HD Homerun Prime with Cablecard and SageTV

[SDeGonge]

For anyone interested I wanted to get confirmation from Silicon Dust on the DRM issue with cablecards....

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Hello,

I'm interested in using the HD Homerun Prime with a CableCard from my cable provider (Optimum / Warwick NY).

I've heard that the cablecard will not be able to play all channels that I currently get with my cablebox.

I'm told that there is a "copy protection" flag on many channels that I receive and the HD Homerun Prime will not be able to decode and play those channels. Is this a true statement?

Also, the homerun output will be going to a PC which is running SageTV for channel management and recording. If the homerun can play all channels, even the copy protected, will it be able to record?

Thanks for your help,
Sam

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Support 1 posted 3/13/17, 2:40 PM

Channels that are copy protected by the cable provider (indicated by the DRM mark) can only be accessed by hardware/software that supports industry-approved protection, which basically means a PC running Windows Media Center, a media center extender linked to such a PC, or a Playstation 3. Other hardware/software that does not support protection (including most DLNA device, Kodi, VLC, Plex, etc.) can only access the unprotected channels.

To see which channels are DRM protected, go to my.hdhomerun.com, click on the channel scan link, and run a channel scan.

We've recently added DRM support for Win10.

Requirements:
- Win10 PC with the latest official update
- HDHomeRun Win10 app: https://www.microsoft.com/store/apps/9NBLGGH58VWK
- MS DVD Player app - $15
- HDMI connected monitor

Live TV streaming is supported. DRM recordings and Android support is in development.

[SDeGonge]

Question for Sage programmers.....

If the MS DVD Player app will play DRM content is it possible to use it as a driver for SageTV?

[EnterNoEscape]

Originally Posted by SDeGonge

Question for Sage programmers.....

If the MS DVD Player app will play DRM content is it possible to use it as a driver for SageTV?

My understanding is that the path needs to be protected the whole way to the video display which means SageTV cannot be anywhere in that chain. One would think that if the codec read the file directly and handled the entire chain, it could just be overlayed within SageTV, but I doubt it could ever be that simple because that would make it just as easy to re-direct the decoded output to a program like FFmpeg which DRM is intended to prevent.

Generally speaking, it's unlikely that you will find open source DVR software that supports DRM of any kind.

[KeithAbbott]

Originally Posted by SDeGonge

Requirements:
- Win10 PC with the latest official update
- HDHomeRun Win10 app: https://www.microsoft.com/store/apps/9NBLGGH58VWK
- MS DVD Player app - $15
- HDMI connected monitor

I am puzzled why SiliconDust would list the MS DVD Player app as required to play back copy-protected Cable TV content. From what I can tell, the MS DVD Player app plays CDs and DVDs from the computer's DVD drive. I don't think it has anything to do with Cable TV. I am thinking it is more like a "nice to have".

[Fuzzy]

Originally Posted by KeithAbbott

I am puzzled why SiliconDust would list the MS DVD Player app as required to play back copy-protected Cable TV content. From what I can tell, the MS DVD Player app plays CDs and DVDs from the computer's DVD drive. I don't think it has anything to do with Cable TV. I am thinking it is more like a "nice to have".

I think it's only listed because windows 10 doesn't come with MPEG-2 decoders unless you purchase the DVD app. Purchase the App, and now it's got MPEG-2 decoders that the HDHomeRun app can then use to decode the MPEG-2 coming from the Prime. I'm guessing the Microsoft decoders are also certified to exist in the protected path, while most others out there (LAV, FFDSHOW, etc) are not.

[SHS]

Originally Posted by Fuzzy

I think it's only listed because windows 10 doesn't come with MPEG-2 decoders unless you purchase the DVD app. Purchase the App, and now it's got MPEG-2 decoders that the HDHomeRun app can then use to decode the MPEG-2 coming from the Prime. I'm guessing the Microsoft decoders are also certified to exist in the protected path, while most others out there (LAV, FFDSHOW, etc) are not.

Or you have to have Windows 10 Pro or Pro Education Edition which dose come with codec