firewire, usb, ethernet on my Comcast Cable HD box?!

[DoesSpeedTurnUon]

Can anyone tell me why i would need these, or what they're for, or what happens if i plug one in my computer or up to my network?

[Roliath]

The usb and ethernet are disabled on the HD (DVR) box.

I don't think the fireware is disabled though.

[Snake007]

I've got a motorola cable box, the firewire works but it won't display the menu so you can't see what shows are on, It also says the USB and Ethernet ports may be for "future" use..I bet they're disabled

[DoesSpeedTurnUon]

ok, so the firewire... what happens if you plug it in to a computer?

[Snake007]

[QUOTE=DoesSpeedTurnUon]ok, so the firewire... what happens if you plug it in to a computer?[/QUOTE]

U got a capture card? I would have no idea how the images would be captured if not...

[DoesSpeedTurnUon]

i have a capture card but it just has coax and s video in... but i want the output to be HD quality on my tv after its gone through my pc, i dont want any quality loss.

heres the idea:

from the wall to my comcast HD cable box then to my computer with component cables then from my computer to the tv through component cables or DVI if i can get a good DVI picture

[Snake007]

You won't get HD quality unless you have an HD capable video card...but why not just hook directly up from the box by component or DVI? I don't believe your PC will up-convert/clean up the signal before putting it to your TV..that's what the cable box is designed to do.

[DoesSpeedTurnUon]

[QUOTE=Snake007]You won't get HD quality unless you have an HD capable video card...but why not just hook directly up from the box by component or DVI? I don't believe your PC will up-convert/clean up the signal before putting it to your TV..that's what the cable box is designed to do.[/QUOTE]


so if it goes from the cable box to the PC (cleaned up) and the PC does nothing to it, and just displays it on the PC HD quality can i then output it through my video card to my DLP (hd compatible) tv to get the same HD quality just with my PC in between the tv and the cable box?

[Snake007]

[QUOTE=DoesSpeedTurnUon]so if it goes from the cable box to the PC (cleaned up) and the PC does nothing to it, and just displays it on the PC HD quality can i then output it through my video card to my DLP (hd compatible) tv to get the same HD quality just with my PC in between the tv and the cable box?[/QUOTE]

yes that should work...i just recently got a radeon 9600xt card and it had settings that you could mess with for doing just that...
I've got an RCA DLP 61" HD, and I didnt really notice a difference, so I just left it connected through DVI from the cable box to the TV.

[Sami]

[QUOTE=Snake007]I don't believe your PC will up-convert/clean up the signal before putting it to your TV..that's what the cable box is designed to do.[/QUOTE]
I think that's why people with HTPC's install ffdshow codec package, those will "upscale" the source to displays native resolution.

[Snake007]

[QUOTE=Sami]I think that's why people with HTPC's install ffdshow codec package, those will "upscale" the source to displays native resolution.[/QUOTE]

Good call...

[DoesSpeedTurnUon]

where can i find the ffdshow codec?

[Sami]

[QUOTE=DoesSpeedTurnUon]where can i find the ffdshow codec?[/QUOTE]
http://sourceforge.net/projects/ffdshow