MythTV - IEEE1394a - CableBox

Yes, you can do this with Mythtv. There's instructions on the Myth Wiki I believe. You'll only be able to get channles that don't have 5C protection.
-Trouble

Yes you can hook up multiple cable boxes. I can check the 5c encryption on DCT 6200 (motorola) by looking at the service menu when tuned to a channel.If you have a motorola cable DVR search for the wiki - it gives all the information about how to find the 5C encryption. What is 5c encrypted varies GREATLY from provider to provider and region to region within providers. Where I am I can watch/stream/record almost every channel (including all premium channels and all HD channels). You can record from a box you use to watch tv ( I do this) but don't do both at the same time (at least, don't change the channel while it is recording). Mythtv will change the channel for you on supported boxes. You need to have the cable box firewire hooked up to your backend, as you have to add it as "tuner" that your backend controls. Just make the frontend you have near it a slave backend - that's what I did. This basically turns my cable box into a DVR that I can stream to any of my frontends, live or recorded.


What box are you planning on using this with? Also - the firewire output on the box must be enabled.

There are component capture cards out there, but they are quite pricey and i don't think any of them have linux drivers yet, and the hard drive space required to do so would be enourmous, even by today's standards.

I'm a longtime Linux user and MythTV user. I just picked up a HDTV and will attempt to extract the content off via the firewire card. I'm also considering picking up an AirStar-HD5000AV capture card as well. It would be nice having a second tuner to record off of. I watched Heroes in HD for the first time last night and it was pretty awesome. I'll let you guys know how I make out with the firewire capture.

Yes, just use samba or NFS to share the storage on your backend and have the frontends use that to record to. I prefer samba as it allows me to share between xbox, windows pcs, etc.


yes, but it takes some trial and error to set up. Best bet is to use Jarod's fedora core guide.


You want to keep the mysql server on the same machine as the main mythtv server. Lots of problems have been caused when it's not local due to the latency and also saturation of the network. I have seen a lot of help messages that were solved on the mailing list due to the mysql not being on the main server.

You can have as many backends as you want, but only one master backend per system. And you only need one mysql server, and it's the one on the master backend. I've got 4 HDTv cards in my master backend/frontend, and 1 card in a slave backend/frontend. I'd say it's best to record to the same box the tuner is in. That's what I do anyway. Otherwise, the recording would have to stream across the net to the master backend storage. The 5th tuner I have rarely gets used and is in my wifes box. I've set the shows that only she watches to record off that tuner and on to her drive.

I have a mitsu 65" tv with a TV card from the cable company in the back of the TV. The TV has firewire out. Is it possible to use MythTV to record HD channels from that. I know it is a driver issue to make the TV see the computer as a D-VHS. i know i can not see 5c channels but if i wanted to store a football game in HD when i am away can i do it with mythtv