[mythtv-users] NTSC USB tuners: which ones are out there?

Gary Buhrmaster gary.buhrmaster at gmail.com
Thu Mar 26 19:15:18 UTC 2015


On Thu, Mar 26, 2015 at 2:47 PM, Devin Heitmueller
<dheitmueller at kernellabs.com> wrote:
...
> Ok, so they are still in NTSC then.  They won't be for long (I'm on
> TWC and they've already eliminated all analog).

Every franchise area is different, but TWC's PAR (Partial Analog
Reclamation) was a stopgap a few years ago to their eventually
plan of elimination of all analog and move pure digital, but in quite
a few franchises there were still a number of analog channels (that
was the Partial part).  Due to various issues (one of them was
apparently the CAPEX to do the conversions), the full digital roll-out
was deferred.  When FCC allowed the encryption of basic, there was
a clear OPEX advantage to moving forward (and there were a couple
of markets for which the OPEX advantage was overwhelming).

Since then, TWC has announced, with one (well known) major
exception (that would be "Upstate NY", aka "Central NY"(*)) their
plans to upgrade almost all of their remaining major franchises over the
next 12-18 months to TWC Maxx with higher internet speeds (some,
such as Dallas are happening as we type; the greater NYC and LA
markets have already been done).

What, one might ask, has that to do with digital conversion,
encryption, and DRM?

For marketing(?) purposes, TWC is combining their Maxx internet
upgrades with completion of the final digital conversion, and the
encryption of basic (pure digital is required per the rules before
encryption of basic), and the setting of DRM (CCI flags).  Due to the
number of moving pieces, it does not happen exactly at the same time,
and there are some interesting "glitches" along the way for those
without the providers STBs (in at least one market people with clear
QAM and OCUR tuners saw channels move around quite a bit,
encryption go on/off, CCI flags change around a bit), but once an
area is started, it happens over a short period of time.

The actually cut-over is (of course) preceded by a (reasonably)
large marketing campaign, with the promise of the internet
speed upgrades, and with a push by TWC to get people who
are using analog or "cable ready" TVs to get STBs/DTAs ahead
of the cut-over (depending on the specifics, sometimes the
STB/DTA/CableCARD is free for a limited time). Of course,
most people ignore the letter, or the line on the bill (does
*anyone* read the entire bill every month) and at the time of the
cut-over, there is a large number of customers that are surprised,
and need a new STB (it is a CSR challenge).  There are also
(reportedly) a fair number of new TV subscribers whose increase
in the rate of signups is statistically significant (one can imagine
why, but TWC does not judge, they simply accept the new
customer signups).

In any case, anyone served by TWC should plan on digital only
DRM protected content RSN (and you can go look at the TWC
press releases to guess when you are about to see the changes
(and get your "free" Internet speed upgrades with the Maxx rollout
(which is what is promoted, the rest you just have to know)).

As Mike said, for most on TWC, that means the HD-PVR is
your only real option for recording HD cable content if you
desire to use FLOSS solutions.  Btw, just to add to the joy,
a number of new (cost optimized) STBs are starting to be
designed without component outputs (and the analog
NTSC RF output has been on the endangered list for a
while now too).

> I think there are a total of three channels on my entire Time Warner
> feed which aren't copy-once, and I suspect it was a mistake that
> caused those channels to be marked copy-freely.

I presume these are not the OTAs or the public access channels
(the PEGs, CSPAN, etc.)?  I seem to recall someone saying they
were left as unprotected.  But mistakes do happen when changing
that many channels around.  I am sure you could point it out
to your local engineers and they would be happy to escalate.

> Nope, they won't care.  Obviously things will get better though once
> Comcast acquires them.  /sarcasm.

Presuming that the merger goes through (and the pundits
change the odds daily, so while I tend to think it is more
likely than not, it is not a slam dunk), it seems very likely
that the resulting merged company will decide to (eventually,
where I would guess eventually means around a year) make
their DRM protection policies consistent across their
franchises.  The initial borging will no doubt focus on various
back-end integration, and front-end branding and marketing,
but eventually the engineering will need to get consistent,
which includes DRM settings.  Note that I have no idea if the
consistency will be the Comcast or the TWC way (although
as a MythTV user, I know which way I want), and TTBOMK
that issue has not been (publicly) stated in the merger
submissions to the usual authorities.

Gary


(*) Due to the reality of that area (a few larger franchises
surrounded by lots and lots of empty space, dotted with
a few small points of served towns), it is going to be a
challenge to coordinate all the franchises conversions.
I do not envy TWC's (or Comcast's) issues with dealing
with that area.  In some franchises there is a real dearth
of staff to handle a potential influx of customers who
might need a STB or DTA or new subscriptions, all of
whom would show up the same days.  I suspect some
franchises would have to set up a tent in the parking lot
to handle the numbers, and have to import staff for
a week or two.  Overall a real mess.


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