Hello,

Is there any problem using MythTV with digital cable? I currently have standard cable but I'm moving to a new house and the digital package looks good. I want to make sure it will work though.

Thanks,
Scott

I have actually been able to make mine work fairly well.
I split the cable coming out of the cable box and then feed a single cable to my TV and then the other to my myth box.
This way my wife can watch TV if the Myth box has a problem.
I am still working through issues with recording and IRBlaster.
I use the cable boxes channel changer for most functions and then the haupauge card remote to do specific Myth functions (record,weather, netflix)

Keep in mind you could always connect your Myth directly to the cable line even if you have digital cable. Of course, Myth wouldn't see all of the channels, but it is an option in case you have trouble setting up the IR Blaster, etc.

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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

That would be an interesting config what card can be used to see all the channels?
I am thinking of buying a digital card but i am getting the impression that they wont pick up the High Def signal or the broadcast flag off of the cable box

A PVR150 or similar card will read the regular analog cable signal from the coax, even if you have digital cable. Confirm that your cable company still transmits analog signals by calling them or just hooking a TV directly to the cable line without the box. Most (if not all) cable companies still transmit analog.

A HD5000 card will read QAM (HD transmitted over regular cable lines) without a cable box, but requires a lot of work to set up. See this thread... http://mysettopbox.tv/phpBB2/viewtopic. ... hd5000+qam
You may only see the clear channels, i.e. the broadcast networks, as most cable companies encrypt the non-broadcast i.e. ESPN, TNT, HBO, etc. There is currently no solution today to get HD quality encrypted channels into Myth...not even with a cable box.

The HD5000 will also accept over the air broadcasted HD if you hook it to an antenna. This is easier to configure than QAM. Do a search for "hd5000 and OTA"

To get HD out of your cable box, you don't use a tuner card...you just need a firewire input on your PC. (and one on your cable box - call you cable company - a lot of the digital boxes have them now.) Again, you can only pass non-encrypted channels this way. This method requires some setup too...search "firewire" on this board. Some users report this method as reliable. In my experience, it isn't very reliable and I've missed shows because of it.

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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

Thanks for the responses. The IR blaster sounds like a bit of a pain.

I'd have to search for it again but I seem to remember reading about DirecTV boxes that had a serial port to change channels from Myth. Can I assume it would be easier to implement Myth with DirecTV than with digital cable?

Thanks,
Scott

Some of the digital cable boxes have serial ports as well. This guide is pretty good. I used it to setup my MotoDCT2000 with serial and was pretty easy.

http://www.knoppmythwiki.org/index.php? ... DigitalBox