After converting to a mac almost a year ago I was left with a surplus linux server that had previously been my 'workhorse' machine. I decided to convert it to a media server. I was interested in HD television via tuner cards for a computer-based 'media center' eliminating the need for another lcd tv.
My configuration is as follows:
- AMD64 X2 4200
- 2x80gb SATA hard drives
- 1x300gb external (usb) freeagent drive
- Ubuntu Hardy - 64bit
- MythTV - latest version from the repos
- PCHDTV 5500 tuner card for linux
- Cox Communications digital cable service
- Scientific Atlanta 3250 HD Digital cable box
- SchedulesDirect Subscription for channel/program lineups ($20/yr)
Some of the problems I was forced to troubleshoot included:
- Handling different sources of input from the tuner card and the cable box to get best resolution.
- Handling the audio from the cable box versus analog cable line/inputs which included overcoming delayed, out of sync audio, and no audio at all.
- Firewire connectivity between the mythtv box and the cable box
As I use this configuration I am certain i will be making changes in the near future. However, as time permits I plan to write a few more posts that cover these topics in detail if there is any interest.
2 Comments
I just started trying to get this setup this weekend, at least the pcHDTV 5500 with mythbuntu. Haven’t gotten the firewire card yet to interface to the 3250.
I wondered if it was possible to use the firewire from the SA3250 to get both content and control the box. Keep posting on your progress!
thanks for the post william. I currently have the sa3250 connected via firewire to my linux box. Myth does control the box so its a pretty nice arrangement UNLESS you run into problems with firewire. I have been experiencing intermittent problems with the firewire connection. MythTV has a utility that is called (if you enable in /etc/init.d/mythtv-backend) called ‘mythprime’. This checks the connection to the cable box and initializes. I ended up removing this from the startup script after using for a few weeks and instead setup a cronjob to run mythprime every hour or so. This seemed to help substantially.
Another tweak I had to perform was to set the cable box device to the SA4250 to get the proper channels to be used on the cable box itself. When i used the 3250 in myth setup it would never tune to the correct channels and would send a 5 or 6 digit numeric value ( i could see this in the cable box display). However when i changed the setup to use SA4250 it started sending the correct channels (i.e. 200 for Encore instead of something like 42535).
hopefully this helps!
Ryan