[mythtv-users] DTV upgrade questions: two-way compatible equipment

[Gary Buhrmaster]

On Tue, Dec 10, 2013 at 11:04 PM, James Miller
<gajs-f0el at dea.spamcon.org> wrote:
> .... The only two exceptions
> are channels from which I used to occasionally record something, and which
> are said in the cable company literature to require "two-way compatible
> digital cable ready equipment."

This likely means (in TWC land) something that supports tuning adapter
functionality, since TWC (in some locations) uses SDV.

> ... What off-the-shelf product could help me bring in those channels that
> require two-way compatible digital cable ready equipment?

In TWC land, almost everything digital is encrypted (the exceptions
to this point have been the OTA channels, but, TWC is intending
to encrypt even the basic tier, and one of the requirements is
to move to an all digital plant, which is (probably) why TWC is
making you convert from analog now), and most of the content (again,
with the exception of the OTA and other government type channels)
is marked copy-once.  To be future proof, in TWC land, there are
basically two approaches, and only the first gets you more than
the OTA/government channels  The first is to rent a STB from TWC
and purchase a HD-PVR for the number of simultaneous channels
you wish to record.  The second is to purchase an OCUR tuner
(SiliconDust and/or Ceton and/or their sub-licensees) and obtain
a CableCARD from TWC at their monthly rental rate (usually a few
dollars a month, but your franchise will vary).  However, since
MythTV does not (can not) implement the approved content
protection, you can only record those channels that do not have
content restrictions (again, mostly OTA and government channels).

Examples of setup of either choice (and some discussions of
the advantages/challenges of each) is in the wiki.

If one moves to the dark side, WMC can record copy-once
channels.

TWC is not MythTV friendly.