What's the state of HD tuners in Canada these days?

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ChristopherNeufeld
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Canada

What's the state of HD tuners in Canada these days?

Post by ChristopherNeufeld »

Every couple of years I try to figure out whether any of our options have changed for HD recording in MythTV. Because we don't have CableCard up here, we're somewhat more limited than the users in the USA.

On my system, I have a HDHomerun3, which is a dual-tuner receiver for OTA digital transmissions. Works perfectly with MythTV. I also have a Hauppauge HD-PVR model 1212 connected to a Rogers STB. I believe that the 1212 has been discontinued, and that there's nothing to take its place yet.

So, is that the sum of Canadian solutions to HD recording? Does any of Bell/Rogers/Shaw/etc. offer a STB with useable and supported firewire outputs? I assume all the boxes in use these days use HDCP on their HDMI outputs. Is there any other option for Canadian MythTV users?
p8zmyth
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Canada

Re: What's the state of HD tuners in Canada these days?

Post by p8zmyth »

hmm HDHomerun3 ? I hadn't heard much of it and what i did hear wasn't that good. Never the less some support for linux is
better than none i suppose. as for Shaw STB which i use i have not been that impressed. Firewire support was not there although
i was able to record some of my channels using it and when i asked shaw tech support i was informed that they were only protecting
their content (which i just wanted to watch anyway i don't bootleg and or obsessively collect like some are alleged to do) and the compon-
ent out was available on the stb. Now i have to use an hd-pvr (which doesn't work perfectly) to record my shows on mythtv. As far as i
know the newer shaw stbs do not even have firewire out anyway anymore. Shaw tech support flat out refuses to help and the stbs that do
have firewire are hobbled and don't work well. Oh and there is more, they have their own pvrs they sell which allows you to record
and watch your own shows (all content probably encrypted and locked in to the pvr and also probably with unmentioned back doors
and spyware features built in like tivo) that i am not interested in. Oh well i never much liked television anyway (most of the content
sucks and the flicker rate lowers your i.Q.) and i only really record 2 or 3 programs every week or two and i am considering cancelling
my subscription to shaw anyway. What i really did enjoy was the challenge of building my own pvr on slackware 14.1 using mythtv.
I also use makemkv and that allows mythtv to play bluray discs flawlessly for the most part and mythtv has an excellent video player
that plays just about every kind of video file you could think of so my video collection is more important that my recordings anyway.
So what it comes down to in Canada is that shaw does not understand or care that it's users only want to watch the content they
have payed for the way THEY want to watch it (minus the commercial model nonsense) and as for protecting their precious content,
pirates will all ways be able to get it anyways (which i do not condone) regardless of any kind of protection which just inconveniences
and annoys shaws paying customers.
Gary Buhrmaster
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United States of America

Re: What's the state of HD tuners in Canada these days?

Post by Gary Buhrmaster »

ChristopherNeufeld wrote: I believe that the 1212 has been discontinued
Has not been discontinued, but since the HD-PVR2 was released and almost everyone expects the 2 to be better (which it might be in Windows, but no "free"(*) Linux drivers for the 2) it may be difficult to find distributors.

(*) Commercially licensed drivers are rumored to be available.
ChristopherNeufeld
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Joined: Wed Feb 12, 2014 9:24 pm
Canada

Re: What's the state of HD tuners in Canada these days?

Post by ChristopherNeufeld »

Gary Buhrmaster wrote:
ChristopherNeufeld wrote: I believe that the 1212 has been discontinued
Has not been discontinued, but since the HD-PVR2 was released and almost everyone expects the 2 to be better (which it might be in Windows, but no "free"(*) Linux drivers for the 2) it may be difficult to find distributors.

(*) Commercially licensed drivers are rumored to be available.
I just noticed on the Hauppauge website the following in their FAQ:
Can I use the HD PVR 2 with Linux?

We are starting to test our Linux support for the HD PVR 2. If you would like to try this out, please send a note to us at: support@hauppauge.com
It remains to be seen whether anything will come of that.
mfriesen
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Joined: Tue Sep 15, 2015 3:11 pm
Canada

Re: What's the state of HD tuners in Canada these days?

Post by mfriesen »

I'm using 2 Hauppauge HVR 1250 PCIx tuner cards. One I bought years ago, and another New In Box I saved from the garbage bin at my work. Both are the same model number but each uses a different frontend chipset. Myth had no trouble in sorting out the difference. In the Tuner card setup, each reported its type of frontend.

Before Mythtv I had played with Win7 and Media Center. It couldn't resolve 2 tuner cards at once. Well at least I couldn't get 2 to work. So for the longest time I just used one card. I found a Youtube video for setting up Myth and it looked so easy, I gave it a try. The Myth set up was a breeze.

I'd prefer to have a dual tuner per card set up like the Hauppauge 2250s but for the amount of recording I do, the single tuner cards are fine.
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