[mythtv-users] Firewire can record channels that Homerun Prime Cannot

[Gary Buhrmaster]

On Sat, Nov 1, 2014 at 11:01 PM, Peter Bennett (cats22)
<cats22 at comcast.net> wrote:
....
> If the cgms flag on a channel can change from minute to minute, I can
> never know if something will actually record. I removed USA network and
> FX from the homerun prime source to prevent recordings, but some shows
> on those networks may actually be unprotected, I have no way of knowing.

I can understand your frustration.  You are correct
that the local franchise is not likely to be able to help.
If I lived in a Cisco based franchise with this problem
I would spend the (likely) many dozens of hours to get
Comcast corporate to either fix it (because of past
statements that the corporate standard is CCI=none,
and this may just be the same as what WOW has
stated, that it was an unintentional side effect of other
firmware improvements which were appropriate and
necessary for other platforms), or to state that this
is their way forward (i.e. CGMS protection is the plan,
impacting those using OCUR receivers and software
that does not implement protected path; I would not
like that answer, but at least I could plan accordingly).
However, I have no standing (I do not live in such a
franchise).

So you are going to have to decide if that effort is
worth it to you, realizing that it is entirely possible
that you end up right back where you started (no
clear path forward).  Note that if you do not enjoy
reading SCTE and CableLabs specifications (including
the revision that allowed this option, and the Cisco
configuration utilities for CableCARD mgmt that
could allow them to override the various features),
instead of counting sheep, you may need to add in
another few dozen hours, since you and the Comcast
people may start by talking different languages (unless
you get lucky, and end up talking to just the right
person).

It is possible that while WOW is not Comcast, Ron
can give you some magic words that Comcast might
know (perhaps the DNCS service group settings).

I know that in the past that some have reported that
the Comcast forums have corporate people assigned
to monitor and refer complex questions to the right
staff (it was reported to work better than the 3rd
party dslreports forums).  It might be worth an attempt.

Good luck.

Gary