[Eug-lug] Mythtv && Comcast Digital TV Tuning

[Ben Barrett]

What??  Playboy is on TV????  I'll be right back, just have to get my
soldering iron!!

lol :)  Also sounds like a ripe marke for a comcat-box "mod chip" -- those
things seem to be doing pretty well on nearly every gaming platform,
and for most now you don't even need to solder at all, for some you don't
even have to crack the case.  Comstrictic does have it easy though --
they get paid, and then if someone does RE it, they can go crying to the
hardware maker who will produce a new revision I'm sure...
then the folks selling mod chips can profit again too.  :(  Maybe our energy
would be better-spent support Fair Use via EFF or similar.

happy sunday morning musings,

    Ben


On 12/2/06, roger <roger at eskimo.com> wrote:
>
> On Sat, 2006-12-02 at 20:08 -0800, Ben Barrett wrote:
> > One *could*, theoretically, bring an s-video or component video output
> > (although I think most Craptastic set-top boxen only hav composite
> > video out) into MythTV, and train an RF-transceiver to C's box.  It
> > doesn't sound seamless or entirely easy, but rather, a bit convoluted,
> > but ... possible today with COTS components.
> > Sounds like something worthy of an open source bounty :)
>
> There are two newer Comcast digital set-top boxes.  One tiny box w/ I
> think composite out and the other HDTV w/ Firewire.
>
> In theory, you could use an IR blaster with both of them, but my last
> experiment a couple of months ago was doubtful.  I found out the hard
> way an IR blaster was doubtful with these two newer boxes.
>
> Now, HDTV box with firewire, you can actually stream the mpeg directly
> to your hard drive and mythtv is also setup to directly change the
> channel on this box using firewire directly!  (Granite, I didn't get
> firewire channel changing setup but it is easily possible by way of
> other methods -- and the code is in Mythtv already to change the channel
> via firewire.)
>
> However, all the channels are blocked on the firewire port except our
> local free TV/FM channels. (Something like 4-6 channels at most.  Yes,
> even CNN/Foxnews is blocked!)
>
> So, if one doesn't want to reverse engineer the newer set-top digital
> boxes, they can possibly acquire an older digital set-top box with a
> serial port.  If I'm not mistaken, you can change the channel via the
> serial port (directly connected to your mythtv box).  IR Blaster method?
> I can't remember.
>
> >
> > We consumers should NOT be suffering just because our desires are at
> > the edge of the bell-curve (of profits!),
> > and if it doesn't integrate well, then ... I dunno, build a robot to
> > push the right buttons?
> >
> I don't have all day just to watch TV while reverse engineering this
> feature.  It's best left to younger hackers who love to watch TV (aka
> Playboy) all day. ;-)
>
> The other way I look at things like this, I spend a lot of time reverse
> engineering something while Comcast sits back and rakes in the rental
> profits off of Linux gurus.
>
> It already took me several days to figure out the firewire port was
> blocked with a copyright feature.  Comcast never told me any of this.  I
> told them what I wanted to do with the box the day I picked it up about
> using the firewire port.  Nobody told me it was blocked.  At most, I
> though only the Movie/Pay Per View channels would be block and not my
> Discovery Channel. :-/
>
> It's their product.  If they want to sell it, they have to provide the
> means.  Forgive me if the specifications for the digital set-top boxes
> have already been posted to implement the features.
>
> I rarely record TV/Cable shows.  And when I do, I watch them once and
> delete them as they're a lot of space on my drives and too much time to
> burn to DVD.
>
> I was just checking up on this to see if any of you tried anything
> recently.
>
> >     Ben
>
>
> Sorry for the chicken scratch as I'm kind of frustrated with the digital
> service.  Got no real gripes about any else about Comcast. :-)
>
> --
> Roger
> http://www.eskimo.com/~roger/index.html
> Key fingerprint =3D 8977 A252 2623 F567 70CD 1261 640F C963 1005 1D61
>
> Sat Dec 2 22:10:30 PST 2006
>
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