Comcast/Mythtv (OT?)

[Jarod Wilson]

On Tue, 2008-11-25 at 21:29 -0500, Tom Metro wrote:
> Jarod Wilson wrote:
> > Tom Metro wrote:
> >> The whole Firewire interface to STBs seems real rickety and
> >> unreliable right now, but maybe it'll get better.
> > 
> > Part of the frailty I'm seeing is on the part of the firewire
> > interface on the cable box. If you poke it in a way it doesn't like,
> > it disappears off the bus, and requires a full power off to restore
> > functionality...
> 
> That's the aspect I was referring to. Even if the Linux side of things 
> works perfectly, we're still dependent on the firmware in the STB 
> working correctly, and a while ago when I was looking at the MythTV 
> user's list there seemed to be a lot of people complaining about flaky 
> STB behavior.
> 
> What makes me skeptical that this situation will improve is that there 
> isn't a mainstream use for the Firewire port on STBs. So the firmware 
> doesn't get adequately debugged, and the cable companies don't have 
> motivation to get it working reliably.
> 
> Contrast that with the potential for clear QAM. Any consumer who buys a 
> modern TV with a tuner becomes a potential advocate for clear QAM once 
> they discover that their brand new wall mounted TV needs to have a cable 
> company STB dangling off of it, and another IR remote.

Excellent point. I'm actually looking at wall-mounting my own set Real
Soon Now. Of course, I have a ton of stuff in addition to a set top box
to hook up to it anyway, so what I'd really like to do is get a new amp
that does hdmi switching and up-conversion of other input types as well,
and only have to run a single video cable to my TV...


-- 
Jarod Wilson
jarod-ajLrJawYSntWk0Htik3J/w at public.gmane.org