Mailing List Archive: MythTV: Users

Shouldn't have bought an HDTV

Index | Next | Previous | View Threaded

doug.meredith at skyridge

Feb 10, 2008, 6:30 PM

Post #1 of 11 (1660 views)
Permalink

Shouldn't have bought an HDTV

I've been a MythTV user for over a year now, and the WAF has been very
high. About six weeks ago I made the mistake of buying our first HDTV.
My wife is quite disappointed that everything looks "the same". To be
honest, I'm pretty disappointed too. Even DVDs look amazing compared to
my captures. I've been investigating my options for capturing HDTV, and
have come up with the following:

1. Over the air. Not an option. There are no HD broadcasts in New
Brunswick, Canada.
2. QAM capture. I get four unencrypted HD stations and a number of
digital SD broadcasts. I have an HD Home Run but I'm nervous about
deploying this at all due to reports of cable companies changing what is
available unencrypted or changing frequency assignments without warning.
In any case, it isn't going to get me HD.
3. Get a cable box and hope that I get what I want through fire
wire. Some people have difficulty making this work, it seems. No
guarantee there will be *any* unencrypted stations on fire wire, and if
there are, no guarantee they will stay unencrypted. I don't think I
would risk this even if it would work now. Better to never have HD than
to have it and have to tell my wife we are going back to SD.
4. Get a moded cable or satellite box. The two options I have seen
are Windows-only. It isn't clear how easy or convenient it would be to
tie Myth into there recording scheme.

Unless I'm missing something, there are *no* good options. Option four,
while expensive, looks the most hopeful. I'm just not sure I'm willing
to put in the time required to be on the bleeding edge with this.

We can dream about the encryption situation changing, but I don't think
that anything is going to happen that will let me record HD in the next
couple of years. If anything, cable companies are likely to clamp down
more and more on options two and three. It really looks like option
four may be my only hope.

Have I missed anything that should give me reason to be optimistic about
being able to record HD in the (very) short term? Personally I wouldn't
give up Myth just to get HD. But I worry greatly about the WAF.

Doug

gravityhammer at gmail

Feb 10, 2008, 7:00 PM

Post #2 of 11 (1604 views)
Permalink

Re: Shouldn't have bought an HDTV [In reply to]

On Feb 10, 2008 9:30 PM, Doug Meredith <doug.meredith [at] skyridge> wrote:
>
>
>
>
> I've been a MythTV user for over a year now, and the WAF has been very high.
> About six weeks ago I made the mistake of buying our first HDTV. My wife is
> quite disappointed that everything looks "the same". To be honest, I'm
> pretty disappointed too. Even DVDs look amazing compared to my captures.
> I've been investigating my options for capturing HDTV, and have come up with
> the following:
>
> Over the air. Not an option. There are no HD broadcasts in New Brunswick,
> Canada.
> QAM capture. I get four unencrypted HD stations and a number of digital SD
> broadcasts. I have an HD Home Run but I'm nervous about deploying this at
> all due to reports of cable companies changing what is available unencrypted
> or changing frequency assignments without warning. In any case, it isn't
> going to get me HD.
> Get a cable box and hope that I get what I want through fire wire. Some
> people have difficulty making this work, it seems. No guarantee there will
> be *any* unencrypted stations on fire wire, and if there are, no guarantee
> they will stay unencrypted. I don't think I would risk this even if it
> would work now. Better to never have HD than to have it and have to tell my
> wife we are going back to SD.
> Get a moded cable or satellite box. The two options I have seen are
> Windows-only. It isn't clear how easy or convenient it would be to tie Myth
> into there recording scheme.
>
>
>
> Unless I'm missing something, there are *no* good options. Option four,
> while expensive, looks the most hopeful. I'm just not sure I'm willing to
> put in the time required to be on the bleeding edge with this.
>
>
>
> We can dream about the encryption situation changing, but I don't think that
> anything is going to happen that will let me record HD in the next couple of
> years. If anything, cable companies are likely to clamp down more and more
> on options two and three. It really looks like option four may be my only
> hope.
>
>
>
> Have I missed anything that should give me reason to be optimistic about
> being able to record HD in the (very) short term? Personally I wouldn't
> give up Myth just to get HD. But I worry greatly about the WAF.
>

