[airmanfirst]

I've had it w/ Comcast; I always thought it was a bad marriage and If I'm going to have to live with an STB its time to file for divorce and go satellite. I'm a long-standing Mythtv user so I've been researching using it w/ either DirectTv or Dish. Here's what I've gleaned from poking around the forums and I'd welcome confirmation, rebuttal or any suggestions about my conclusions. It looks like Mythtv has a provision for directly accessing STBs through firewire. There is even a 'canned' setting in the backend for 'firewire cable box' and in Input Connections a setting for using DishNet long term EIT data. But when I look at the boxes the companies provide they don't appear to include firewire capacity. Is this accurate? In the end it looks like the only practical and available means of using Mythtv as my PVR is the Hauppauge 1212.


David

 

[blackoper]

firewire only works with channels that are not set with recording rules (usually not a lot of them). Otherwise you can't view it anyway. As far as HD goes, currently your only option is the haugepauge hdpvr and a channel change script with firewire or an ir blaster

 

[k_ross]

I don't think any of the satellite boxes have firewire, only cable boxes. If FIOS is an option for you, I recommend that over Dish or Direct. In my house, FIOS with an HD-PVR has higher picture quality than Dish Network did hooked directly to my TV (no HD-PVR in between).

 

[quantumstate]

I have an r5000, which is a kit that connects right into the guts of the Dish 211, and sucks out the pure unencrypted digital transport stream like a vampire. Used it with Myth for a year.


Disadvantages:

- Must compile Myth with a special patch. (no big deal)

- It's fairly expensive.

- Currently commercial-skip is busted, as Myth does not understand Dish's H.264 TS.

 

[mythmaster]

Yep, HD-PVR and R5000HD are your only 2 options. Of the two, HD-PVR would probably be better because of the things QS mentioned.

 

[quantumstate]

I wish I could compare the size & quality of a given show, recorded by HDPVR and r5000.

 

[mythmaster]

I guess that you and k_ross could record the same show then compare the outputs of mediainfo if you guys wanted. I'd be interested in seeing that, as well. It wouldn't really be apples-to-apples, though since you use Dish. The native fios bitrate might be higher.


Maybe someone around here is using HD-PVR with Dish.

 

[bengele]

I use a HD-PVR with a DirecTv H21. I control the H21 with a serial cable. The biggest issues is that I need to use VDPAU to play back the files. As a result some of my older computers will not work.

 

[quantumstate]

Is anyone using the HDPVR with Dish? Record hi-def?

 

[airmanfirst]

Thank you all so much; this is timely and very helpful information. I have a couple follow-up questions. The first is I have my rig set up for control with both a Streamzap as a remote control and a wireless IR keyboard. Will either of these work? FIOS isn't available - I live in a rural area -- and I'm thinking of going with DISH since I kinda, sorta have an in with a local installer. I have one other question which is how does Mythtv interface? Will it, say, instruct the STB to tune to channel X at 1 AM and then change to channel Y at 2 AM to tape shows on different stations?

 

[quantumstate]

With the r5000 it's hardwired directly to the remote optical pickup, and transfers commands/video over USB. Sends commands in response to Myth's instructions (as you surmise), and the STB thinks it's getting infrared from the remote.


With the HDPVR, IDK.

 

[k_ross]

With the HD-PVR, you have three choices for channel changing. Serial, firewire, and IR blaster. I use firewire with my FIOS boxes. I'm pretty sure the Dish boxes don't have firewire. Some have a serial port, but I don't have any experience with trying to change channels over serial with Dish. IR blasting works, although I don't think the IR blaster that comes with the HD-PVR is usable on Linux yet, although Jared Wilson is working on the driver. You'll probably have to buy (or build) an IR blaster.