So now that we have the U-Verse service installed (it's quite nice, 25 Mbps downstream with 3 Mbps dedicated for internetz and the rest for video) I want to be able to capture HD output from the set top box and view it in MythTV. The only way to do that currently is through the Hauppauge HD PVR 1212, which I ordered today.

Next I'll be shopping around for a 1TB SATA II drive to add to the main server and I'll most likely be removing the HDTV OTA capture card out of it - after all, I still have the two tuner HDHomeRun for OTA capture and it seems to pull in the stations a little better.

When I'm done I should have 2 OTA HDTV ATSC tuners, 1 U-Verse HDTV capture input with 2TB of online disk space in a master backend and 2 frontends.

So I heard on the radio this morning that AT&T was finally taking orders for U-Verse in Middle Tennessee beginning today. I had noticed them installing a new SLC at the bottom of the hill for my subdivision back in November, so there was a good chance that I'd be eligible for service. Sure enough, I checked online and it said that I was good to go. I just got a call back from AT&T saying that they could do the install tomorrow, but I asked them for Friday morning, instead.

What is U-Verse?

Fiber to the home. IPTV throughout the house. A DVR with the ability to view the streams on any other receiver in the house. Currently only 1 HDTV stream is available at a time, but that's enough for us. Most of what we watch is still NTSC or HD over the air, which I'll be keeping. Oh, and up to 18 Mbps down / 3 Mbps up internetz connectivity!

EPIC WIN

Yesterday I had DISHnetwork installed at the house, and I think I was close to making the installer's head explode. He had a hard time understanding why I ordered a 4 room setup and put them all in the same room. Let's see if I can explain it well enough - there are two receivers (R1 and R2), each with two tuners (T1 and T2). R1T1 and R2T1 both use an infrared remote, which I can emulate through an infrared transmitter. That makes it ideal for controlling with my MythTV box. R1T2 and R2T2 both use UHF remotes, which I don't have a way to emulate - I'm sure it's possible, just not economical. However, my wife still wanted the ability to change channels and watch TV in other rooms that don't have MythTV front ends on them - namely the kitchen and bedroom. R1T2 sends its signal out on Channel 73, and R2T2 sends its signal out on Channel 80, and they appear to not interfere with each other. I fed the output of R1T2 back into my house cabling setup, reversed the splitters (so that what used to be an OUT is now an IN), and I have the ability to walk around the house with the UHF remote and change the channels on the "dumb tv sets". I'm not using both T2's yet because the tech support people at DISHnetwork said that I can still use infrared on the T2's, so I may get another PVR-150 to add into my MythTV box and then have 3 independent inputs from satellite.