I'm not sure I understand the reluctance to use the HDHomerun while
you're determining, for instance, what firewire channels you can
record.
_______________________________________________
mythtv-users mailing list
mythtv-users [at] mythtv
http://mythtv.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users

myth at dermanouelian

Feb 10, 2008, 7:04 PM

Post #3 of 11 (1621 views)
Permalink

Re: Shouldn't have bought an HDTV [In reply to]

On Feb 10, 2008, at 6:30 PM, Doug Meredith wrote:

> I’ve been a MythTV user for over a year now, and the WAF has been
> very high. About six weeks ago I made the mistake of buying our
> first HDTV. My wife is quite disappointed that everything looks
> “the same”. To be honest, I’m pretty disappointed too. Even DVDs
> look amazing compared to my captures. I’ve been investigating my
> options for capturing HDTV, and have come up with the following:

I'm surprised. My standard definition captures look worse on my HDTV
than on my old standard definition CRT.

> Over the air. Not an option. There are no HD broadcasts in New
> Brunswick, Canada.

That's a shame.

> QAM capture. I get four unencrypted HD stations and a number of
> digital SD broadcasts. I have an HD Home Run but I’m nervous about
> deploying this at all due to reports of cable companies changing
> what is available unencrypted or changing frequency assignments
> without warning. In any case, it isn’t going to get me HD.

So you're not going to use it because some day it *might* stop
working? Everything *might* stop working some day. Why do anything at
all?

> Get a cable box and hope that I get what I want through fire wire.
> Some people have difficulty making this work, it seems. No
> guarantee there will be *any* unencrypted stations on fire wire, and
> if there are, no guarantee they will stay unencrypted. I don’t
> think I would risk this even if it would work now. Better to never
> have HD than to have it and have to tell my wife we are going back
> to SD.
> Get a moded cable or satellite box. The two options I have seen are
> Windows-only. It isn’t clear how easy or convenient it would be to
> tie Myth into there recording scheme.
>
> Unless I’m missing something, there are *no* good options. Option
> four, while expensive, looks the most hopeful. I’m just not sure
> I’m willing to put in the time required to be on the bleeding edge
> with this.
>
> We can dream about the encryption situation changing, but I don’t
> think that anything is going to happen that will let me record HD in
> the next couple of years. If anything, cable companies are likely
> to clamp down more and more on options two and three. It really
> looks like option four may be my only hope.
>
> Have I missed anything that should give me reason to be optimistic
> about being able to record HD in the (very) short term? Personally
> I wouldn’t give up Myth just to get HD. But I worry greatly about
> the WAF.

The only thing that looks like another option hasn't been released
yet. the Hauppauge HD PVR promises HD capture via component cables.
Reasonably priced and someone posted a response from Hauppauge that
said they hope to have linux drivers when they release. Should be out
in March. Not sure if there other things to consider being a US
product and you want to use it in Canada. Google should come up with a
bunch of info about this new device.

-Brad

daniel at agar

Feb 10, 2008, 7:05 PM

Post #4 of 11 (1613 views)
Permalink

Re: Shouldn't have bought an HDTV [In reply to]

I've been quite successful in capturing HD through a rogers STB in Ontario
for the past 6 months. I get most of the big stations (including american)
unencrypted through firewire. I'm not sure who the cable provider in New
Brunswick is, but you could try renting the thing for a month to test it
out. Trust me it's worth it. Although it significantly increased my cpu
and storage requirements.

> I've been a MythTV user for over a year now, and the WAF has been very
> high. About six weeks ago I made the mistake of buying our first HDTV.
> My wife is quite disappointed that everything looks "the same". To be
> honest, I'm pretty disappointed too. Even DVDs look amazing compared to
> my captures. I've been investigating my options for capturing HDTV, and
> have come up with the following:
>
> 1. Over the air. Not an option. There are no HD broadcasts in New
> Brunswick, Canada.
> 2. QAM capture. I get four unencrypted HD stations and a number of
> digital SD broadcasts. I have an HD Home Run but I'm nervous about
> deploying this at all due to reports of cable companies changing what is
> available unencrypted or changing frequency assignments without warning.
> In any case, it isn't going to get me HD.
> 3. Get a cable box and hope that I get what I want through fire
> wire. Some people have difficulty making this work, it seems. No
> guarantee there will be *any* unencrypted stations on fire wire, and if
> there are, no guarantee they will stay unencrypted. I don't think I
> would risk this even if it would work now. Better to never have HD than
> to have it and have to tell my wife we are going back to SD.
> 4. Get a moded cable or satellite box. The two options I have seen
> are Windows-only. It isn't clear how easy or convenient it would be to
> tie Myth into there recording scheme.
>
>
>
> Unless I'm missing something, there are *no* good options. Option four,
> while expensive, looks the most hopeful. I'm just not sure I'm willing
> to put in the time required to be on the bleeding edge with this.
>
>
>
> We can dream about the encryption situation changing, but I don't think
> that anything is going to happen that will let me record HD in the next
> couple of years. If anything, cable companies are likely to clamp down
> more and more on options two and three. It really looks like option
> four may be my only hope.
>
>
>
> Have I missed anything that should give me reason to be optimistic about
> being able to record HD in the (very) short term? Personally I wouldn't
> give up Myth just to get HD. But I worry greatly about the WAF.
>
>
>
> Doug
>
> _______________________________________________
> mythtv-users mailing list
> mythtv-users [at] mythtv
> http://mythtv.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users
>

