rawc
08-28-07, 11:05 PM
I have comcast service in the seattle area and I am frustrated with the firewire recording options on the dct-6200. The problem is that almost all of the local HD channels (105, 106, 108, 109, 111, 112) are being sent out with the broadcast flag (RC = 0x01, CCI = 0x02) enabled which means that they cannot be recorded over the firewire port. These are the only channels that have the broadcast flag enabled; other channels such as Discovery HD Theater do not have any restrictions whatsoever. As the firewire port is my only option of watching TV (I only have a computer, no TV), I am not able to watch these channels on my computer.
The local HD channels have to be delivered unencrypted over QAM, so any QAM capture card (i.e. pcHDTV HD-5500 http://www.pchdtv.com/hd_5500.html) can record these channels. Unfortunately, I don't have space in my MythTV box for a QAM capture card, so I have to resort to using firewire. As mentioned earlier, the dumb Motorola boxes honor the Broadcast Flag when they don't have to (search for FCC ruling May 6, 2005).
So this brings up a lot of questions for me:
Do the new Motorola DCH series STBs (DCH-3200, DCH-6200, etc) still honor the Broadcast Flag like the DCT series?
Who controls the firmware option on the STBs for honoring the Broadcast Flag? Comcast? Motorola? (i.e. does Comcast change how the STB honors the broadcast flag or would that be soley up to Motorola?)
If the FCC shot down the Broadcast Flag on May 6, 2005 how can stations/cable providers still get away with enabling it?
Could this issue be elevated to the courts?
Anybody in the Seattle area or anywhere want to start a petition (I'm sure Comcast is ignoring all requests regarding this matter, so something needs to be done to gather some attention)?
Is it possible to buy an STB with firewire at a retail outlet (one that ignores the Broadcast Flag) and use it on the Comcast cable network? If so, anybody know of a particular model or a retail outlet to do so?
I know there are already some other threads that touch on some of these issues (i.e. the 'How to record via IEEE 1394 (Firewire) to Windows XP' thread), but it seems like it would be nice to have a thread dedicated to this topic (especially since the other threads are getting quite long). NOTE: I'm basically running into the same crap as drgawd posted here:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showpost.php?p=11115055&postcount=9755
The local HD channels have to be delivered unencrypted over QAM, so any QAM capture card (i.e. pcHDTV HD-5500 http://www.pchdtv.com/hd_5500.html) can record these channels. Unfortunately, I don't have space in my MythTV box for a QAM capture card, so I have to resort to using firewire. As mentioned earlier, the dumb Motorola boxes honor the Broadcast Flag when they don't have to (search for FCC ruling May 6, 2005).
So this brings up a lot of questions for me:
Do the new Motorola DCH series STBs (DCH-3200, DCH-6200, etc) still honor the Broadcast Flag like the DCT series?
Who controls the firmware option on the STBs for honoring the Broadcast Flag? Comcast? Motorola? (i.e. does Comcast change how the STB honors the broadcast flag or would that be soley up to Motorola?)
If the FCC shot down the Broadcast Flag on May 6, 2005 how can stations/cable providers still get away with enabling it?
Could this issue be elevated to the courts?
Anybody in the Seattle area or anywhere want to start a petition (I'm sure Comcast is ignoring all requests regarding this matter, so something needs to be done to gather some attention)?
Is it possible to buy an STB with firewire at a retail outlet (one that ignores the Broadcast Flag) and use it on the Comcast cable network? If so, anybody know of a particular model or a retail outlet to do so?
I know there are already some other threads that touch on some of these issues (i.e. the 'How to record via IEEE 1394 (Firewire) to Windows XP' thread), but it seems like it would be nice to have a thread dedicated to this topic (especially since the other threads are getting quite long). NOTE: I'm basically running into the same crap as drgawd posted here:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showpost.php?p=11115055&postcount=9755