It says network is unreadable.

EDIT: I got it working again.

Ugh. I got it back on the network by redoing the net config. Now, I got everything setup like tjc said in the link he gave me, then I went to watch tv, and still black. AHHH!!!!!!!!

I have Comcast digital cable, would that be a problem?

I checked all my settings, and ran mythfilldatabase again. And I got this error twice



I also got that error when I was trying to play around with mythweb. What could this mean? Im gonna search it see if I can find anything.

Very possibly. If a "plain old cable ready TV" won't work with a direct connection, then neither will the tuner input on a PVR card.

I've forgotten (and am too tired to go back and check), are you trying to use the tuner input? IrishCream discovered this was a no go in markets where Comcast is trying to force people to go to digital cable using their box.

The trick then is to set up to control the cable box (using an IR blaster or some kind of control cable like serial or firewire), and take your input from that, in whatever it's best output format (typically SVideo) is.

You may even be able to browbeat them into observing the letter of the regulation and giving you a cable box with firewire control and capture capability.

Hmm, ill look into the external output of the box.

It has IR, S-Video out, and Video Out. How I connect everything threw the box?

What does "video out" look like? Yellow RCA phono jack (composite)? VGA connector? ??? Lacking that info, I'd guess something like this:

You can do the same with composite substituted for svideo.

Yes, its composite. I would have the use the cable box remote right? How would I set that up. I gotta run out and get a S-Video cable tommorw, and I get everything done.

That's what the IR dongle, aka an "IR blaster" is for. An IR transmitter that lets your computer emulate the IR remote control for the cablebox. The labelled arrows e.g. --name-> in that picture are supposed to indicate the type of connection.

Search for "ir blaster" or "ledxmit" or "irsend" for more information.

The IR blaster goes from COM1 pc to the plug in the cable box right? Is there any extra config. work i need to make my cable box remote work with Myth?

That's not an IR blaster, it's a serial control cable. Even if you've got a serial port for one on the cablebox it may or may not be enabled. An IR blaster uses InfraRed light from a Light Emitting Diode. The same "action at a distance" magic as an IR remote control. Since it emulates your remote control (which you should already know works) there's slightly less uncertainty. If you have a PVR-150 (crud you have a PVR-250, you'll need a serial port IR dongle) it actually comes with one on the same cable as the remote control sensor. There are also models that you hook to a serial port, but there's no electrical connection to the tha cable box. The emitter at the end of the cable sends out a beam of IR light which is read by the IR sensor on the cable box.

Just like anything else it has to be configured to work.

The PVR250 has a little ir cable hookup like the cable box, just making that known since ther was some question about that earlier.

Edit - So there is a IR blaster cable or something that connects from the box to the HTPC? Still confused on how the ir would control the pc. I searched google, and found irblaster.info , and didn't really find what i needed there, or what i think i needed

You have a remote control for the cable box right? Is it connected to the cable box by a wire? I'm not talking about an IR sensor on an extension here, but literally the object that you normally hold in your hand, with buttons on it, that you push to make the cable box change the channel, being physically connected to the cable box with a wire. If the answer is NO (like 99% of the cable boxes I've seen) then the remote is almost certainly transmitting to an IR sensor that is either 1) part of the cable box or 2) connected to it with a wire.

The whole point of an IR blaster is that it can send exactly the same IR signals that the cable box remote normally does. This is called "emulating the remote".

So... You use a remote (like the one that comes with your PVR-250) to control the computer. The computer uses an IR blaster to control the cable box by emulating the cable box remote.

Is this getting any clearer?