SageMCTuner - use a cablecard in Sage!

[MitchSchaft]

wishful thinking

[babgvant]

Originally Posted by mikesm

How do you deal with a DRM error if the program info says copy once instead of copy freely? Presumably you could disable the channel in the tuner setup, but that's not on a program by program basis.

in the current implementation sage would see that as a tuner failure. i don't know how the conversion process would handle it.

[gplasky]

Originally Posted by MitchSchaft

wishful thinking

Every year there is talk of Media Center being put on WHS. And every year it doesn't happen. It didn't show up with PowerPack 3 either.

Gerry

[ohpleaseno]

Okay, so "promise" is probably wishful thinking...

[mikesm]

Originally Posted by babgvant

in the current implementation sage would see that as a tuner failure. i don't know how the conversion process would handle it.

How many cable channels/programs in your system have copy freely set? I can see how useful this is if you have a lot of them, but if most are copy once then I'm sure how useful it is.

[babgvant]

Originally Posted by mikesm

How many cable channels/programs in your system have copy freely set? I can see how useful this is if you have a lot of them, but if most are copy once then I'm sure how useful it is.

I don't have a DCT yet. My understanding is that it varies by market/provider, but for the most part is set per channel. How useful this approach is for pulling DCT created content into Sage is still unknown.

Even if it doesn't work for the intended purpose, it will enable tuners that aren't supported by Sage but are supported by MC.

[stanger89]

How does this work with anything now? I was under the impression everything recorded today from a DCT had WM DRM on it and couldn't be "unwrapped" to a normal TS file?

[mikesm]

Originally Posted by stanger89

How does this work with anything now? I was under the impression everything recorded today from a DCT had WM DRM on it and couldn't be "unwrapped" to a normal TS file?

With the new ATI firmware, or the CETON etc... tuner cards, programs that have the CCI bits set to copy once are still DRM constrained, but with CCI set to copy freely, they now have no DRM and can be exported just like the Tivo's have been doing for the year.

[babgvant]

Originally Posted by stanger89

How does this work with anything now? I was under the impression everything recorded today from a DCT had WM DRM on it and couldn't be "unwrapped" to a normal TS file?

It won't work w/ a DCT until applying the updated (relaxed) firmware. I tested it w/ NTSC and QAM tuners (m780) in my dev box which still has MC enabled.

I was able to find a unencrypted DCT capture and it looks the same as a regular QAM recording so it should work. Hopefully I can find someone w/ a DCT and the new firmware to try it out.

[Straykat]

This is fantastic news, very exciting and been waiting a long time for this!

[stanger89]

Originally Posted by mikesm

With the new ATI firmware, or the CETON etc... tuner cards, programs that have the CCI bits set to copy once are still DRM constrained, but with CCI set to copy freely, they now have no DRM and can be exported just like the Tivo's have been doing for the year.

I thought none of that was available until like H1 2010

[Surtr]

Originally Posted by Surtr

Wow, this is the best news I've heard all day. Wasn't there a post on here somewhere about a 4 cablecard PCI tuner?

Ooh, found it. Time to start saving my pennies:

http://www.engadgethd.com/2009/09/10...etails-emerge/

[mayamaniac]

Originally Posted by babgvant

It won't work w/ a DCT until applying the updated (relaxed) firmware. I tested it w/ NTSC and QAM tuners (m780) in my dev box which still has MC enabled.

I was able to find a unencrypted DCT capture and it looks the same as a regular QAM recording so it should work. Hopefully I can find someone w/ a DCT and the new firmware to try it out.

I think we should start sending some donations to babgvant so maybe he can get the hardware he needs to test out his software. A $5 donation from a few people would at least get him a cable card tuner.

[evilpenguin]

Originally Posted by Surtr

Ooh, found it. Time to start saving my pennies:

http://www.engadgethd.com/2009/09/10...etails-emerge/

That companies office is right next to where I live, think I could get in their beta if I just stopped by and asked really nicely

[jm9843]

Originally Posted by gplasky

Every year there is talk of Media Center being put on WHS. And every year it doesn't happen. It didn't show up with PowerPack 3 either.

Gerry

This bodes well for Media Center being included in WHS v2 I think.

1. There is a high demand for such a feature.
2. WHS v2 is based on Server 2008

It may be late 2010 or even 2011 until we see v2 however. In the meantime, virtualization is the ticket.

[Surtr]

Originally Posted by evilpenguin

That companies office is right next to where I live, think I could get in their beta if I just stopped by and asked really nicely

I'd say it's worth a shot.

Probably one in a million, but I'm sayin there's a chance!

[babgvant]

Originally Posted by mayamaniac

I think we should start sending some donations to babgvant so maybe he can get the hardware he needs to test out his software. A $5 donation from a few people would at least get him a cable card tuner.

Money's not the problem, if it was for sale I'd have one already

[GKusnick]

Can I respectfully suggest that you rethink the name "SageMCTuner"? I get where the name comes from, but there's already quite a bit of confusion among newbies between SageTV Media Center and the SageMC UI. Having yet another thing called SageMCWhatever will not help to deconfuse them, I predict.

Other than that, this seems like a great idea and I'm all in favor of pursuing it.

[babgvant]

Originally Posted by GKusnick

Can I respectfully suggest that you rethink the name "SageMCTuner"?

Any suggestions? Looking at my body of work, you can probably guess that naming stuff isn't my forte.

[ohpleaseno]

DCT Grabber?

WNMC (Who Needs Media Center?)

GTHCL (Go To Hell Cable Labs)