GBPVR to NextPvr Upgrade Question

[ldj]

Hi All,

I have been a happy user of GBPVR with a PVR150 card, and Media MVP for quite a few years. I have even been using it with a HDTV for a few years, but decided it was time to move into the 21st century and upgrade.

So I picked up a HD Homerun Prime, and ordered up a CableCard, and was told I needed a tuning adapter from my Cable provider (Time Warner).
I found a PCH A110 on ebay, and since I recently inherited another PC, I wiped it and started fresh. I am running Windows XP SP3, sorry I don't have access to anything newer at the moment.

I think I stumbled across many of the different config issues mentioned in the forums.
- Firewall
- HDHR Main Application set to NextPVR vs Other: ATSC/QAM
- scanned the QAM device and not the HDHR device which is for CableCard
- I liked the comment about "codec hell" in the wiki/forum, I was there when I first tried to bring this up on my current GBPVR system without the NMT.
- It seems like there were a few more along the way

So getting to my question, I am not getting all the channels in NextPVR that I would like. I have read about copy freely vs copy once, etc, and had hoped that with the CableCard plugged into the HDHR, that I would be able to see most if not all the channels I can see on my TV with the TWC set-top-box.

In particular, I know I have recorded SD History channel (channel 51 in my area) with the GBPVR/PVR150 setup, but now with NextPVR/HDHR, I don't see 51, or the HD version at 818 locally.

When I go the HDHR Setup app, (5 tabs Location, Application, Tuners, CableCARD, Advanced), after scanning the first tuner in the CableCARD tab, I see all the channels I could ever want, which include 51 HIST, and 818 HISTHD. And actually, as I am typing this, I just clicked on 51 and then 818, and I get a popup titled HDHomeRun Windows Media Player Plugin, that says This channel cannot be displayed because it is marked as copy protected by your cable provider. You will need to use Windows Media Center to access this channel.

I was going to say, when I scan via NextPVR, I get many channels, but History and many other HD channels are not on the list.
When I go to http://<ip_addr>/lineup.xml?show=unprotected they are not there, but are when I drop the show=unprotected.
So I am starting to see where the problem lies.

- So even though I am renting a CableCARD, I still can't watch/record these copy protected channels? I am starting to wonder why I am renting the CableCARD.
- Is this a function of the digital tuner? If I were to add my analog PVR150 to the new setup, would I be able to watch/record at least the SD channels?
- or do I not have NextPVR configured correctly yet? I think I already know the answer to this one, but I can hope....

Larry

PS. I apologize if this exact question has been covered in the forums, but it's kinda like information overload out there. There is sooo much info out there, and every situation is slightly different, it can be hard to connect the dots.

[mikeh49]

I think you have it pretty much figured out. You can't digitally record flagged channels on a system without built-in copy protection. WMC has this. Typically, only the premium channels (HBO, etc) have been reported as flagged. Others, have been able to call the cableco and get the flags removed on the "normal" cable channels like History, etc. I think folks have reported Time Warner as being troublesome in this regard.

The PVR150 can record anything that appears on the cable as analog (Channel 51), or on the analog (composite video) outputs of the STB. There is also the "analog hole" that allows you to record anything that appears on the component video output of the STB (this is analog, as well, and HD). The Hauppauge Colossus or HDPVR can do this, but it does tie up the STB while recording, or you need to get another one.

[mvallevand]

From what I have read TWC don't flag a lot of stations copy-freely.

Martin

[ldj]

Thanks Mike and Martin, for the sake of due diligence, I will give TWC a call, but I don't expect I will happy at the end of the call.
I expect you are not surprised that I am not terribly enamored by the idea of getting another cable box, or tying up the existing one.
But I am intrigued by your comment about WMC. If I were to upgrade to some version of Windows that contained WMC, would everything just "work"?
By "work" I mean I would be able to view and record the long list of HD channels that show in the HDHR Setup menus?

Larry

[ga_mueller]

The short answer would be "yes". I used WMC for awhile, but it isn't as flexible as NPVR. I use NPVR with XBMC to get a system that perfectly meets my needs. But if you want a simple solution to play/record all of those copy-protected channels, WMC is probably the way to go.

[ldj]

oh, I was thinking that I could run NPVR on top of some version of windows which contains WMC, and the built-in copy protection that Mike mentioned would allow HDHR and NPVR to be happy. As you can likely tell, I don't know anything about WMC and thought it was a more enabled OS. But your comment that WMC isn't as flexible as NPVR suggests that I would only use one or the other. Do I have that right? Would I just use WMC for recording, and still be able to view the video from the NMT, still using NPVR?

[mvallevand]

Sorry copy once files are DRM'd so they can only be played by WMC (and on the xbox) and only from the PC they were recorded on. CableCard may actually be dieing too if the cableco's have their way.

Martin