[mythtv-users] Comcast encrypting World Series on FoxHD

[Ronald Frazier]

On Tue, Nov 4, 2014 at 1:09 PM, Steven Adeff <adeffs.mythtv at gmail.com>
wrote:

> On Mon, Nov 3, 2014 at 11:42 AM, Ronald Frazier <ron at ronfrazier.net>
> wrote:
> > Oops...premature post via keyboard shortcut on that last message :-(
> >
> > Anyway, I'll add an additional thought to this (regarding the prime...I
> > don;t know much about firewire DRM). Cable companies usually don't flip
> CCI
> > flags on individual programs. They usually do it per channel and it never
> > changes unless someone goes in and reconfigures. So most likely the DRM
> is
> > coming from the analog CGMS flags. The fact that the CGMS flag comes into
> > play means one of two things
> >
> > 1) Comcast has not applied any CCI flags to that channel, so you are
> victim
> > to whatever CGMS flags are applied by the broadcaster of that station (or
> > possibly even flags from the source content itself). The solution to
> this is
> > to ask Comcast to fix it (Comcast is generally cooperative with this once
> > you get in touch with the right person). If it were currently mid 2013,
> this
> > would (I think) be the only explanation for this situation, however....
> >
> > 2) There has been a new development in the last year or so. The cablecard
> > specification was changed by CableLabs, and Cisco has implemented this
> > change in their latest firmware (my cable company rolled it out a few
> months
> > ago, but I think I saw a few Comcast people posting about it last
> December).
> > Previous to this change, a CCI flag of "Copy Freely" (or any CCI flag,
> for
> > that matter) would override any CGMS flag (even if the CGMS was more
> > restrictive). This new specification says that, when a channel is marked
> > "Copy Freely", the cablecard can (or must??? im not clear on that part)
> > report that there are no CCI flags at all. So whereas previously, CGMS
> only
> > mattered if there were no CCI flags, now it also matters if the CCI flag
> is
> > "Copy Freely". With this change, the only 2 conditions under which mythtv
> > can record are both hampered by CGMS flags when present.
> >
> > This last situation has been discussed in a few other threads. The
> current
> > solutions are
> >
> > 1) If your HDHR prime is running firmware older than the 20140604 vesion,
> > then upgrade it to that version (it has a bug that disregards the CGMS
> > flags). However, DO NOT upgrade it...EVER...to any version newer than
> > 20140604, because once you do, that bug has been fixed, you will be
> subject
> > to CGMS flags, and you will NOT be able to downgrade back to 20140604
> EVER.
> >
> > 2) If you've already upgraded past 20140604, you could try to find
> another
> > device that isn't. Not sure what version new models are currently running
> > off the shelf. You could also try to get a used one off ebay (ask the
> seller
> > before bidding)
> >
> > 3) With my cable provider (WOW) they can set a flag on their system that
> > will lock your cablecard firmware to a version before this new
> specification
> > change was implemented. You can see if comcast will do the same thing for
> > you. Then (assuming your comcast flags it as CCI: Copy Freely) you
> should be
> > set...at least for as long as you can stay on that firmware. My cable
> > company said it should not be a problem long term, as they rarely upgrade
> > firmware, and that last version had been in use for a few years, so they
> > probably aren't likely to implement anything soon that would break the
> old
> > firmware and force me to upgrade. If they ever do, then you are currently
> > stuck with options 1 or 2. I've got a HDHR Prime running 20140604 which I
> > don't use, but which I am holding onto for that exact reason...just in
> case.
>
> Ron,
> any idea about how Ceton handles this? or are Ceton users not in luck
> with a "buggy firmware" type situation?
>


The ceton does NOT have an equivalent "buggy firmware" workaround. In fact,
thats the whole reason I did buy a HDHR prime. After dealing with the issue
for a whole month (and many many failed recordings), and nobody being able
to figure a way to deal with it, I gave in and bought a used prime off
ebay. A few weeks later, my cable company finally figured out they can lock
the cablecard firmware version (to a version that does report the CCI: Copy
Freely flag), so I switched back to the ceton.

In my emails with ceton, as I recall, they did say they had requested to be
able to ignore CGMS at one point in the past and were shot down, but with
the latest changes they were in processing of updating and resubmitting the
request to cable labs. I don't have much confidence cablelabs would
actually agree with any sort of change like that unless they had someone
big like comcast or microsoft pushing on them about it.

-- 
Ron Frazier
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