[mythtv-users] cablecard options - Comcast killed open QAM - no more MythTV?

[Dan Wilga]

On 5/5/10 4:57 PM, Rob Comstock wrote:
> Comcast just killed most of my channels. Now my HDHomeRun tuner is a
> paper weight.
> Is there any sign that a cableCARD tuner may be on the horzon (even a
> far horizon) for
> mythtv in particular and linux in general?

You can either rent (boo! hiss!) a CableCARD-compatible STB, or buy a 
used one and supposedly Comcast will give you the card for free, if you 
ask. I say "supposedly" because one price list I got several months ago 
listed it as free, yet it has since been removed from the list.

If you rent it, they are supposed to be required to give you one that 
has Firewire output enabled. You may have to go through lots of red tape 
to get one, though. If you buy one used, you have no recourse if it's 
not enabled. And some content providers may flag their content so as to 
prevent it from being output via Firewire in the first place.

Failing Firewire, you can use a HD-PVR to capture the output from the 
STB, at added cost.

It has been speculated that CableLabs will never agree to license their 
encryption technology for Linux development, because it is not a 
protected signal path. SiliconDust, the makers of the HDHomeRun are 
working on a device which *may* be allowed to do this, but the last I 
knew that is still uncertain.

http://www.silicondust.com/press
http://www.silicondust.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=38
-- 
Dan Wilga                                                        "Ook."