Revision as of 23:10, 5 November 2011

Overview

In both .24-fixes and the current development version of MythTV (master), it is possible to use the SiliconDust HDHomeRun Prime to view material which is not recordable using traditional tuners. The HDHomeRun Prime uses a CableCard to decrypt and stream three or six simultaneous programs, depending on the model used. This guide is an illustrated, step-by-step method of configuring the HDHomeRun Prime with MythTV.

The following steps should be applicable when setting up the Hauppauge DCR-2650.

Setting up the Lineups and Tuners

Although soon it will be possible to configure the HDHomeRun Prime without any special considerations, it is currently necessary to use some "tricks" to get a working lineup, and in the case of MythTV .24-fixes, to use all three tuners on each HDHomeRun Device. A summary of the steps needed:

Summary of special steps for .24-fixes

• In .24-fixes, the HDHomeRun must be either created by IP, and the tuner number manually edited, or by using the autodiscovery feature and creating a duplicate of one tuner to represent the third, and then that tuner's device string must be manually changed in the database. This step does not apply to master/.25. See the discussion page for example MySQL statements.
• A brand new video source must be created. In version .24-fixes, That source must be attached to an analog or demo tuner device, and the channels must be filled by pressing the "Fetch Channels from Listings Source" button. In Master/.25, the new source can be directly attached to the HDHomeRun Prime and channels can be fetched.
• In version .24-fixes the new video source must be removed from the analog device and attached to the HDHomeRun Prime tuners.

Illustrated Guide (.24)

In mythtv-setup, navigate to Capture Cards.
Select New Capture Card.
Create a card of the Demo test recorder type. You do not need to point this card at a real file. We'll be deleting it in a moment.
Press Finish, then escape back to the main menu and select the Video Sources menu item.
Select New video source.
Give your Video Source a name. Here we named it "My New Source." Select Schedules Direct as your listings grabber. Input your User ID and Password from Schedules Direct, then press "Retrieve Lineups." In a few moments, you should see the Data Direct lineup box filled with values representing the lineups you have configured at the Schedules Direct website. Select the one which contains the channels found on your HDHomeRun Prime. This Lineup should be the one with channel numbers which are the same as the ones found on a cable box.
Press Finish to return to the main menu. Select the Input Connections menu item.
Select the input connection for the DEMO tuner we just created.
There are only two steps needed on this screen. Select the Video Source you just created, and press the Fetch channels from listings source button. This will cause MythTV to fill the source with the channels found in your lineup at Schedules Direct. Note: If using .24-fixes on a Mac OS X Backend: You must run mythfilldatabase manually to update the lineup (1 is the first sourceid-- these are in the videosource table): mythfilldatabase --sourceid sourceidnumber --only-update-channels
Press Next, then Finish to return to the main menu. Select the Capture Cards menu item again.
Select the DEMO tuner and press the D key. When asked, select Yes, delete capture card. You can also select "Delete all Capture Cards" if this is your only backend with capture cards and you want your tuner numberings to be sequential.
Now select New capture card again. It's time to create our HDHomeRun Prime devices. Select the HDHomeRun DTV tuner box card type. From the Available devices list, select the first autodetected tuner device, with a string like: "0123456789-0". Note: If using .24-fixes: You must either create two copies of one of the autodetected tuners, or define the HDHomeRun by IP address and manually edit the Tuner number for each HDHomeRun tuner numbered 0, 1, and 2. If you create two copies of one of the tuners, you will need to edit the capturecard table to change the device strings to end in -0, -1, and -2
Select Recording Options.
Change Max Recordings to 1. When in CableCard mode, the HDHomeRun is only able to record one program per tuner.
Press Next, then Finish to return to the tuner list. Repeat the last three steps until you have a capture card representing each tuner in your HDHomeRun Prime device. Press Escape to return to the main menu. Select the Input Connections menu item again.
You should have a list of HDHomeRun tuners which looks something like this. Highlight the first tuner and press Enter.
Give your tuner a descriptive name. Change the Video Source to the one we just created. Do not press Scan for channels OR Fetch channels from listings source! You will see Starting channel read Please add channels to this source. You can press Next, then Finish. Press enter on the same tuner, and you will find that you can now successfully set a starting channel for this tuner.
Repeat the last step until the video source you created is attached to all of your HDHomeRun Prime tuners, and each is set to a valid starting channel, as in this screenshot.
You only have one more step to go! Bring up a terminal and issue this command. This will pull in the listings for all of your channels. You can now start mythbackend again and your HDHomeRun Prime tuners should be ready to go!	mythfilldatabase --dd-grab-all

