[mythtv-users] Firewire unstable.

[Tom Bongiorno]

On Tue, Feb 21, 2012 at 11:02 AM, Eric Sharkey <eric at lisaneric.org> wrote:

> On Tue, Feb 21, 2012 at 9:32 AM, Aaron Russell <aaron at therussells.me>
> wrote:
> > 3. Should i try to get fios to give me a new cable box and hope the new
> one
> > is
> > better?
>
> This is probably your best bet, but it's really a shot in the dark.  I
> had a lot of trouble recording via firewire with Comcast and a
> DCH-3200.  I switched to Verizon for a few months and had better luck
> with their box, but switched back to Comcast for other reasons and
> ended up with an identical looking DCH-3200, but this one seemed to
> work fine without the problem I'd had before.
>
> > 4. I also have a pvr150 in the mythtv but i believe its dying because i
> get
> > really crappy quality from it. The cable box is only 10% of my recording
> so
> > what
> > are my other option. I dont want to spend much because its such a small
> > amount
> > of recordings.
>
> Understood.  It does cost some more money, but I can tell you that the
> cable card solutions are all much more stable and reliable than
> firewire.  If you can find the budget for a HD Homerun Prime or Ceton
> InfiniTV it takes all the voodoo out of the process of getting mythtv
> to record encrypted cable.
>
> Eric
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>

The cause of your woes may not even be the hardware but rather the
software/firmware on the cable box.  Comcast pushed an update a few months
ago, and I lost all Firewire capability.  The good thing was that I
switched to an InfiniTV 4 a few weeks prior.  The Firewire was barely being
used, but changing channels for my HDPVR.  If you are able to eliminate a
cable box rental, than a CableCard solution may pay for itself.  A HDHR
Prime or InfiniTV 4 PCIe/USB all have a street price of under $200, and
continue to fall in price.

As I have said many times, I love my InfiniTV 4 PCIe.  Thanks to Ron
Frazier's source patch, it is the most reliable tuner I have ever used.
 Now if I could only figure out my LiveTV ringbuffer timeout problem, I
would buy a second InfiniTV 4 and stop renting two cable boxes.

What is your PVR150 being used for?  Is it just another tuner from another
cable box or analog cable?  If so, all the CableCard solutions would save
you from having to replace the PVR150.  If it is used for premiums, then
the CableCard solutions will not help.

-Tom
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