Velocity Micro MCE - Page 9

Isnt that a very good (bad) sign that the digital simulcast channels are really done via SDV?

On top of it all I think all three of our cards are locked on to devices that we no longer have in house or have fried (two early samples) so I'll see what I can do...

SDV?
Apparently at one point (before I got a CableCARD) other users are claiming that the A->D mappings worked fine then at some point they stopped working and have ceased to work for a long time.

Same things scoombs listed.

Thanks!

Chris

You're 100% right. I didn't present my point correctly. I just ment that the digital channels should definately work correctly, because of the authentication of the CableCARD's by the cable company. I'm assuming analog wouldn't make a difference, because you don't require a CableCARD to receive them.

Switched Digital Video. A real PITA for cablecard. Think of it sort of like VOD. Your unit has to request the stream if its not being broadcast, and then the headend will turn it on. Its a bandwidth saving tool. I know that TWC in a few cities has the digital simulcast setup this way.

correct me if i'm wrong - but when the next version of cable card comes out - it will address the switched video issue. if this is true - will we be able to install the new cable tuner ourselves into the computer (assuming we need a new tuner?) or will we have to send it back to velocity to get it updated?

also - did the goverment mandate cable cards? - if so - aren't the cable companies ignoring that mandate by using switched video without a cable card that works?

I will try the NAS and remote share experiment tonight.

The more anti-completive this whole thing gets, the more it resembles a monopoly over content. When will not only our consumer rights but competitor rights (such as 3rd Party DVRs like MCE and Tivo) be honored?\\


Oi... maybe ill start a blog or something sheeish.

1. Best possible world would be direct recording to a NAS target or network share that is recognized by the DCT system, all the proper protected path signatures and source system tags etc. are maintained, and then upon playback those are compared to the playback system and if they match, and all is a go. If you have a second machine and grab that file, the sigs don't match and the playback fails (damn drm). This is likely too good to be true.

2. Second best would be that you cannot record directly to the network target, but the recorded file could be moved to NAS and playback would work as above.

3. Tolerable would be you must record locally (internal IDE/SATA or external direct-attached eSATA/SCSI/Firewire/USB), you could then move the files off to network storage and re-copy back local for playback, all while keeping the recorded content data such as time, date, channel, title, intact.

I have crappy Charter cable here in Roswell, GA. I cant get any answers out of them, particularly about "Switched Digital Video". Their "so-called customer support" pass themselves off as technical support.

I just supported http://www.wewanttvchoicega.com/ga by writing my local Representative and telling them how I feel about Charter's little monopoly and horrible customer service. This bill will hopefully lead to AT&T, Verizon and others to compete in the same area. Local franchise fees need to be waived or drastically lowered as a first step.

Yup, I agree with that. I am already taking steps to cover #3, going to start getting some of those large, cheap 1TB external FW400/800 drives. Then worse case, I could daisy chain up to 63 of them off the main MCE PC.

But honestly, I see no reason why #1 shouldnt be doable, assuming that the drm-laden file has all that garbage in it. It should be useless to all other PC's, unless MS actually were to release Softsled.

I will probably end up with 3-4TB of local recording space anyway, and then put BD/HD DVD rips on a remote server with more space.

I hate drm!

The next version of cablecard has a different pinout. The existing OCUR hardware and software will not be able to support it.

Thanks,
mike

We understand there will require a software update, the big question is weather our digital cable pid key from VM will carry over to allowing us to use CableCard 2.0 pending hardware/software.

Is CC 2.0 even ratified yet? I didnt think it was even agreed upon what it would be, if/when everyone agrees on it?

It isn't final, but if you look at the docs on their website, you can see how the interfaces have changed. It's a different hardware interface.

Thanks,
Mike

Well if nothing else, that settles the question of whether a software fix could be given to the S3 Tivo..

Just to be clear, the issue here is the HOST side, not the card. An M-card will work in cablecard 1.0 hosts, but will be limited to the 1.0 functionality. To do 2-way and multi-stream, the HOST adapter has to have additional functionality (a new modem for the reverse link as an example). Without this additional host functionality, even if you had an M-card it would still not do what you want.

Hence the OCUR and probably the Tivo won't be able to do 2-way unless they already built the functionality on the host side. I know this is not the case for OCUR, but can't be sure about the Tivo.

