Mythtv with Qwest Choice service?

[Steve Smith]

Ted Gould wrote:
> On Sat, 2006-06-03 at 02:54 -0700, Dazed_75 wrote:
> 
>>Isn't the Qwest set-top actually a Direct-TV setup?
> 
> 
> He is talking about "Qwest Choice" which is different than other deals
> that Qwest has for getting TV to your home.  It uses VDSL to transport
> the video, not satellite signals.

Spot on.

>>And as such is it not a digital sytem that eiyther puts an analog TV
>>signal out to a single channel ( e.g. channel 4) or to an A/V
>>connection?  

The Motorola RG2200C spews 3 data streams out the coax 'video out'
connection: channels 6, 7 and 13. They supply 3 remotes, one per output
channel.

> 
> Heh, well, by that definition nothing is digital.  Everything transforms
> a video signal into analog at some point.  Granted LCDs do it on a per
> pixel basis inside the TV set, but it still gets converted to analog.
> The transport of the signal to the home is entirely digital, it is MPEG
> encoded, so it is as digital as DirecTV or digital cable.
> 
> 
>>They probably use only the A/V outputs form the set top box and those
>>would be useless unless your MythTV setup had a way to tune the set
>>top box and that would not involve the Haupauge unit at all. 
> 
> 
> Yes, he's looking for a way for the Linux PC to control the set-top.
> This still uses the Haupauge card for the re-encoding of the signal.  On
> most video networks the transport stream is not provided, it is heavily
> encrypted, so it has to be reencoded in the MythTV setup.  Typically
> settops have some sort of serial command set that can be used to control
> them for external devices (like Tivo), but other people will record the
> remote using an IR blaster/receiver and just send the keys that way.
> 
> 		--Ted

Yes, the IR blaster is where I've got the biggest problem. The Windows
blaster config software has a database of several hundred cable and
satellite box command sets, none of which seem to work on the Qwest unit.

I've been trying to use KnoppMyth but haven't had any luck getting video
out of it or playing a dvd. It did correctly configure the nVidia card,
so I can play a rousing game of Tux Racer.

I have a sad hack in place to record under Windows for now. I tell the
cable box what show to tune at a given time, then tell the WinTV
Scheduler what time to record, and for how long.

I guess from here I'll start looking into building MythTV from source,
and try to add support for the Qwest box myself.

I don't suppose you know of an existing program that'll learn and
regurgitate IR commands from a remote? That'd be a time-saver.

Regards,

Steve