CableCARD tuner support for MediaPortal 1 (4 Viewers)

[CodeMonkey]

I have a Ceton InfiniTV PCIe card, and using MP 1.3 Beta with MM's patch from the first post works great! I did have to initialize the card using Windows Media Center first (otherwise I had odd issues), but now i use MediaPortal exclusively and the Ceton InfiniTV is completely rock-solid.

Color me confused then. Unless letting Media Center talk to it somehow turned off that PlayReady thing.
Do you have to use Media Center every time you power up or just that one time?

And MMs patch lets you get video in MediaPortal?

OR, and this is beginning to make sense to me as I read more about PlayReady, having Media Center installed also installs PlayReady on your system (seems to from what I read). Initializing the card once with Media Center also initialized PlayReady and now that it is, MediaPortal can use the card now as well.
This makes sense to me. The true test is to see if MediaPortal or any other BDA aware app can use the card if the system never had Media Center installed on it.

 

[Tsaukpaetra]

I'm thinking that Media Center "unlocks" the tuner as it pairs with the device (probably some sort of key exchange or something). This allows DRM'd content to be transmitted, but Media Center still has to decode the resultant stream into something usable (something I'm assuming using the right filtergraph is doing).

 

[CodeMonkey]

I'm thinking that Media Center "unlocks" the tuner as it pairs with the device (probably some sort of key exchange or something). This allows DRM'd content to be transmitted, but Media Center still has to decode the resultant stream into something usable (something I'm assuming using the right filtergraph is doing).

I was editing my post above as you were typing yours
We are thinking the same thing I believe. Which would mean Media Center would have to be installed on your MediaPortal PC in order to use this card. And even then, we might be breaking some kind of DRM license agreement doing that.

Does anyone know if the hdhomerun prime can get video into MediaPortal if Media Center was never installed? I really have no interest in messing with this PlayReady DRM.

 

[2BitSculptor]

There are people standing in line to get this resolution, they've paid for the cablecard and just want to get it to work... something about no US settings in the HDHR Prime config?

discussion here... https://forum.team-mediaportal.com/threads/tv-server-setup-for-hd-homerun.115123/page-2#post-977302

 

[Tsaukpaetra]

something about no US settings in the HDHR Prime config?

Perhaps. The scanning settings are actually just XML files (you can find them at:

C:\ProgramData\Team MediaPortal\MediaPortal TV Server\TuningParameters\

Unfortunately, our tuners are not being recognized correctly, and this is half the battle, as the cards won't tune if they're not being spoken to correctly

 

[Tsaukpaetra]

I have a Ceton InfiniTV PCIe card, and using MP 1.3 Beta with MM's patch from the first post works great! I did have to initialize the card using Windows Media Center first (otherwise I had odd issues), but now i use MediaPortal exclusively and the Ceton InfiniTV is completely rock-solid.

Question: How did you get this to work exactly? I have downloaded MP 1.3 Beta from sourceforge and yet I still get the error on service start that it can't get MPGenres.
Full error is:

Spoiler

Tvservice stopped due to an unhandled app domain exception System.TypeLoadException: Method 'GetMpGenres' in type 'TvService.TVController' from assembly 'TvService, Version=1.2.200.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=null' does not have an implementation. at TvService.TvServiceThread.OnStart() at System.Threading.ThreadHelper.ThreadStart_Context(Object state) at System.Threading.ExecutionContext.Run(ExecutionContext executionContext, ContextCallback callback, Object state) at System.Threading.ThreadHelper.ThreadStart()

Funny though, as the TvControl.dll isn't supplied in either of the mod zips (if this really is the source of the issue). What I'd really like is a copy of the entire folder "C:\Program Files\Team MediaPortal" to determine if it's a files issue or something else...

 

[CodeMonkey]

I posted to the author of NextPVR, who happens to be a very knowledgeable and helpful person, about this topic. His response:

NextPVR has built in support for the HDHomeRun Prime, and Hauppauge DCR-2650. With one of these devices present, it requests channel information from an xml url in the devices internal web server. It can use this to determine the lists of copy freely and copy protected channels. I think there is also a descriptor in the stream of each channel that gives this information, but I never had to look for it since there was an easier way to get the data.

I also asked if he needed to license PlayReady or anything else and he said:

No, but the mechanism I use only gives me access to the unprotected and copy-freely channels. The same mechanism cannot be used to get the copy-once/copy-never channels.

So basically without licensing the DRM, you can get the copy-freely channels. To get the rest you must need to license the DRM.

Also based on what I have read Time-Warner (my cable provider) has very few channels marked copy-freely.
So investing the money on a card and the time does not make sense for me.

 

[Tsaukpaetra]

Also based on what I have read Time-Warner (my cable provider) has very few channels marked copy-freely.

Yeah, for the most part I believe it is only the channels you get with the absolute lowest package (like Family or whatever). Still, it's nice to know there is an easy way to determine what channels are in fact available.
As far as DRM'd content, this is the whole reason for setting up "PlayReady", as it handshakes the tuner to the computer before starting the stream so it is encrypted for that machine only.

 

[CodeMonkey]

Also based on what I have read Time-Warner (my cable provider) has very few channels marked copy-freely.

Yeah, for the most part I believe it is only the channels you get with the absolute lowest package (like Family or whatever). Still, it's nice to know there is an easy way to determine what channels are in fact available.
As far as DRM'd content, this is the whole reason for setting up "PlayReady", as it handshakes the tuner to the computer before starting the stream so it is encrypted for that machine only.

I got another message from him and the web server method is only for Haup. cards. Ceton are different.

For TW based on what I read, its fewer than that for copy-freely channels.
However Comcast has them all copy-freely except for premium channels like HBO etc. I guess it varies a lot based on your cable provider.

 

[Tsaukpaetra]

I guess it varies a lot based on your cable provider.

Indeed, I just checked out NextPVR, still working on getting it to configure properly. I'll probably be able to report back tomorrow.