[mythtv-users] USB IR Blaster: close but no cigar

[Ron Garrison]

On Wed, Apr 21, 2010 at 10:12 AM, Greg Woods <greg at gregandeva.net> wrote:
> On Sun, 2010-04-18 at 20:26 -0700, Yeechang Lee wrote:
>> On Sun, Apr 18, 2010 at 10:10 AM, Greg Woods <greg at gregandeva.net> wrote:
>> > I do know one way: rent another "real" STB from Comcast and get
>> > another HD-PVR (then I get the deal with the fun of trying to keep
>> > multiple firewire devices straight for channel changing).
>>
>> Despite the up-front and monthly cost this is indeed your best
>> bet:
>
> I have thought about this and decided that a second HD-PVR is the way to
> go, freeing me from the need for an IR blaster and giving me a second
> tuner for all of my HD channels, not just the former-analog ones that I
> have recently lost Myth access to. I already have a second STB which is
> a Comcast DVR box, so I'll hook that up to the new HD-PVR. No additional
> monthly cost, but I will have to be careful not to schedule more than
> one recording at a time on the Comcast DVR, and be careful when I use it
> for playback, so that there is always one tuner free when Myth wants to
> use it. The potential for this kind of screw up leading to failed
> recordings is the major down side to going this route (along with the
> $200 for another HD-PVR, but at least there is some added benefit as
> well). At some point I may decide this is just too much trouble and turn
> in the DVR box for a regular STB. But having the Comcast DVR as a backup
> when my Myth box went south for whatever reason has been a life saver
> more than once, along with the extra two tuners it provides during
> football season :-)
>
>>
>> * It is 100% future-proof, no matter what cable or satellite provider
>>   you switch to in the future
>
> Not entirely of course. The MPAA and their cable company stooges are
> still wanting to close "the analog hole". The conversion of analog to
> encrypted digital is only the first step, I do not expect them to give
> up working on the component output. Right now I can't think of a way
> they can close this off without also rendering some customer TV's
> incapable of HD, but that doesn't mean they won't still come up with
> something or that they won't eventually get their puppets the FCC to
> approve letting them close it off anyway. Nothing is ever 100% future
> proof.
>
>> * You're already familiar with the HD-PVR
>
> True, another point in favor of this.
>
>> * FireWire channel switching is 100% reliable unlike IR blasters, and
>>   uses GUID so the two boxes would always be distinct
>
> What's a GUID? Is this documented somewhere I can go read about? I'm
> going to have to deal with it soon.
>
>> * Writing a udev rule to give the two HD-PVRs distinct /dev node
>>   labels is easy (took me about 15 seconds to figure out how to do so
>>   for the first time)
>
> I'm sure I can manage that part, but if you want to let me see the ones
> you have, it would help :-)
>
>> * You get HD-quality access to every channel you pay for already
>
> ...and I can free up a PCI slot also by removing the PVR-500 brick, er,
> card. May be useful in the future.
>
> Comcast sucks.
>
> --Greg

And with the second HDPVR, you will have two irblasters (one per
hdpvr) that you can use to to control your DTAs and unbrick your
PVR-500 :-)

Not sure if the hdpvr blasters are fully working yet though.  I
thought I read somewhere that they weren't.  I haven't tried myself.

Ron