Illustrated Guide (Master/.25)

In mythtv-setup, navigate to Capture Cards.
Select New Capture Card.
It's time to create our HDHomeRun Prime devices. Select the HDHomeRun DTV tuner box card type. From the Available devices list, select the first autodetected tuner device, with a string like: "0123456789-0".
Select Recording Options.
Change Max Recordings to 1. When in CableCard mode, the HDHomeRun is only able to record one program per tuner. Press Finish.
Press Next, then Finish to return to the tuner list. Repeat the last three steps until you have a capture card representing each tuner in your HDHomeRun Prime device. Press Escape to return to the main menu. Select the Video Sources menu item.
Select New video source.
Give your Video Source a name. Here we named it "My New Source." Select Schedules Direct as your listings grabber. Input your User ID and Password from Schedules Direct, then press "Retrieve Lineups." In a few moments, you should see the Data Direct lineup box filled with values representing the lineups you have configured at the Schedules Direct website. Select the one which contains the channels found on your HDHomeRun Prime. This Lineup should be the one with channel numbers which are the same as the ones found on a cable box.
Press Finish to return to the main menu. Select the Input Connections menu item.	|-
You should have a list of HDHomeRun tuners which looks something like this. Highlight the first tuner and press Enter.
Give your tuner a descriptive name. Change the Video Source to the one we just created. Press Fetch channels from listings source. You will see Starting channel read Please add channels to this source. You can press Next, then Finish. Press enter on the same tuner, and you will find that you can now successfully set a starting channel for this tuner.
Repeat the last step until the video source you created is attached to all of your HDHomeRun Prime tuners, and each is set to a valid starting channel, as in this screenshot.
You only have one more step to go! Bring up a terminal and issue this command. This will pull in the listings for all of your channels. You can now start mythbackend again and your HDHomeRun Prime tuners should be ready to go!	mythfilldatabase --dd-grab-all

Troubleshooting

• I'm not able to tune any of my channels! The OSD simply says "Partial Lock" and "LAMc". What gives?
  • A Lock message of LAMc indicates the channel is encrypted and untuneable. There are multiple possibilities. Either the channel might not be copy-freely, and thus is uncapturable in MythTV, or your CableCard may not have been properly activated. Check your HDHomeRun Prime's web page (by bringing up its IP address in a web browser). Click Status Menu. You should be able to see the tuner which is currently recording, and the channel to which it is tuned. Click the link for that tuner number at the top. The value for Authorization should be subscribed and the CCI Protection should be unrestricted. If either of these values are different, and you are certain your CableCard and HDHR Prime are properly paired, then this channel may not be capturable in MythTV. A value of "unknown" most likely means that your card is not properly provisioned. For ClearQAM channels (channels which can be tuned with any QAM tuner), Authorization may be unknown, but the channel may still be capturable.
  • Because many technicians (even those allegedly trained on the subject) are unfamiliar with Cablecard setups, particularly with devices like the HDHomeRun Prime, there is a good chance that you will have to call your cable provider a couple of times to get things worked out. If a regular reset doesn't work (sometimes it can take more than one to "stick"), ask for a "Cold Hit", "DAC Init" or "Grand Slam Init/Hit". For some reason, the phone representatives are hesitant to try these, so be insistent.
    • The direct number to the Comcast Cablecard activation line is 877-405-2298, which should connect you directly to a human. Don't bother calling the number that your device recommends; that is just the normal customer service number.
• I have defined my tuners by IP, but when I try to use more than one of them, all my recordings fail!
  • You must update to (at a minimum) latest .24-fixes to use the HDHomeRun Prime. Numerous bugs, notably one which caused failed recordings when defined by IP, have been fixed.