Re: [mythtv-users] HDTV, Myth, and Cable television -- basic questions
On Mon, 13 Dec 2004 17:51:42 -0500, Micah Wedemeyer <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > 1. HDTV and Cable television > ... > ...in the future, I expect that eventually I will want HDTV. But, I will > still want to watch mostly cable channels. So, finally, a question: What is > necessary to watch HDTV for cable television? Do you think Myth will be able > to > do this, or will the channels be encrypted in such a way to make this > impossible? It is not possible now, and likely will not be possible to watch HDTV on cable TV channels using Myth. > 2. pcHDTV and Broadcast flag - (Non-USA users: ignore this) > ... > The main question is: Will the pcHDTV 3000 allow for HDTV over cable? Note: > I'm > not asking for a guarantee here, just a "It's in the works..." Mainly, I > don't > want to buy a card that is only for OTA HDTV and has no plans for cable. There is talk that pcHDTV is working on QAM-capable firmware for the pcHDTV 3000. If the pcHDTV people provide QAM-capable firmware, then it should be possible to use the pcHDTV 3000 to watch HDTV on cable TV - but *only* if the particular channel is not encrypted. Most cable providers encrypt some channels; many cable providers encrypt all channels. > 3. MythTV and broadcast flag - (Non-USA users: ignore this) > Assuming I miss the June date and buy a HDTV tuner card after that, what of > the > broadcast flag? Anyone have any ideas how this might interact with MythTV? I > understand that it is a hardware issue, but perhaps it can be disabled by > hacked > drivers? More basically, what is the point of it? Can content providers send > out a signal and force all copies of tv-show X to delete themselves? The way I understand it, hardware manufactured after the cut-off date will be required to honor the broadcast flag. No one knows for sure what this will mean. Many people (me included) read the statute to mean that if a show has the broadcast flag enabled, the tuner hardware must prevent the show from being recorded. If this reading is correct then a PVR (or HD-capable digital VCR) set to record program X would not record program X if the content provider enables the broadcast flag for program X. Hope that helps, Lane -- Meetup with other Myth users! http://mythtv.info/moin.cgi/MUG ___ mythtv-users mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mythtv.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users
Re: [mythtv-users] HDTV, Myth, and Cable television -- basic questions
Micha... Right off the bat, you need to be aware of two things: - Watching HD cable requires a card that can 'understand' QAM encoding. More than this, many QAM signals are encrypted and you'll need a CableCard compatible decoder -- of which I know of none for PCs right now. - The pcHDTV3000 is meant for Over-the-Air HD signals right now. Apparently, the pcHDTV folk have access to QAM firmware but haven't released it yet. - For QAM digital cable, many cable operators will *not* "initialize" a device that isn't sold by them. This is analogous to cellular carriers who will only 'activate' phones sold by them. - Believe it or not, Over-the-Air HD broadcasts are often better quality than cable HD (QAM). Many North American cable operators have really crammed as much as they can out of their available bandwidth :-( Bear in mind that some operators advertize programs that are merely 480P as "being in HD", too! Hope that clarifies a few things. -marc On Mon, 13 Dec 2004, Micah Wedemeyer wrote: OK, I'm sure these questions have been asked and answered 100s of times already, but I couldn't find much by searching the forums. Moreover, I couldn't find good answers searching around the web, either. Basically, I'm totally confused and I want to get straighented out before the broadcast flag thingy goes into effect. So, these are some rambling thoughts/questions that I am tossing out there: 1. HDTV and Cable television Right now, I have Comcast Cable in Atlanta, GA (USA). I mostly watch special interest channels (Cartoon Network, Comedy Central, SciFi, etc.) These are not Hi-Def, as far as I know. Plus, they will probably be the last to go Hi-Def (nothing to support this, just a hunch.) So, I don't really need HDTV right now, especially since I don't have a Hi-Def TV-set. But...in the future, I expect that eventually I will want HDTV. But, I will still want to watch mostly cable channels. So, finally, a question: What is necessary to watch HDTV for cable television? Do you think Myth will be able to do this, or will the channels be encrypted in such a way to make this impossible? Note: I'm not talking about stealing cable, I'm talking about paying for a subscription and getting some sort of decryption key or hardware decryption interface. 