[olug] Myth TV / Cox Digital Box questions etc

[Will Langford]

There's been a few discussions on Myth TV, a few different tuners, and
the Cox DVR over the last few months.

I've got a question.

My main reason for not going with a custom DVR is that the only thing
I know of that can do digital cable is the ATI TV Wonder Digital Cable
Tuner ... and from what I've heard it can be a bit flakey... not to
mention the $300-$600 price tag is a bit of a cause for sticker shock
:).

Why insist on a digital tuner ? Probably half (or more) of the TV I
watch reside in channels over 100 in the Cox channel line up.  I'd
really hate to return to extended analog cable :(.

The Cox DVR is fairly functional, but not really the greatest.  TIVO
seems like it might be an option... and I've heard of many good
success stories on installs, assuming you inform Cox ahead of time of
what you're doing (so as to get a newer model cablecard).... and other
than upfront cost, the ~$20-$25 a month you'd pay in TIVO & CableCARD
rental is prolly about a wash with the Cox DVR.  I've also heard of
the export / rip-able capabilities of the TVIO which sounds useful.

Lastly, I'm not too concerned about losing the On Demand stuff.. a
splitter and vanilla digital box from Cox will take care of that :).

Now for the questions.  First, anyone digital TIVO'd with Cox in the
area ? How's it fair ?  Can you really get contents off ?

Second, I've seen some posts here or there concerning controlling a
Cox box (dvr or regular) via the firewire port.  Even if all it does
is change channels and capture is done via coax, is this indeed a
possibility ?  If so, is there any package dealy for Myth TV (or MCE,
or whatever) to make the whole process less clumsy ?

If there's an upfront cost of $300-$400, but if I get digital cable
tuning abilities and the ability to export content (ie: to quickly
burn to dvd or similar), then... I might be able to be convinced :).

-Will