[mythtv-users] Comcast follies

Johnny Walker johnnyjboss at gmail.com
Fri Jul 9 14:49:58 UTC 2010


On Fri, Jul 9, 2010 at 8:34 AM, Justin Johnson
<justin.johnson3 at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Fri, Jul 9, 2010 at 7:27 AM, David Williams <mythtv_david at yahoo.com> wrote:
>> Comcast cheated on me one last time and I think it might be time for a
>> divorce. I haven't seen a report of anything like my recent experience so I
>> thought I'd pass along what happened. I've used MythTv for several years and
>> while I've lurked for quite a while this is my first post and in the spirit
>> of full disclosure I'm a little older, I don't have a technical background,
>> and I'm nowhere near as technologically sophisticated as most who traffic
>> this forum. I have a home-built linux box using Ubuntu 10.04 and HdHomerun
>> and Hauppauge 500 tuners.
>>
>> In an effort to discover my VCT_ID I finally picked up the boxes. Using the
>> wiki methodology (http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/Scte65scan) neither the DTA nor
>> the RNG110 I was issued yielded anything that remotely resembled either the
>> numeric or hexdecimal codes that showed up when I ran tables.txt which makes
>> me wonder if Comcast intentionally defeated this resource.
>>
>> I only pay for the basic, analogue service. I took a couple of weeks to get
>> around to installing the boxes but when I did I discovered the RNG110
>> brought in many of the HD- as well as the analogue channels. What a bonus, I
>> thought. It interfaced straightaway with firewire once I changed a setting
>> from generic to DCH-3200 and the performance was remarkable. After about a
>> week I stopped receiving HD video signal (audio was OK) although the
>> analogue channels came in and continued to interface with firewire. I should
>> have quit while I was ahead but thinking Comcast is required by law to
>> provide HD for the network stations (or so I've read on some posts) I
>> contacted the help desk and after unsuccessfully attempting to remedy the
>> situation from her end the rep dispatched a technician to my home. He
>> diagnosed a weakened signal for which he replaced the line coming into my
>> home because of damage from “squirrels” and he removed the line amplifier I
>> had installed. He also told me he had to go up the pole and change a setting
>> to enable “two-way” communication.
>>
>> Once he finished I discovered the RNG110 firewire access is defunct. It, the
>> RNG110, continues to show up on the back end but no signal comes through via
>> firewire.
>>
>> Although I've lurked for a long time this is my first post and I a couple
>> questions. Are there some setting changes I can make to resurrect firewire
>> access and, if not, is there a feasible alternative (Dish???)
>>
>> Thanks, David
>>
>>
>
> Well, David let me share my experience with the Comcast RNG110. I too
> set it up using firewire and was amazed at how easy it was. Then I
> started noticing stability problems with the firewire connection, but
> only when watching LiveTV. Sometimes I'd be able to tune fine and jump
> around channels but other times it just wouldn't work. In order to fix
> it I would need to run many copies of the firewire_primer.sh script
> (http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/One_Tuner_Firewire_Priming_Script). After
> a few weeks of frustration, with perfect scheduled recordings but less
> than stellar results in mythtv I decided to take the plunge with the
> HD-PVR. I've only been using for a day but so far it seems to work
> much better. So I would recommend the HD-PVR, while continuing to use
> firewire to control the STB.
> --Justin Johnson
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Both of you could update the wiki with your experience -
http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/Firewire_Cable_Box_Compatibility

For what's worth I did the same thing as Justin here although I have TimeWarner

-Johnny


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