Thanks,
Mike

Here is a quote from the CableLabs website that seems to differ from some of the information presented here:

When a CableCARD 1.0 module is used with a two-way receiver (e.g., Samsung HLR5067C) that card supports all the necessary two-way functionality for VOD, SDV, and other interactive services.

also

These new CableCARD-2.0 specifications were issued on March 31, 2005

Some more interesting info (at least to me):

Since CableCARD-2.0 Interface specifications now included all the requirements from both the original (single-stream) CableCARD interface and the new (multi-stream) CableCARD interface, terminology was developed to distinguish between the two different operating modes and product types:

S-CARD: A two-way CableCARD module that follows the original CableCARD 1.0 Interface specification or implements only the single-stream portion of the CableCARD-2.0 Interface specification.

M-Card: A two-way CableCARD module that implements all of the multi-stream functionality as well as the single-stream functionality (for backward compatibility purposes) of the CableCARD-2.0 Interface specification.

S-Mode: The operating mode of the interface when the original parallel transfer function is being used in single-stream mode, which limits the video transfer rate to 40 Mbps in each direction.

M-Mode: The operating mode of the interface when the new serial transfer function is being used, regardless of how many transport streams are actually being delivered, to provide up to 200 Mbps data transfer rate for the video stream in each direction.

S-Host: An OpenCable Host 2.0 device or UDCP that operates exclusively in the S-Mode, regardless of how many tuners are included.

M-Host: An OpenCable Host 2.0 device or UDCP that has implemented the M-Mode variation of the interface, regardless of how many tuners the device includes.

The third type of Host product that can use the CableCARD module is the OpenCable Unidirectional Receiver (OCUR). The OCUR employs DRM technology (e.g., WMDRM and Real Helix), and is used to provide premium digital cable content to certain PCs. The PC itself must meet certain criteria established by the DRM provider, but is not certified separately by CableLabs. OCUR products are defined by CableLabs OpenCable specifications and the manufacturer must sign the CHILA license. The product must follow the requirements defined by the CableLabs OCUR specifications and DRI specifications. Presently these devices are required to support the S-Mode interface, but work is underway to extend their support to allow the M-Mode interface.

I ran the following experiments for those that were asking:

Recorded some OCUR protected content (HBO) onto my local drive.

I verified that the file is flagged as protected. Then I moved it to my NAS drive as well as an XP machine's network share. I was able to then double-click on those files and Media Center opened and started playing back the files fine.

I then tried to get those files to show up in Media Center but I can't figure out how to get Media Center to let you change the TV watch folder or record location to a networked location. My NAS is mapped as Z: drive but only my local drives (internal hard drives) show up in VMC's gui for selectable options.

If someone wants to clue me in on what I'm missing I will try it.

We Bighthouse customers don't have SDV as of yet....but we are tied to Time Warner so it might be coming- sad to hear (although not too shocking) that Brighthouse does not have cablecard working correctly. There sure is a big difference between the Analog and the overlay ch's...

Microsoft does not have a agreement with Cablelabs for CableCard 2.0 yet. So you can not call that solution pending

Jason_J_A,

Not sure of others' knowledge levels so I am going the long route for anyone else who might be interested:

In Vista's Media Center go to TASKS > SETTINGS > TV > RECORDER > MORE TV LOCATIONS > ADD FOLDER TO WATCH, pick from the list, click NEXT and the remainder...

IF your share does not show up, you need to map the share as a local drive.
To do that click on the Windows start icon (or Windows key on your keyboard), select COMPUTER on the right side, click MAP NETWORK DRIVE button (colored line near top of window with OPEN CONTROL PANEL next to it. Follow instructions to map your network drive then repeat the first part.

This is what I tried, but the only drives that show up in the "Add folder to watch" list under TV are my 3 local internal hard drives (C, D, and G). My NAS drive is mapped to drive letter Z but it still doesn't show up.

One more thing I thought about:
START > NETWORK > NETWORK AND SHARING WIZARD (colored line near top of window).

Make sure MEDIA SHARING is active.

You could always make the changes in the registry. I dont have the details in front of me right now, but I am sure someone else could point you to the proper info, or I can try finding it again at TGB. Its how I setup my directories on my MCE.

More are shipping today, stay tuned!!!