_______________________________________________
mythtv-users mailing list
mythtv-users [at] mythtv
http://mythtv.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users

skibum at nbriders

Feb 10, 2008, 7:35 PM

Post #5 of 11 (1608 views)
Permalink

Re: Shouldn't have bought an HDTV [In reply to]

Doug Meredith wrote:
>
> I’ve been a MythTV user for over a year now, and the WAF has been very
> high. About six weeks ago I made the mistake of buying our first HDTV.
> My wife is quite disappointed that everything looks “the same”. To be
> honest, I’m pretty disappointed too. Even DVDs look amazing compared
> to my captures. I’ve been investigating my options for capturing HDTV,
> and have come up with the following:
>
> 1. Over the air. Not an option. There are no HD broadcasts in New
> Brunswick, Canada.
> 2. QAM capture. I get four unencrypted HD stations and a number of
> digital SD broadcasts. I have an HD Home Run but I’m nervous
> about deploying this at all due to reports of cable companies
> changing what is available unencrypted or changing frequency
> assignments without warning. In any case, it isn’t going to get
> me HD.
> 3. Get a cable box and hope that I get what I want through fire
> wire. Some people have difficulty making this work, it seems. No
> guarantee there will be **any** unencrypted stations on fire
> wire, and if there are, no guarantee they will stay unencrypted.
> I don’t think I would risk this even if it would work now.
> Better to never have HD than to have it and have to tell my wife
> we are going back to SD.
> 4. Get a moded cable or satellite box. The two options I have seen
> are Windows-only. It isn’t clear how easy or convenient it would
> be to tie Myth into there recording scheme.
>
> Unless I’m missing something, there are **no** good options. Option
> four, while expensive, looks the most hopeful. I’m just not sure I’m
> willing to put in the time required to be on the bleeding edge with this.
>
> We can dream about the encryption situation changing, but I don’t
> think that anything is going to happen that will let me record HD in
> the next couple of years. If anything, cable companies are likely to
> clamp down more and more on options two and three. It really looks
> like option four may be my only hope.
>
> Have I missed anything that should give me reason to be optimistic
> about being able to record HD in the (very) short term? Personally I
> wouldn’t give up Myth just to get HD. But I worry greatly about the WAF.
>
> Doug
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> _______________________________________________
> mythtv-users mailing list
> mythtv-users [at] mythtv
> http://mythtv.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users
>
Hi Doug,

I'm actually in NB as well and am just renting the Roger's HD set top
box (the plain one, not the PVR). It's been working quite well for me
for the past month or so. If my STB can tune the channel I can pull it
off just fine over firewire. If you go that route and you run into
problems I'll try and help.
My only problem is playing back the HD Fox channels (720p), all of the
rest of the HD channels play fine. Odd since I actually have to run a
deinterlacer for the rest of the channels and they play better.

Brad
_______________________________________________
mythtv-users mailing list
mythtv-users [at] mythtv
http://mythtv.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users

daniel at agar

Feb 10, 2008, 7:49 PM

Post #6 of 11 (1604 views)
Permalink

Re: Shouldn't have bought an HDTV [In reply to]

