[mythtv-users] Myth TY HD, (cable and Satellite)

R. G. Newbury newbury at mandamus.org
Thu Sep 20 04:39:27 UTC 2007


Ken Scales wrote:
> Daniel Agar wrote:
>>> I was thinking the other day after reading somethng about the cable
>>> companies must still do the old analog channels until 2008.   Once
>>> everything goes completely HD what will our options be with our Myth
>>> boxes?  I guess it really depends on the gear todeliver HD content, if
>>> there is any outputs (I doubt they will be hd outputs but you never know)
>>>
>>> Is anyone in canada using the Bell HD and dumping it to the Myth server?
>>> I have Bell but not HD and its not currently hooked into my Mythbox..
>>> thats my next project once I upgrade my myth box so I can use a video card
>>>  TV out rather than my 350.

>>>     
>> I didn't find any descent information for Bell HD, however if your
>> desperate  you can go with rogers you can get quite a few HD channels
>> through firewire on their provided SA3250. Over the Air is also a good
>> option if your in a major city.

> Hmm... lessee...  I live in the Ottawa, ON area, which I think is 
> generally considered to be a major city.  As far as I have been able to 
> determine, as of a couple of weeks ago, there were 2 HD channels 
> available here OTA:
>    - CBC English
>    - CBC French
> 
> Toronto, well, yeah, that's another story.

The FCC has not said anything about requiring US cablecos to change from 
analog. But one could have some suspicions that the cablecos will change 
to digital, in order to force people to "upgrade" to a set top box. The 
CRTC, being based in what *some* may consider to be a "major city", has 
no idea what to do, having only recently decided, some 4 years after the 
FCC, that digital broadcast is the way to go. But there are already 
signs that Rogers is moving away from analog: the previously free QAM256 
digital channels were all changed to encrypted on July 14th. And you can 
no longer find an analog cable package on the Rogers website: digital 
packages only..and for only a few dollars more. Of course Rogers doesn't 
have to provide firewire output from their STB as mandated by the FCC in 
the US, so recording from the box may be impossible. And isn't the 
Rogers HD + firewire box even *more* expensive than the 'standard' 
(read: emasculated) box?

And yes, 'another story' is 14 digital channels. And yes, that means 
Ottawa is NOT a major city. But I knew that when my parents lived there!

Geoff



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