[MLUG] firewire with cable box

[Mike Miller <EMAIL:PROTECTED>]

This is interesting.  Thought some of you would want to know about this 
FCC ruling on firewire.  --Mike


---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Tue, 1 Jul 2008 14:18:27 -0500
From: Sunny
To: TCLUG List
Subject: Re: [tclug-list] Has anyone ever used firewire with a Comcast cable box?

On Tue, Jul 1, 2008 at 1:58 PM,  <EMAIL:PROTECTED> wrote:

> Apparently there's an FCC ruling that requires cable companies to 
> provide a firewire-capable set top box if the customer asks for one. Has 
> anyone out there ever tried using firewire to get content out of a 
> comcast cable box? Were they willing to provide you with one of these 
> boxes? Were you able to watch/record any channels on your linux box over 
> firewire?
>
> --Matthew


Yes, I did in the past. I took me about an hour at their office in St. 
Paul until the person there understood what I want, going trough hoops 
that they do not have one, etc. At the end they found a box. It appeared 
that they did not know what to look for. Also, most of the boxes they 
found with firewire were actually DVRs, not regular boxes, and they tried 
to charge me for DVR.

Anyway, they found the box (note, you need to printout and show them the 
FCC ruling, otherwise you may be out of luck).

It worked well with MythTV, and I was able to record the off the air 
(non-encrypted) content. I do not know about others, because I did not pay 
axtra for the rest of the HD channels.

As a summary - the unencrypted channels can be tuned even if you have 
basic subscription w/o HD at all. So if you need only them you are better 
with a HD tuner card.

Cheers

--
Svetoslav Milenov (Sunny)

Even the most advanced equipment in the hands of the ignorant is just
a pile of scrap.

_______________________________________________
members mailing list
EMAIL:PROTECTED
http://mlug.missouri.edu/mailman/listinfo/members