HDCP compliant, then it will have to honor any "no copy" flag that the cable provider sets. See this discussion about Fios and no-copy flags:

http://mysettopbox.tv/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=17679

That's why the Hauppauge is more intriguing: since it records via component it avoids any broadcast flags the provider is setting (i.e. the "analog" hole that ChapmanI mentioned, except he spelled analog wrong :) .

Plus the file sizes shouldn't be too bad... the Hauppauge PDF says "about two hours of Blu-ray HD content can be recorded on a 4.7GB DVD disk."
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