Re: No change (WAS Re: [PLUG] HDHomeRun and Comcast Pre-liminary Report)

[TuskenTower <tuskentower@gmail.com>]

To make sure that I am understood. :)

If you want free to air HD channels with Comcrap cable, you can get
them with the HDHomeRun (thanks for the heads up about FiOS).  Things
work out of the box with MythTV.  Channels are identified by call
sign, except channel 3 (CBS KYW) which shows up as channel 26 (its
free to air channel which you can find out from antennaweb.org).

If you want to use your Comcrap cable and get the SD channels
(including SD cable channels), then your HDHomeRun will not get all of
them.  There is a smattering of clear QAM SD channels, but they are
not identified automatically.

By smattering, I mean that you won't get all the channels through
HDHomeRun that you get with the cable box (or analog cable tuner).
>From my probing, the clear QAM SD channels that I found were mostly
free to air channels.  I could not find many of the usual cable
channels like TNT, SciFi, Comedy, CNN, etc.

I assume that anyone can get a cable box to play nice with MythTV if
you have an IR blaster.  I don't have either so I'm not going to try.

Mac Minis unfortunately are not Santa Rosa yet (neither are the MacBooks).

Keep waiting for affordable SED.  Last I remember those things were
delayed yet again.  Did a quick search and giggle turned up:
http://www.engadget.com/2007/05/25/sed-televisions-delayed-again-possibly-forever/
Sigh, if you can, hold off on the HDTV as long as possible.

Amul


On 10/7/07, zuzu <sean.zuzu@gmail.com> wrote:
> On 10/7/07, TuskenTower <tuskentower@gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > As we know, with QAM, you only get digital channels.  Since most TV
> > don't have QAM tuners, I can only surmise that Comcast expects you to
> > have a cable box (which most of my friends do).
>
> I think both Comcast (and certainly Verizon) carry legacy analog cable
> signals as well as digital.
> (I wonder if they will continue this after 2009.)
>
>
> > I am guessing here,
> > but I believe that if you want to receive HD free to air channels you
> > have to get a digital cable box.  This means that if you have basic
> > digital cable, you are limited to basic cable (unlike we are without
> > the box and QAM capable TV).
>
> I'm having trouble parsing what you're saying here.  the only thing a
> cable box is necessary for is if you want channels encrypted with
> CableLabs DRM.
>
> however, all "free to air" channels are available, at least with FiOS,
> as Clear QAM which many 3rd party digital tuners (such as built-in to
> an HDTV or the HDHR, although not the Elgato Hybrid which only does
> ATSC) support.
>
>
> > I tried lining things up from Comcast's channel lineup with what I
> > found.  It looks like I can see something between Digital Starter and
> > Digital Classic.  I must admit, I am confused and bored with this
> > part.  The SD channels are there, but you have to scroll through the
> > scanned channels to find what you are looking for.  The HDHomeRun is
> > good if you just want the free to air HD channels and don't want to
> > use an antenna.
>
> well, the HDHR is good for ATSC and QAM.  I installed an antenna for
> ATSC originally, but there's too much structural interference where I
> live, so I opted to pay the $13/mo for FiOS to supply me with a high
> quality feed.  I also get extra channels such as Bridges, WGN
> Superstation, Weather Channel, and some other assorted weirdness like
> the EXPO channel, one which shows infomercials 24x7, one which looks
> like a hotel text advertisement, one which appears to be a security
> camera outside someone's driveway gate, etc.  oh yeah, and about 30
> digital radio stations, which I could care less about.
>
> btw, anyone else with FiOS still not getting sound on digital feed for
> WGN and the Weather Channel?  also signal quality has gone down from
> 99% to 83% for me since this started up.
>
>
> > > I have an HDHR that I use with EyeTV on OSX (Mac Mini as dedicated
> > > HTPC) with Verizon FiOS.
> >
> > How is the HD playback?
>
> HD playback on it is fine with a 1.66GHz Core Duo.  it will stutter
> slightly if I backup up a DVD to H.264 at the same time I'm playing
> 1080i (but no stutter with 480p).  I bet if I had a C2D Mini this
> wouldn't be a problem.  (the new Minis support up to 4GB of RAM too;
> guess that means they use the Santa Rosa chipset finally?)
>
>
> > Do you have an HDTV?  I was thinking of using
> > the Mac Mini as a frontend.
>
> no, I have a 10 year old standard TV, or I'll watch shows over the
> network with AFP mounts on my laptop.  I think the S-Video output is
> as good as S-Video can get, and it displays from the beginning of the
> EFI POST, not later when an S-Video driver loads like on Windows or
> Linux (AFAIK).
>
> I'm holding out on HDTV either until SED hits the market, or until
> projectors get smaller, cheaper, brighter, and more durable.
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surface-conduction_electron-emitter_display
>
>
> > > however, it is only an ATSC and QAM tuner, not an analog-to-digital
> > > converter.  if you need the "analog hole" for your timeshifting, I
> > > recommend the Canopus ADVC110 which does a simple RCA to DV conversion
> > > (bi-directional).
> >
> > Does that mean you are using an IR Blaster to control your cable box?
>
> I don't have a cable box.  I use a Nintendo Wiimote as a Bluetooth
> remote control and Remote Buddy to interact with my Mac Mini for the
> TV.
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