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

[Erik Jensen]

On Sun, Jul 31, 2011 at 9:37 AM, Ronald Frazier <ron at ronfrazier.net> wrote:
...
> The script collects basic info for each channel: channel number, callsign,
> frequency, modulation, mpeg program number, and the CCI status. It also asks
> the user to supply the name of their cable provider, city, state, and zip
> code. All user provided details are optional, but obviously the results are
> more useful if you fill in this info. The info is otherwise anonymous (no
> usernames, IP addresses, or anything of the sort collected).

I tried this out, and had a couple of oddities in my results.

First, almost all unencrypted channels (tunable via ClearQAM) were
reported as "Unknown / None". The one exception was reported as
Unknown / Copy Generation Management System - Analog: "One Copy"
(0x02). This channel is viewable over ClearQAM and FireWire, but not
the Ceton.
Second, all channel's to which I don't subscribe were reported as Copy
Control Information: "Copy Free" (00)

The fact that the Ceton falls back to CGMS-A for unencrypted channel's
in my case means that the statement "if you can record it over
FireWire, you can record it with CableCard" is not entirely true....

-- Erik Jensen