what to ask Cable company...

[rgroves]

I'm going to call my cable company in the next few days to inquire about a cable card. While I have them on the phone I want to find out what channels are flagged "Copy Freely", "once", etc... and which channels will become encrypted (No, I'm not on Comcast). What do I need to ask the untrained phone monkey on the other end of the conversation so I can find out the correct information and not get a bunch of Um's, I guess', I don't know what you are asking type responses.

[reggie14]

Honestly, I wouldn't trust anything they say. This isn't necessarily information that the customer service representatives have readily available to them. I've found the Verizon FiOS representatives to be completely incompetent, even for more "normal" questions, and while my experiences with Comcast reps have been generally pleasant when it comes to "normal" issues, things definitely got hairy any tim I asked them about encryption, copy protection, and/or cablecard.

You're best bet, on some of these topics, is to ask about TiVo. They actually have things to look up to check on cablecard support with TiVo. I think you're going to have a hard time getting a reliable question on copy protection flags.

You might be able to get an answer on encryption. Even then, though, there's a decent chance they don't know about upcoming changes, they would just know what's going on now. And on what's going on now on encryption, you're going to get a more reliable answer to that question by looking on the SiliconDust channel lineups.

[Fuzzy]

If you've already got service from them, you can likely get most of the answers from your existing cable box's service menu.

[mechling-burgh]

If you already have a cable box you can use the service menu on channels and see what flags are set on that channels. I know I did that for Comcast. You will need to look up your cable box online and see how to check it. I know the cable box I had you had to go to each channel then do the selection to see the flags for that channel. It was slow but at least I was able to see what flags were set.

[rgroves]

Yeah, I'm on Charter cable right now, and they recently changed some of the channels below 125 to digital only, and it seriously pissed off my wife because she couldn't watch the local news on her TV (an old, but still working Sony 32" CRT TV). I had to run out and get a box from Charter (although it's the FREE for one year box). I understand about the idiot-phone-service-reps. When they change the channels a few weeks ago, the reps told me 2 free boxes would be forever...the idiots in the local office said, no, it's 1 box free for 1 year. And that was AFTER standing in line for 2 hours.

I'll check the net for my main HD STB and see if I can find the flags, etc... for the channels. My intention is to get a HDHR3-CC for the encrypted, and use my existing HDHR-QAM dual tuner for unencrypted, and what channels I still available in SD record them with my other tuner (PVR-150, 250, and 2250) cards in my Sage box.

Another question related to my original...If the CC encrypts all the channels and they are Copy freely, then I'm good with the HDHR Prime and SageTV, but if they are set to Copy Once then Sage won't be able to record them, right? I just want to make sure before I invest in more hardware for Sage, or if I'll need to consider abandoning ship for WMC.

Edit - Just thought of something else.... If I use WMC for recording the Copy Once shows, can I record them to the same directory as my Sage recordings, and them view them in Sage or will the DRM Copy Once flag DRM prevent that?

[mechling-burgh]

If any copy flag is set other than copy freely Sage will not work. If they are copy protected in anyway then anything recorded in WMC will not play in anything but WMC and I believe the Xbox 360, but I'm not sure on that one.

[KeithAbbott]

Originally Posted by rgroves

Yeah, I'm on Charter cable right now, and they recently changed some of the channels below 125 to digital only, and it seriously pissed off my wife because she couldn't watch the local news on her TV (an old, but still working Sony 32" CRT TV).

Just keep in mind, even if your cable provider is flagging the channels as copy freely currently, it is up to their discretion (and any contractual obligations they may be under with their content providers) whether they keep flagging it copy freely. You could wake up one morning unable to record any shows via the HDHR3 because they decided to change some or all of their channels to copy once.

You just gotta love DRM...

[rgroves]

secret menu. I cannot find any info on how to get the secret menu on my DCX-3200M moto box. Any suggestions.

I was able to fine the Pwr + Menu to change the HDMI, etc.. but no where to see the channel info for the copy freely, once, etc...

[KeithAbbott]

Originally Posted by rgroves

secret menu. I cannot find any info on how to get the secret menu on my DCX-3200M moto box. Any suggestions.

I was able to fine the Pwr + Menu to change the HDMI, etc.. but no where to see the channel info for the copy freely, once, etc...

Try Pwr + Select. That should get you to the Diagnostics main menu.

You can find the Comcast version of the installation manual here: http://media2.comcast.net/anon.comca...00minstall.pdf