[mythtv-users] Building a database of cablecard encryption (CCI) details

[Erik Jensen]

On Sun, Jul 31, 2011 at 8:44 PM, Ronald Frazier <ron at ronfrazier.net> wrote:
> That's odd. I've only seen a copy protection other than CCI one time, and it
> was only when I didn't have my cablecard install (running in QAM mode). One
> of the channels that comes up as Copy Control Information: "Copy Free" (00)
> with a cablecard comes up as Redistribution Control: "One Copy" (0x02) in
> QAM mode. But I'm fairly certain that doesn't stop you from recording it. I
> think it's just reporting what protection is present, but I believe the
> Ceton will only enforce the CCI protections. Have you attempted to record
> something on it?

I have, I am indeed unable to watch this channel with the Ceton.

> Edit: hmmm, maybe that's not true. Here's some info from their support site:
> http://www.cetoncorp.com/support/index.php?/Knowledgebase/Article/View/2/8/copy-protection-flags
>
> It sounds like you will only see those other flags on unencrypted content.
> However it sounds like the card will still enforce the other protections
> even though the content is unencrypted. Strange.
>
>
> The Unknown / None value comes up when the channel didn't seem to tune
> right. Using the web interface for tuning, you've sometimes got to give it a
> few shots just to make sure it goes through right (I'd hope the DRI
> interface is a little more reliable than that, but I haven't got around to
> working with that yet). I made a small tweak to the script that retries the
> channel change later when it gets that error, but I haven't uploaded it yet.

There don't seem to be any errors on these channels. They always come
up as "None" in the web interface, and can still watch them fine. It
seems that your unencrypted channel's have CCI information, while mine
do not. (I wish they did, as it would keep the card from falling back
to CGMS-A).

On Sun, Jul 31, 2011 at 8:45 PM, Tom Bongiorno <two.bits.11 at gmail.com> wrote:
> That being said, this scenario looks like a mistake that you may be able to
> get fixed by complaining to your provider.  Why the hell would someone
> intentionally only set the CGMS-A flag?  It makes no sense.

The flag goes away temporarily when my provider inserts local
commercials, so I have a feeling it's probably from up stream. Since
CGMS-A is an analog technology, it seems that it would have to be
encoded into the VBI of the video itself, like closed-captions.

-- Erik Jensen