TV Server Crashes After Recording Ends (2 Viewers)

Sigpi007

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November 14, 2012
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Great suggestion @mm1352000 !! I actually did this and found the common thread!! COPY PROTECTION. (Ugh.) I used my laptop to tap into the Ceton tuner webpages and it became clear.

Here's my observations...

Any channel that plays fine has no copy protection. Ceton tuner status says "PLAYING" on the Ceton status web page.

The two Comcast Sports Channels (220 and 65 in HD and SD) both threw errors. Ceton tuner status = "STOPPED" immmediately. Copy protection said "Redistribution Control: One Copy"

The channels that played but froze after 2 secs all had a Ceton tuner status of "PLAYING", but the copy protection was "Copy Generation Mgmt System - Analog: One Copy"

So... with that said... any thoughts? BTW... the signal strengths were the same between the good and bad channels.
 

mm1352000

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    ...and found the common thread!! COPY PROTECTION.
    I suspected that might be the case. The HDHR PRIME forwards this information in such a way that we can see it in the TV Server log. Unfortunately the Ceton tuners don't do that... hence my suggestion.

    Any channel that plays fine has no copy protection. Ceton tuner status says "PLAYING" on the Ceton status web page.
    That's "copy freely". All channels like that should timeshift and record fine with MediaPortal.

    The two Comcast Sports Channels (220 and 65 in HD and SD) both threw errors. Ceton tuner status = "STOPPED" immmediately. Copy protection said "Redistribution Control: One Copy"
    That's "copy once". Sorry to say you're not going to be able to timeshift or record those channels with MediaPortal.
    It is possible that they were working previously... but Comcast can change the copy protection at any time.

    The channels that played but froze after 2 secs all had a Ceton tuner status of "PLAYING", but the copy protection was "Copy Generation Mgmt System - Analog: One Copy"
    I guess that is "copy once for digital". Again, you're not going to be able to timeshift or record those channels with MediaPortal.

    So... with that said... any thoughts?
    Beyond asking Comcast to loosen their copy protection there's probably nothing that you can do.
    You could view and record such channels with WMC or any other software that has shelled out the $ to implement the required restrictions and get certified. Personally I don't have the the inclination to bend to the wishes of big media... but Team MediaPortal doesn't have the $ to get certified, so it is a bit of a moot point.
     

    Sigpi007

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    November 14, 2012
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    Chicago, IL
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    Hey all,

    So... I did some research and found out that CableLabs changed the CableCard specification to allow content provider DRM to override the CCI flags applied by the cable companies. In many cases, a cable company could override a content provider's DRM by setting the feed to "CCI Copy Freely." In my particular instance, WOW cable had done this on their non-premium cable channels. Once the new cablecard firmware based on the the new CableLabs spec, that's when the problems started for me (some months ago). Effectively the firmware no longer honored the CCI flag if the content provider had specified a stronger DRM solution.

    With that said, I just heard that Ceton successfully lobbied CableLabs to undo that specification change in January, and that a new beta firmware is available that will undo this. However, I'm skeptical that this will hold up for the long haul.

    As much as it pains me to say this... I'm probably going to check out Windows Media Center again cause the amount of troubleshooting that was needed to figure this out is something I don't have the time for anymore. I love the MediaPortal project, but its probably not the right fit for what my media priorities are.

    Will still check in from time to time. Good luck!

    -matt
     

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