> Doug Meredith wrote:
>>
>> I’ve been a MythTV user for over a year now, and the WAF has been very
>> high. About six weeks ago I made the mistake of buying our first HDTV.
>> My wife is quite disappointed that everything looks “the same”. To be
>> honest, I’m pretty disappointed too. Even DVDs look amazing compared
>> to my captures. I’ve been investigating my options for capturing HDTV,
>> and have come up with the following:
>>
>> 1. Over the air. Not an option. There are no HD broadcasts in New
>> Brunswick, Canada.
>> 2. QAM capture. I get four unencrypted HD stations and a number of
>> digital SD broadcasts. I have an HD Home Run but I’m nervous
>> about deploying this at all due to reports of cable companies
>> changing what is available unencrypted or changing frequency
>> assignments without warning. In any case, it isn’t going to get
>> me HD.
>> 3. Get a cable box and hope that I get what I want through fire
>> wire. Some people have difficulty making this work, it seems. No
>> guarantee there will be **any** unencrypted stations on fire
>> wire, and if there are, no guarantee they will stay unencrypted.
>> I don’t think I would risk this even if it would work now.
>> Better to never have HD than to have it and have to tell my wife
>> we are going back to SD.
>> 4. Get a moded cable or satellite box. The two options I have seen
>> are Windows-only. It isn’t clear how easy or convenient it would
>> be to tie Myth into there recording scheme.
>>
>> Unless I’m missing something, there are **no** good options. Option
>> four, while expensive, looks the most hopeful. I’m just not sure I’m
>> willing to put in the time required to be on the bleeding edge with
>> this.
>>
>> We can dream about the encryption situation changing, but I don’t
>> think that anything is going to happen that will let me record HD in
>> the next couple of years. If anything, cable companies are likely to
>> clamp down more and more on options two and three. It really looks
>> like option four may be my only hope.
>>
>> Have I missed anything that should give me reason to be optimistic
>> about being able to record HD in the (very) short term? Personally I
>> wouldn’t give up Myth just to get HD. But I worry greatly about the WAF.
>>
>> Doug
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> mythtv-users mailing list
>> mythtv-users [at] mythtv
>> http://mythtv.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users
>>
> Hi Doug,
>
> I'm actually in NB as well and am just renting the Roger's HD set top
> box (the plain one, not the PVR). It's been working quite well for me
> for the past month or so. If my STB can tune the channel I can pull it
> off just fine over firewire. If you go that route and you run into
> problems I'll try and help.
> My only problem is playing back the HD Fox channels (720p), all of the
> rest of the HD channels play fine. Odd since I actually have to run a
> deinterlacer for the rest of the channels and they play better.
>
> Brad

Sorry to hijack the thread, but do you get CBC HD unencrypted Brad? For
some reason CBC and PBS HD don't come in over firewire for me in Ontario.
I was quite disappointed.

_______________________________________________
mythtv-users mailing list
mythtv-users [at] mythtv
http://mythtv.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users

ctreleaven at cogeco

Feb 10, 2008, 7:54 PM

Post #7 of 11 (1606 views)
Permalink

Re: Shouldn't have bought an HDTV [In reply to]

At 10:00 PM -0500 2/10/08, Phil Bridges wrote:
>On Feb 10, 2008 9:30 PM, Doug Meredith <doug.meredith [at] skyridge> wrote:
> >...
> > QAM capture. I get four unencrypted HD stations and a number of digital SD
>> broadcasts. I have an HD Home Run but I'm nervous about deploying this at
>> all due to reports of cable companies changing what is available unencrypted
>> or changing frequency assignments without warning. In any case, it isn't
>> going to get me HD.

I don't know where Doug is in New Brunswick but an entry in the wiki indicates that there is a fair amount of digital content available on Rogers in Fredericton:

http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/index.php/Working_QAM_cable_layout#Fredericton.2C_New_Brunswick_.28Canada.29_-_Rogers

Worst case, you buy and test an HDHomerun for a while. If it works out, great. Yes it is a pain if they remap channels but it won't happen that often. If it doesn't work, offer it on the eBay (or even just this list) and you'll probably only be out $25 and shipping.

BTW, I take it you already have a QAM tuner (in a TV?) which is how you know that there are 4 unencrypted HD and more digital SD. An HDHomerun will tune all the same channels.

