CableCARD tuner support for MediaPortal 1 (5 Viewers)

[mm1352000]

I would really like to use this, but what Time Warner tells me is there are no plans to make more channels Copy Freely so unfortunately it makes no sense for me to buy a card for a handful of channels.

Totally understand.
If only there were no such thing as DRM!
Unfortunately we have very little control/power to change the situation.
I think it is also unfortunate that in the general case consumers don't realise they are choosing to use services that limit their choice or ability to use the service in the way that suits them best. In your case you are now aware of the issue, but it may well be that you don't have access to any other cable provider.
Overall CableCARD is a step in the right direction because it forces cable companies to give you some means to use a PC (or some other CableCARD-supporting system) instead of their set-top-box. This is a much better situation than in Europe and other parts of the world where CI+, cloaked CA (no CAM/CableCARD and no smartcard - you *must* use the set-top-box), and other proprietary/closed/tightly-locked-down systems are being rolled out with no regulation or provision allowing consumers to demand alternative ways to access/view the content.

I am glad you are working on getting it implemented for the lucky ones that can use it!

Thanks, and I'm sorry we can't help you. Once again, we have little power to change the situation - we can't afford (and don't really want) to implement DRM support, and we can't force the cable companies to set their channels to "copy freely".

 

[CodeMonkey]

Thanks, and I'm sorry we can't help you. Once again, we have little power to change the situation - we can't afford (and don't really want) to implement DRM support, and we can't force the cable companies to set their channels to "copy freely".

I actually got a call back from Time Warner asking me for more information on my request to make more channels Copy Freely so maybe there is hope yet

 

[mm1352000]

I actually got a call back from Time Warner asking me for more information on my request to make more channels Copy Freely so maybe there is hope yet

Nice.
Are they the only cable provider in your area, or is there some other reason that you have for being loyal to them?
I was going to say that if they can't help you the best thing you can do is vote with your wallet.

 

[CodeMonkey]

I actually got a call back from Time Warner asking me for more information on my request to make more channels Copy Freely so maybe there is hope yet

Nice.
Are they the only cable provider in your area, or is there some other reason that you have for being loyal to them?
I was going to say that if they can't help you the best thing you can do is vote with your wallet.

They are the only cable provider here. I could go sat they are missing some regional sports channels that we enjoy.
FIOS is in my state (NY) but doesn't have dates yet to expand to my city.

 

[Lyfesaver74]

I don't think there is a Sat provider out there that uses CableCARD.... but I could be wrong. That is aweomse news if TWC will make some changes for you =)

 

[CodeMonkey]

I don't think there is a Sat provider out there that uses CableCARD.... but I could be wrong. That is aweomse news if TWC will make some changes for you =)

Correct. But there are DVB-S cards that work well with Satellite TV and their equivalent of a cablecard if I switched to Dish Network.

 

[Lyfesaver74]

Gotcha.... if you dont mind keep me posted about TWC. I have a TWC line here too (as well as DirecTV) so I am curious as to what they will do for you.

 

[CodeMonkey]

The TWC person and I are playing phone tag at the moment but I will post what happens here.

 

[mm1352000]

A very quick progress update...

At this stage I think I'm still on track with the plan I laid out -->here<--.
I'd say I'm 90% complete on the MGT, NIT, and NTT table parsers; still TODO L-VCT and S-VCT.

Now, to the main point of this update...
While I was away earlier in the year I had quite a few people PM me asking for the code. So for all my fellow hackers out there, here are links to the branches that I'm working on:
https://github.com/MediaPortal/MediaPortal-1/tree/EXP-CableCARD_UPnP
https://github.com/MediaPortal/MediaPortal-2/commits/FIX_UPnP

The first branch is the MediaPortal 1 implementation which is where the bulk of my code is. It includes the PBDA implementation -->here<-- (note there are various tweaks in other parts of the code including TsWriter, but that is the main class) and the UPnP/DRI implementation -->here<--.

The second branch contains the tweaks I had to apply to the MP2 UPnP library in order to get the Ceton InfiniTV support to the stage it is at now.

Technically with the above info anybody that knows how to compile and patch MP could start testing now!

 

[CodeMonkey]

Darn it. Now I want to get one of these cards and a cablecard just to play

Would you expect this to work with the Ceton InfiniTV 4 pci-e card, or the USB model, or both?