Preparing for the end of CableCARD

I'm very happy with my Comcast/Xfinity experience using 2 HDHR3-CC but when CC goes away I thought maybe DirecTV 'Stream' BYOD might interest me. Is there an ideal way to accomplish this like maybe 3 or 4 C71KW-400 'Osprey' and maybe HDMI Encoder or something else? I have 1 of the 'Osprey' now that is correct firmware. Could the newer Gemini AIR Dongles work?

If the change to DirecTV was an improvement I might make the change sooner.

Is there maybe a video quality improvement over Comcast/Xfinity CableCARD?

Is there possibly a way to transfer TiVo recordings using maybe an HDMI Encoder?

You can use pyTivo to transfer recordings to your channels DVR server.

MCEBuddy is also an option and I recommend that if you want to get rid of commercials and get metadata of the shows and move it to a folder in Plex format (ie. Every show and movie as it's own folder)

I've had TiVo since 2003 maybe earlier and I've never used or tried PyTivo. Maybe I should have just asked the DirecTV 'BYOD' question and left it at that. I do appreciate your thoughts.

I have been preparing for the eventual loss of Comcast cable cards, but I think we still have a few more years.

For the last few years, I've tried Directv Stream several times for a few months with the Osprey boxes with remote. The experience is very good and the remote is awesome. The only thing I can't stand about Directv Stream is the inability to sort or narrow down the recordings into categories like movies, series, news, sports. Also, the Directv app on the Apple TV is very nice.

DTV recently added profiles. That is a big help. We have a couple individual profiles plus a profile just for movies and other just for sports. That's one way to try and narrow down the recordings that can't be sorted.

The picture quality of the Directv Stream is a lot better than Comcast. Also, the channel selection is very similar to Comcast and that is essential in my household.

Another thing I like about DTV is all the premium channels are in HD. One thing I don't like about Comcast premiums is that the extra premium channels are all in SD on Qam and even on X1 and XF Stream.

If cards went away today or in the next year, we would definitely go to Directv Stream full time.

I'm really the only one in my family that uses Channesl DVR but I do have it set up with 6 HDHR Primes. When cards go away I'll just use channels for Pluto TV, free PlexTV and with my three OTA HDHRs.

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I did the trial last year and I had no issues. Pricing pretty comparable to Comcast/Xfinity.

I'm interested in maybe the best way to add to Channels DVR. HDMI Encoder & multiple 'Osprey' or ?

I'd maybe like to start gathering devices. I believe the 'Home/Start' has changed since my trial and I've found random posts that mention that. I'm certainly 'new' to this and will probably struggle.

I use only 2 Primes and a OTA that has no 'Major' Network locals. Very rural and I've been told a 30' tower at my location the 'Major' Networks are still very doubtful.

I think some folks have gotten the Linkpi five port encoder to work with the ospreys and they say it's good. I use three encoders myself, one for an onn 4k Android box and two others for my provider's Android TV boxes (they use IPTV like DTv). It's definitely a good solution to replace cablecard but can be a little tricky to put together.

Check out the linkpi and ah4c threads here. Also ADBtuner if it supports DTv (not sure) because it's the easiest solution IMO.

So it seems I need to ask maybe a more direct question.

I want to consider using a multi port HDMI Encoder and 3 or 4 DTV 'Stream' Osprey devices to source my Channels DVR. I'm interested in maybe beginning to accumulate the devices and learning HOW TO?

I've tried searching for threads and don't seem to be able to find any threads that deal with only what interests me.

Is there good, better or best in the multi port HDMI Encoders?

If someone is doing this could they maybe post images of their system hardware?

Aside from hardware what else do I need to learn? I have a Synology 220+ NAS and use ATV for clients. Is there better clients when using these decoders etc?

It depends on what you want. Seems like you want the 5-tuner LinkPi (which I would recommend) and then use ah4c with that.

Also got to make sure that the osprey boxes and the linkpi has static ip so that the setup doesn't get messed up and you should be good to go

Start reading from here, then jump into the ah4c thread