[kwlug-disc] Future of [Rogers] PVR (wrt HDMI)? Black boxes? MythBuntu?

[L.D. Paniak]

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You aren't going to see black-box HDMI-in for DRM reasons.  Even
HDMI-out for over-the-air digital signals is potentially subject to DRM
(see: broadcast flag)

It looks like the only way to capture HD TV in a F/LOSS manner is to use
the Hauppauge HD-PVR.  It captures HD signals from the composite ports
on your cable box/digital source and outputs them over USB to H264.
While the captured signal is not the native digital, I find the results
are more than satisfactory for TV watching.

The upcoming mythtv 0.22 has support for this device along with VDPAU to
accelerate HD playback on newer Nvidia graphics cards.  The upcoming
mythbuntu 9.10 doesn't look to go this far, but there are deb repositories:

http://www.avenard.org/media/Ubuntu_Repository/Ubuntu_Repository.html

http://debian-multimedia.org/

that will let you build your own deb-PVR fairly easily.

unsolicited wrote:
> I'm getting tired of my PVR's - can't get stuff off (directly)[1] from
> my Pioneer; (Windows) http://www.gbpvr.com/ is nice enough, but I'm
> getting tired of the futzing around (it calls api's that provide
> inconsistent controls - e.g. .avi works fine, .iso doesn't)[2] but works
> well with my Hauppauge remote; (windows) VLC gets painful as it does not
> understand the remote.
> 
> [1] Yes, I can write a DVD, then suck that DVD into my PC, but that's a
> PITA.
> [2] .avi will step backwards 10 seconds, .iso won't. And it has to use
> api's to hold on to the remote - if it called out to another program
> (which won't understand the remote) ...
> 
> I can see the advantage of the black box (with HDMI out) that 'just
> works'. e.g.
> http://www.popcornhour.com/onlinestore/index.php?pluginoption=productinfo&item_id=12,
> however: (1) the web pages talk the talk, and they are apparently
> headquartered in California, but discussions with support indicate they
> haven't directly tested their produce on NTSC. Questions on it resulted
> in referrals ... "but you can refer our USA forum moderator". [2] There
> is no HDMI in, no IR emitter to control a cable/satellite box, no
> mention of scheduling such as Schedules Direct ... in short, they are a
> repository and output device only. <sigh>
> 
> It would be de rigeur to have HDMI in (& passthru) to record to hard
> disk and play back at my convenience. i.e. a DVR (PVR). But it appears
> no such black box is available, anyone know any?
> 
> Looks like I'll have to dig into something like MythBuntu, even though
> there are only so many hours in a day.
> 
> 
> Anyone know the state of HDMI in?
> 
> 
> I'm anticipating Rogers will stop analogue transmission in the next year
> or two, so you're going to have to have a Rogers Digital Terminal box.
> So the DVR is going to have to have an IR emitter to control the
> Scientific Atlanta box. e.g. (8300HD)
> http://www.cisco.com/web/consumer/support/settop_8300hddvr.html or
> (3100HD) http://www.cisco.com/web/consumer/support/settop_2100_3100.html.
> 
> 
> Anyone know the likelihood of Rogers being replaced by the internet
> (live/streaming TV) any time in the near future?
> 
> 
> One web page I came across noted any device manufacture that offered
> HDMI in for recording would be buried and driven out of business by
> litigation. [Unless it comes out of China, I suppose. Only receivers /
> passthru or display devices permitted to have HDMI in.] So it's going to
> be home built boxes only.
> 
> Any HDMI in cards out there?
> 
> 
> MythBuntu experience out there? Good / bad?
> 
> 
> John mentioned MythDora not long ago. I'd currently feel better about a
> Debian based distro though.
> 
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