2. pcHDTV and Broadcast flag - (Non-USA users: ignore this) Considering that I want to watch cable HDTV, would it be wise to get a pcHDTV 3000 card? If I buy one before June, then I can forget about this broadcast flag nonsense. However, I don't currently have the capability to do HDTV encode/decode (ie. Epia 10k). So, I'd buy the card and shelve it until mini-ITX systems are fast enough or hardware MPEG-2 acceleration is good enough to do HDTV. Maybe it is already and I just don't know. The main question is: Will the pcHDTV 3000 allow for HDTV over cable? Note: I'm not asking for a guarantee here, just a "It's in the works..." Mainly, I don't want to buy a card that is only for OTA HDTV and has no plans for cable. 3. MythTV and broadcast flag - (Non-USA users: ignore this) Assuming I miss the June date and buy a HDTV tuner card after that, what of the broadcast flag? Anyone have any ideas how this might interact with MythTV? I understand that it is a hardware issue, but perhaps it can be disabled by hacked drivers? More basically, what is the point of it? Can content providers send out a signal and force all copies of tv-show X to delete themselves? That about covers it, at least for now. Sorry if I'm rehashing old territory, but it's still new to me. Thanks, Micah Some keywords to help this get flagged in archive searches: HDTV QAM Quadrature amplitude modulation pcHDTV 3000 broadcast flag cable television -- ___ mythtv-users mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mythtv.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users ___ mythtv-users mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mythtv.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users
[mythtv-users] HDTV, Myth, and Cable television -- basic questions
OK, I'm sure these questions have been asked and answered 100s of times already, but I couldn't find much by searching the forums. Moreover, I couldn't find good answers searching around the web, either. Basically, I'm totally confused and I want to get straighented out before the broadcast flag thingy goes into effect. So, these are some rambling thoughts/questions that I am tossing out there: 1. HDTV and Cable television Right now, I have Comcast Cable in Atlanta, GA (USA). I mostly watch special interest channels (Cartoon Network, Comedy Central, SciFi, etc.) These are not Hi-Def, as far as I know. Plus, they will probably be the last to go Hi-Def (nothing to support this, just a hunch.) So, I don't really need HDTV right now, especially since I don't have a Hi-Def TV-set. But...in the future, I expect that eventually I will want HDTV. But, I will still want to watch mostly cable channels. So, finally, a question: What is necessary to watch HDTV for cable television? Do you think Myth will be able to do this, or will the channels be encrypted in such a way to make this impossible? Note: I'm not talking about stealing cable, I'm talking about paying for a subscription and getting some sort of decryption key or hardware decryption interface. 2. pcHDTV and Broadcast flag - (Non-USA users: ignore this) Considering that I want to watch cable HDTV, would it be wise to get a pcHDTV 3000 card? If I buy one before June, then I can forget about this broadcast flag nonsense. However, I don't currently have the capability to do HDTV encode/decode (ie. Epia 10k). So, I'd buy the card and shelve it until mini-ITX systems are fast enough or hardware MPEG-2 acceleration is good enough to do HDTV. Maybe it is already and I just don't know. The main question is: Will the pcHDTV 3000 allow for HDTV over cable? Note: I'm not asking for a guarantee here, just a "It's in the works..." Mainly, I don't want to buy a card that is only for OTA HDTV and has no plans for cable. 3. MythTV and broadcast flag - (Non-USA users: ignore this) Assuming I miss the June date and buy a HDTV tuner card after that, what of the broadcast flag? Anyone have any ideas how this might interact with MythTV? I understand that it is a hardware issue, but perhaps it can be disabled by hacked drivers? More basically, what is the point of it? Can content providers send out a signal and force all copies of tv-show X to delete themselves? That about covers it, at least for now. Sorry if I'm rehashing old territory, but it's still new to me. Thanks, Micah Some keywords to help this get flagged in archive searches: HDTV QAM Quadrature amplitude modulation pcHDTV 3000 broadcast flag cable television -- ___ mythtv-users mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mythtv.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users