Craig
_______________________________________________
mythtv-users mailing list
mythtv-users [at] mythtv
http://mythtv.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users

skibum at nbriders

Feb 11, 2008, 5:07 AM

Post #8 of 11 (1583 views)
Permalink

Re: Shouldn't have bought an HDTV [In reply to]

Daniel Agar wrote:
> Sorry to hijack the thread, but do you get CBC HD unencrypted Brad? For
> some reason CBC and PBS HD don't come in over firewire for me in Ontario.
> I was quite disappointed.
>
> _______________________________________________
> mythtv-users mailing list
> mythtv-users [at] mythtv
> http://mythtv.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users
>
Hi Daniel,

PBS HD is actually in the clear, I'd tried an ATSC card before I rented
the Rogers STB and it was one of the 2 channels that I could actually
pickup, all of the rest were encrypted. I can also tune CBC (Gotta have
Hockey night in Canada ;). I'm in Fredericton and this is the current
list of channels that I can tune:

HD Rogers Sportsnet - SPOHDTV
HD TSN - TSNHD
HD Discovery Channel - TDCHD
Raptors NBA TV HD - RAPTRHD
HD OMNI.1 - CFMTDT
HD OMNI.2 - CJMTDT
HD SUN TV - CKXTDT
HD CBC Toronto - CBLTDT
HD Global Toronto - CIIIDT
HD CTV Toronto - CFTODT
HD Citytv Toronto - CITYDT
HD ABC Seattle - KOMODT
HD CBS Seattle - KIRODT
HD NBC Seattle - KINGDT
HD PBS (East) - KSPSDT
HD FOX Seattle - KCPQDT
HD ABC Detroit - WXYZDT
HD CBS Detroit - WWJDT
HD NBC Detroit - WDIVDT
HD PBS (East) - WTVSDT
HD FOX Detroit - WJBKDT
HD WGN Chicago - WGNDT
Showcase HD - SHCSCHD
National Geographic Canada HD - NATGCHD
HDNET Canada - HDNTCAN

Brad
_______________________________________________
mythtv-users mailing list
mythtv-users [at] mythtv
http://mythtv.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users

jdc at uwo

Feb 11, 2008, 7:35 AM

Post #9 of 11 (1600 views)
Permalink

Re: Shouldn't have bought an HDTV [In reply to]

Daniel Agar <daniel [at] agar> writes:

> I've been quite successful in capturing HD through a rogers STB in Ontario
> for the past 6 months. I get most of the big stations (including american)
> unencrypted through firewire.

Can you tell us what city you are in? I haven't heard of other success
stories in Ontario, so I'm curious before I give it a try. I'm in
London, Ontario.

Dan
_______________________________________________
mythtv-users mailing list
mythtv-users [at] mythtv
http://mythtv.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users

daniel at agar

Feb 11, 2008, 11:22 AM

Post #10 of 11 (1578 views)
Permalink

Re: Shouldn't have bought an HDTV [In reply to]

> Daniel Agar <daniel [at] agar> writes:
>
>> I've been quite successful in capturing HD through a rogers STB in
>> Ontario
>> for the past 6 months. I get most of the big stations (including
>> american)
>> unencrypted through firewire.
>
> Can you tell us what city you are in? I haven't heard of other success
> stories in Ontario, so I'm curious before I give it a try. I'm in
> London, Ontario.
>
> Dan

I'm in Stratford, which falls under Kitchener/Waterloo for rogers. I'm
using an SA3250HD and the main HD channels I capture over firewire are

//CBC HD not available in ANY digital form over firewire including analog
channel 5
509 CJMTDT
515 CIIIDT
517 CFTODT
519 CITYDT
//ABC,CBS,NBC,FOX (not sure which is which)
527 WKBWDT
528 WIVBDT
529 WGRZDT
531 WUTVDT

The other channels in between are hit or miss, some digital SD versions of
comedy, bbc canada, discovery, showcase are available and much nicer than
analog.

_______________________________________________
mythtv-users mailing list
mythtv-users [at] mythtv
http://mythtv.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users

doug.meredith at skyridge

Feb 11, 2008, 7:17 PM

Post #11 of 11 (1569 views)
Permalink

Re: Shouldn't have bought an HDTV [In reply to]

> BTW, I take it you already have a QAM tuner (in a TV?) which is how
you
> know that there are 4 unencrypted HD and more digital SD. An
HDHomerun
> will tune all the same channels.

I do have a TV with a QAM tuner. I also have an HDHomeRun. I'm going
to continue forward with deploying this. I'm moving to a new house in
about a month. After the move I'll get a STB and see if I'm as lucky
here in Moncton as Brad Borgald is in Fredericton.

Doug
_______________________________________________
mythtv-users mailing list
mythtv-users [at] mythtv
http://mythtv.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users

Index | Next | Previous | View Threaded

Interested in having your list archived? Contact Gossamer Threads