Beginner: MythTV & Foxtel

[kizzav]

Hi guys. I've been reading up on info regarding Foxtel integration in MythTV. To be honest, Google is hopeless. I've always ended up getting most of the info here.

I have had MythTV up & running (starting from zero Linux knowledge), for over a year now. I'm very happy with MythTV, considering I'd never touched Linux previously.

I currently don't have Foxtel, but I'm considering it at the moment. However, one of my main wants/needs/clauses/thoughts in getting Foxtel, was to integrate it with MythTV. In my opinion these days, if it isn't integrated with MythTV, forget it.

I suppose my main questions etc are (from a 'Foxtel integration' beginners perspective);

• Does anyone here still run Foxtel on MythTV?
• What hardware is recommended (tuners, card readers etc)?
• Is there a difference or benefits between Foxtel Cable or satellite? Is one integration process easier than the other, or are they the same?
  We have the provision for running satellite, cable would need to be installed prefferably by the installer. Only thing I didn't like about satellite was any bad weather, trees in the way of the line of sight of the dish etc.
• Is the still good for current day use & sufficient?
• I've read previously, that some software is required to decode the Foxtel signal into something MythTV can easily understand. Is that right? Software recommendations?
• How much Linux knowledge is needed? Is this process very in-depth? If I've setup MythTV & kept it running, do I know enough?
• Anything else a beginner should know?

Any replies are greatly appreciated. Cheers.

[DB44]

I don't have a long time to spend so won't attempt to answer all of your questions. I have run Myth for some years now and quite like it. I am not currently using it with Foxtel. A friend had a setup with an old analogue PVR 150 card in the Myth PC. This was connected to video and audio out on an old Pace Foxtel box. It worked well with a media centre remote control and IR Blaster. There are instructions on the web to set up a channel change script. The quality of the recordings once set up properly was quite good, especially considering the analogue/digital conversion etc.

I recall some reports of people setting up myth to work with Foxtel directly via an appropriate satellite card, card reader and software, but did not come across any reports of it working well. Apparently there were many pauses, glitches etc. Perhaps a very powerful myth box would overcome this. However, you should read the thread about Foxtel not working with third party receivers. Foxtel does not want subscribers to be able to receive their service using anything but a Foxtel supplied box. To do so breaches their terms and conditions. It has lately taken technological measures to prevent this. Blue Foxtel cards apparently still work with some third party receivers and could probably be made to work with a myth box and appropriate hardware. However, they are being phased out and will not receive high definition channels. Also, Foxtel did trial changes which stopped them from working for a short time, but for some unknown reasons reversed these changes. They can no doubt be reimplemented at any time when they solve whatever problem caused them to revert. Orange cards do not work at all outside a foxtel box at the moment, not even for standard definition.

If you are prepared to breach the terms and conditions then only the first method of taking a suitable output from the foxtel box and running it through a suitable TV Card is likely to work for long.

Finally, there is a good post about streaming from a dreambox and setting up a "tuner" for the streams in mythtv. Also breaches terms and conditions, and not much good if the blue card also stops working in the Dreambox.

Good luck.

[whiteb]

Also, Foxtel did trial changes which stopped them from working for a short time, but for some unknown reasons reversed these changes. They can no doubt be reimplemented at any time when they solve whatever problem caused them to revert.
Good luck.

Rumor has it, the changes locked out subscribers with older decoders/Blue Cards, due to incompatibilities, and they had to revert the changes, but yes Orange cards and IQ/IQ2 did not hickup.

Now I do not know if this is true, it is just ONE of the stories I heard.

If it IS true, then, either they have to find a work around for the Incompatibility, or just offer FREE upgrades to IQ. But That means contacting each subscriber individually who have the older equipment.