another Comcast head-end goes digital

[gaf-mNDKBlG2WHs at public.gmane.org (Jerry Feldman)]

While I don't use MythTV, I do have the 2 DTAs that Comcast sent me free
of charge. The DTA does have a remote so it most likely would respond to
your IR. Secondly, one of the DTAs works fine with every channel that I
have tried. That is downstream from an amplifier. However, the other DTA
sometimes does not work with the local channels (such as 4,5,7). It does
work fine with all the other channels and provides me significantly more
channels I had for analog TV. Probably the reason for the local channel
problem is that it is on an old RG59 cable. Sometimes those channels
work, sometimes they don't. But, you should be able to get 2 DTAs free
of charge from Comcast.

On 01/21/2010 09:15 PM, Tom Metro wrote:
> I received a letter from Comcast today informing me of their plans to=20
> switch their expanded basic channels from analog to digital-only on=20
> 2/24/10 in Newton. No surprise there. I had already heard from them or =

> other sources (I don't remember which) quite a while ago that the=20
> transition would happen early in 2010.
>
> So two questions:
>
> 1. Should I expect most of these digital-only channels to be encrypted?=
=20
> This page:
> http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/Comcast_Users_And_scte65scan
> written in response to the Comcast transition, describes a procedure fo=
r=20
> setting up channel mapping for clear-QAM tuners, implying that such a=20
> thing is still useful.
>
> 2. Anyone currently using a Comcast "Digital adapter" (bare-bones cable=
=20
> box) with MythTV? If so, are you using IR or something else to control =

> it? If IR, what IR hardware are you using, and how reliable has the=20
> control been?
>
> The alternative would be renting one of their higher-end cable boxes=20
> that might provide Firewire control. (I assume the low-end ones don't=20
> provide that.) I currently have a Motorola DCT2244/1661/ACDEG (which I =

> haven't tried using with MythTV). It doesn't provide Firewire (I asked =

> for a box that had it when I picked it up, and the people at the Comcas=
t=20
> office were clueless), but has an IR port and a serial port. I see the =

> serial port can be used for control. Does it work better than IR enough=
=20
> to justify a $2/month rental for a second tuner?
>  =20

--=20
Jerry Feldman <gaf-mNDKBlG2WHs at public.gmane.org>
Boston Linux and Unix
PGP key id: 537C5846
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