Recording Telstra cable TV on my computer

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kiwipawl

273 posts

Ultimate Geek

#37625 15-Jul-2009 19:09

Hi All

I want to be able to program and record Telstra analog cable TV on my computer. I don't really need HQ as it is only for viewing on a old CRT TV.

I have a old Leadtek USB II Deluxe capture box, which I can use to input the signal from but have no way of controlling the channel selection.

We have IR blasters on several bits of our AV kit at work for controlling AV devices and I was wondering if there is any way I can use these to change chanels on my Cable STB?

I don't want to spend alot of money on this as it is only a interim solution untill telstra get their PVR sorted, later this year "Yeah Right"

Any suggestuions out there?

thanks Paul.

Nety

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#235929 16-Jul-2009 06:38

How are the ir blasters connected and what too? I am guessing that if they are already connected to PC's then it should work. I dont think windows cares what blaster is connected only that there is one.

I use this setup with a HVR-2200 and a Microsoft IR receiver which comes with two blasters. My only complaint is the drop in picture quality.

Media centre PC - Case Silverstone LC16M with 2 X 80mm AcoustiFan DustPROOF, MOBO Gigabyte MA785GT-UD3H, CPU AMD X2 240 under volted, RAM 4 Gig DDR3 1033, HDD 120Gig System/512Gig data, Tuners 2 X Hauppauge HVR-3000, 1 X HVR-2200, Video Palit GT 220, Sound Realtek 886A HD (onboard), Optical LiteOn DH-401S Blue-ray using TotalMedia Theatre Power Corsair VX Series, 450W ATX PSU OS Windows 7 x64

meesham

973 posts

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#235931 16-Jul-2009 07:06

Depending on what OS you're using there's a few Open Source HTPC applications that'll control an IR blaster for you. I'd recommend MediaPortal if you're using Windows (with 4TheRecord to do your scheduling) and MythTV if you're using Linux. They both definitely support the Hauppauge blasters, as long as the blaster is supported by the OS they should work fine.

BarTender

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#236523 17-Jul-2009 19:00

Or get a Fire DVB-C PCI card, and Irdeto CAM, and you should be away with Media Portal, GBPVR or MythTV.

If you plan to import one, PM and I might know a few others who would be interested in getting one as well ;)

sbiddle

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#236572 17-Jul-2009 22:32

Infact there are numerous DVB-C cards that will work.

You just need to be aware that plugging cable into any unauthorised devices (ie anything but a TCL STB or modem) is in breach of TCL's terms and conditions and does have risks of injecting RF interference back into their network. If you do this you will be hunted down!

BarTender

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#236613 18-Jul-2009 08:37

But in theory you could also inject interference by plugging something noisy into the ethernet port of the cable modem.

Most of the times I have heard about problems is when people have wires poor quality rg6 into the mix or plugged their old tv straight into the coax as well. If it was so bad I would have (along with about 6 others I know who run either a dreambox or htpc) been visited by tcl. The only thing I see from tcl is my monthly bill.

If someone was really worried a isolating transformer would sort it out.

Always worth thinking about...

password1

64 posts

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#237100 20-Jul-2009 10:07

What sort of isolating transformer BT?

techo

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#237120 20-Jul-2009 10:48

I am a TelstraClear engineer involved with the HFC network, and I can confirm that the HFC network is very sensitive to ingress RF noise. The HFC network is a 2-way communication path, and ingress RF noise corrupts all cable modem upstream traffic on that particular node. When computers are directly connected to HFC coax, they are very prone to radiating RF noise into the return path, causing your cable modem and all your neighbours cable modems to have poor performance, and wost case drop-outs/outages.

When we notice ingress noise causing poor CM performance, we trace the source of the ingress noise and remove/disconnect it. There have been several instances where the ingress noise has been traced to a computer directly connected to the HFC coax.

It is in your own interest to not connect unauthorised devices to the HFC coax, or tamper with the coax.