[mythtv-users] Cablecard spec change undermining CCI Copy Freely flags

[Gary Buhrmaster]

On Fri, Aug 22, 2014 at 12:44 PM, Ronald Frazier <ron at ronfrazier.net> wrote:
....
> Actually, I should say it can even go finer grained than the individual
> program. I don't recall which channel or program it was I was watching, but
> they had CGMS flags on for commercials only. :-)


Yes, my wording was sloppy.  It is not a channel, it is the current
set of frames (which can be pretty much as fine grained as one
likes/needs).  And while I would welcome that the MSOs reliably
tagged the commercials with CGMS-D (automatic commercial skip!),
the typical use would be for an entire program.

According to a post on the SD forums, SD is in the process
of requesting some "guidance"/"clarification"/"changes" from
CableLabs regarding the issues/problems raised due to the
Cisco firmware changes.  Details of the request were not
provided.  Maybe requests from both Ceton and SD will
gain some traction.  Or not.

While rolling back the firmware may be an interim step for WOW,
the long run does require them to be able to move forward in
firmware versions.  There are real bugs fixed.  Note that WOW,
should they desire, can request Cisco to modify the firmware for
them, or to add in configuration capabilities in the DNCS (or
whatever Cisco is calling their configuration manager these
days).  It might cost WOW some money (Cisco does almost
nothing without being paid).  But if the MythTV users are
important to WOW, WOW can pay to get it done "right".

Note, regardless of what we (the MythTV community) wants,
there is absolutely nothing wrong with an MSO deciding to
set streamed content as protected (TWC does it pretty much
all the time for everything other than the locals)  They are
operating within what the rules/law allow.  In this case, it
is probable that this change was an unintended side effect
of the firmware upgrade, because WOW, too, were unaware
of the impacts (although one would think the change was
known and documented in the billion pages of the release
notes; Lesson learned:  Read (and understand) those
release notes in the next cycle of upgrades).   [For the tin
foil hat crowd, this could be a test to see how many complain
before changing the rules more generally.  Exactly how much
money did WOW get to perform this test on their customers?
Their denials simply confirm that they are part of the greater
conspiracy >:)]