[mythtv-users] Shouldn't have bought an HDTV

[Brad Borgald]

Doug Meredith wrote:
>
> I’ve been a MythTV user for over a year now, and the WAF has been very 
> high. About six weeks ago I made the mistake of buying our first HDTV. 
> My wife is quite disappointed that everything looks “the same”. To be 
> honest, I’m pretty disappointed too. Even DVDs look amazing compared 
> to my captures. I’ve been investigating my options for capturing HDTV, 
> and have come up with the following:
>
>    1. Over the air. Not an option. There are no HD broadcasts in New
>       Brunswick, Canada.
>    2. QAM capture. I get four unencrypted HD stations and a number of
>       digital SD broadcasts. I have an HD Home Run but I’m nervous
>       about deploying this at all due to reports of cable companies
>       changing what is available unencrypted or changing frequency
>       assignments without warning. In any case, it isn’t going to get
>       me HD.
>    3. Get a cable box and hope that I get what I want through fire
>       wire. Some people have difficulty making this work, it seems. No
>       guarantee there will be **any** unencrypted stations on fire
>       wire, and if there are, no guarantee they will stay unencrypted.
>       I don’t think I would risk this even if it would work now.
>       Better to never have HD than to have it and have to tell my wife
>       we are going back to SD.
>    4. Get a moded cable or satellite box. The two options I have seen
>       are Windows-only. It isn’t clear how easy or convenient it would
>       be to tie Myth into there recording scheme.
>
> Unless I’m missing something, there are **no** good options. Option 
> four, while expensive, looks the most hopeful. I’m just not sure I’m 
> willing to put in the time required to be on the bleeding edge with this.
>
> We can dream about the encryption situation changing, but I don’t 
> think that anything is going to happen that will let me record HD in 
> the next couple of years. If anything, cable companies are likely to 
> clamp down more and more on options two and three. It really looks 
> like option four may be my only hope.
>
> Have I missed anything that should give me reason to be optimistic 
> about being able to record HD in the (very) short term? Personally I 
> wouldn’t give up Myth just to get HD. But I worry greatly about the WAF.
>
> Doug
>
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Hi Doug,

I'm actually in NB as well and am just renting the Roger's HD set top 
box (the plain one, not the PVR). It's been working quite well for me 
for the past month or so. If my STB can tune the channel I can pull it 
off just fine over firewire. If you go that route and you run into 
problems I'll try and help.
My only problem is playing back the HD Fox channels (720p), all of the 
rest of the HD channels play fine. Odd since I actually have to run a 
deinterlacer for the rest of the channels and they play better.

Brad