[mythtv-users] What hardware do I need to be able to dual record using Comcast cable?

[Johnny Russ]

On Wed, Oct 15, 2008 at 9:23 PM, Adam Rosenfield <adamrose at mit.edu> wrote:

> Hi all,
>
> I'm currently in the process of setting up a MythTV box for use as a
> DVR.  I have Comcast digital cable service.  Ideally, I'd like to be
> able to record any channel I can get normally through the Comcast
> set-top box in HD for HD channels, and I'd also like to be able to
> record two channels at once.  From what I can gather, I'm guessing
> that I won't be able to capture the HD streams, except for the
> channels which are also broadcast OTA; is this correct?
>
> Will I also need two separate STBs?  And if I need two STBs, will I
> also need two video capture cards?  If I'm piping the streams right
> from the STBs, it's all digital, so I only need a digital capture
> card, right?  I doubt my CPU (a Pentium 4) can handle software HD
> encoding, let alone dual encoding.
>
> With that in mind, are there are specific capture cards you would
> recommend?  My motherboard can only handle PCI, no PCI-Express.
>
> Thanks,
>
> -Adam
>

Yes, you will need two set top boxes. Assuming you will get a digital stream
out of your STB is generally not a good assumption. It can be challenging to
get a STB with the firewire enabled. If you can then this is the best
choice. However, even if the firewire is enabled, you still may only get OTA
or a few other unencrypted channels over the firewire. If you don't have
firewire. Then the only other way to capture cable HD channels is with the
HDPVR or some simlar device that can capture HD off of the component outputs
of the STB. The HDPVR is relatively new and isn't supported in the stable
release of mythtv. You can get support by compiling from SVN trunk. Your
question imply you are new to mythtv and therefore running the unstable
trunk probably isn't the best idea for you. If that is true then your only
hope for HD is to get it from firewire or from OTA.
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