[NCLUG] MythTV Questions

[DJ Eshelman]

You know, I have to say now that I've entered the whole HDTV thing when 
I bought what oddly enough is the first new TV I've ever purchased, a 
Samsung 65" DLP (the LED based model); and now that I have DirecTV HD 
with a DVR and a PS3 for Blu-Ray (it doesn't do much else in my house).

First off-  never since the day I moved to Fort Collins eight years ago, 
have I gotten an over-the-air signal, SD or HD.  I've just never been 
motivated enough.  Are you people seriously telling me that you are not 
only able to get the whopping 3 English speaking channels we can 
actually get here, and you're miffed that the gov'ment is taking that away?

Second, this move has been put off three times that I can bring to 
memory.  I remember reading about Digital over the air TV and the myriad 
of benefits (better signal quality, longer signal range and of course 
better picture and sound)... back in the late 80s as a theory, then 
again as an adopted standard in the mid 90s, and in the late 90s the 
promise that all TV would be digital by, if I recall correctly- 2003.  
I'd have to check my source on that, but I believe what happened is that 
people threw a fit because pretty much all they could buy at the time 
were SD TVs without spending a ton, and even though there was even then 
the offer of making set-top boxes available for free or cheap, they 
still caved and said, I thought- 2007.  Then it got pushed to 2009.
This is like Y2k all over again.  People wait until the last minute and 
panic.  But frankly, I can't see the reasons.

Fourth- if you've bought an HDTV in the past year or so, you know the 
price isn't much different, the technology is much more Earth-friendly 
and frankly there is a noticeable difference in quality.  Even DVDs seem 
archaic on bigger screens.  The reality is that the more progress is 
hindered, the longer prices stay high.  How can we be the nation that 
developed the internet, yet be one of the last first world nations to 
adopt DTV broadcasts?

Fifth- forgive me if I'm wrong, but I believe cable companies (and in 
certain areas satellite providers as well) are required to carry 
unencrypted DTV broadcasts of local channels.  I haven't bothered to 
try, but I believe that even when you just have cable internet, 
supposedly you should be able to put an HDTV tuner on it and tune in 
local DTV broadcasts.  Is anyone able to confirm/deny this?

Now, there is a problem that I have currently, and it's a bigg'n-  You 
can't just take a true HD recording from a source like DirecTV HD or 
Cable HD and put it on a Myth box.  You also have no way to extract 
(digitally) recordings from the Linux-based DVR's these companies 
provide- trust me, they're encrypted drives with the decrypt hard-wired 
into the box.  It just can't be done by removing the hard drive and 
hooking it up to your Media Server.
So, with that I can see some bummer about not being able to use Myth for 
recording these broadcasts, and it would be very nice if these DVRs had 
half of the brains of MythTV and the myriad of sub-products developed 
around it.  But for me anyway, watching SD content on that screen makes 
me want to cry; it just looks crappy.  I also understand that it's 
getting really hard to find HDTV hardware that will allow you to record 
over-the-air DTV in HD; can anyone confirm/deny that?  Though I have to 
agree with Brian- Desperate Housewives isn't funny at any resolution.  
And aside from shows like Heroes and Lost... *meh* I say to broadcast 
television in general.

That said, a recent update to the PS3 has made it possible to play 
Divx/xviD movies in upscaled HD that look surprisingly good; so it could 
be that there's still hope for going the MPEG4 route... but for me; I 
bought my system mostly as a social thing- I make it a point to invite 
people over to experience /300/ in 7.1 surround sound with a 65" 
screen.  Otherwise it just wouldn't have been worth it; because once you 
go HD, trust me when I tell you that there is no going back.  I tried 
watching /Planet Earth/ in SD the other day and a single tear formed 
because I knew it could be so much better...

But I digress.

-DJ