FireWire from digital cable

[Cyclone42]

I presently have digital cable from Cox in Omaha. I am very slowly making the transition to full HD. I am going slowly so I can figure out how to do it without running into costly dead-ends.

Anyone have any experience with FireWire from a cable TV set-top box? I have not been able to get a straight answer from any of the Cox tech support people about whether or not their HD set-top boxes have FireWire.

 

[jumbopackage]

I presently have digital cable from Cox in Omaha. I am very slowly making the transition to full HD. I am going slowly so I can figure out how to do it without running into costly dead-ends.

Anyone have any experience with FireWire from a cable TV set-top box? I have not been able to get a straight answer from any of the Cox tech support people about whether or not their HD set-top boxes have FireWire.

You SHOULD be able to record from that box to your PC. I believe they are required by law to allow you to do so.

You'll need something to view/capture/record the DV stream though.

 

[DBQ Clone]

I should think all you have to do is find out what kind of box they use and look up the specs.

I'm not sure if they're required to have all outputs available. Firewire is not standard for home systems, as far as I know. Component out or HDMI is a lot more likely.

Any kind of data port on a cable box is more than likely used for programming the box, not as an output.

 

[HOTDON]

You SHOULD be able to record from that box to your PC. I believe they are required by law to allow you to do so.

You'll need something to view/capture/record the DV stream though.

You are correct. FireWire is the only port that the cable companies are not legally allowed to disable. USB ports, for example, are generally useless since they are disabled.

Manufacturer puts in features, reseller disables them.

Verizon is notorious for disabling multiple features on the phones they sell. Same deal.

 

[Wesley]

I presently have digital cable from Cox in Omaha. I am very slowly making the transition to full HD. I am going slowly so I can figure out how to do it without running into costly dead-ends.

Anyone have any experience with FireWire from a cable TV set-top box? I have not been able to get a straight answer from any of the Cox tech support people about whether or not their HD set-top boxes have FireWire.

Sounds like your typical media help desk. Guess they should pay more.

 

[BigSkyCy2]

So are you saying I could take a firewire cable, run it from my Mediacom Cable box into my computer and get my DVR'd shows onto my laptop with Windows Media Center???

 

[HOTDON]

I'm not sure of the process, but the FireWire connection is the only one that would make something like that possible.

 

[tim_redd]

I looked into this, but I had problems because I had vista, and most the software for this is for XP.

I'll try to link the stuff I found later.