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Originally Posted by tluxon
What do you think is a possible explanation for why CBS-HD here would have an RC flag of 0x01 and CCI of 0x02 for 4+ months and then suddenly change back to 0x00?
Have you noticed any change in the RC flag and/or CCI of your CBS-HD channel in the last 24 hours?
If it's something that changed at the head-end, can you guess why CBS would be changed in one direction (going from copy once to copy free) at pretty much the same time NBC went the other direction (copy free to copy once)?
What RC status are you seeing on NBC now?
I'm trying to see how this recent event might fit into my conceptualization of how this all works so my two-way discussions with the manager of our local Comcast service center make sense and are accurate as far as is possible.
I felt like I was being encouraged to think the RC flag was being put in by CBS nationally and that whether or not it resulted in a CCI=0x02 for me was dependent on the local cable company and/or local DVR firmware. At some point it looked like the RC flag was more likely to be incorporated at a national level and the CCI flag was STB-centric and dictated locally. If this is not necessarily the case, perhaps it is dictated nationally but implemented (or not) at a local level.
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The rc_descriptor is inserted by the local DTV stations encoder (except for FOX stations when they are on the network splicer feed, in which case it's being inserted by the FOX network encoder). So upgrades or change outs of encoders can affect the insertion of the rc_descriptor. For example, when the local NBC affiliate (KNTV-DT) upgraded their encoder, they stopped inserting the rc_descriptor (and have been STB 1394 copy free ever since).
Many DTV stations (especially CBS affiliates) are still using older Harris Flexicoder encoders. When it looked like the Broadcast Flag was going to be reality in 2005, Harris updated all their Flexicoders in the field. So a lot of rc_desciptor insertion is just leftovers from that update.
Cable head-ends are always fiddling with their QAM streams (at least they seem to here in Silicon Valley). So that can also affect forwarding of the rc_descriptor.
The only way to really know what's going on is to capture both the OTA stream and the QAM stream to see if there's an rc_desciptor to begin with in the OTA stream and if it's being forwarded in the QAM stream.
Ron