US Cable Support > OptimumOnline > [iO] cableCARD-m with HD Homerun [and Ceton?]

reply to jondough

Re: [iO] cableCARD-m with HD Homerun [and Ceton?]

reply to Ken Peterson

reply to fcisler

sadly the echo wont be available for sale til closer to the end of this year.. i mean they arent starting beta testing for it until mid july when they select people who put in for the public beta test to start and ship them the test units (which those testers actually have to pay for)..

reply to jondough
I see. So another PC cannot be used as an extender to watch shows through the main server which is running Windows Media Center? Both would have to run Windows Media Center separately?

As to the recording part and running two and then getting confused - that could be avoided just by not using one PC as a recorder at all, I assume.

Seems kind of silly to buy a Xbox 360 just to use it as a remote extender for Media Center. Can I use any old X-box?

Can one run XBMC on a "remote" PC and have it pull content from the Windows Media Center server?

I have bought a media center IR remote - »www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a···80101008

this should help, I assume?

Thanks for your help... I've played with Mythbuntu using Firewire but this *should* be easier.

you can always buy a used DMA2100 or DMA2200 from ebay, that'll work as an extender, but they usually go for about 1/2 the price of an xbox.

reply to Ken Peterson
Whether a Media Center PC can play what is stored on another Media Center PC depends on the copy protection flag. If the copy flag is copy freely, (I believe most of basic is copy freely) you can view it from another Media Center PC. Otherwise you need a media extender.
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Warning, If you post nonsense and use misinformation and are here to argue based on those methods, you will be put on ignore.

reply to TheWiseGuy

reply to jondough
I was able to get a cable card and tuning adapter (almost the size of a set top box!) and popped it into my new SilconDust HD HomeRun Prime. The CD pulled the latest software from the 'net and upgraded the firmware to the latest one. Following the quick start directions, I then I went into Media Center, and got to the point where I had to call CV. They connected me to a higher level tech who was very helpful - took my info and made sure everything was in my account the way it should, waved her magic wand and my Media Center started scanning for channels. She couldn't stay on while the scan completed, but she was confident I was going to be OK. I was... the new device with cable card appears to pull in all the channels I tried - although I must admit, I didn't try any of the exclusive ones like Bollywood or others to see if I need the tuning adapter (currently still in the bag).

Question: Does the machine which was initially installed with the Media Center need to be the primary machine now? Is it tied in any way to the cable card? Or can I activate Media Center on another Windows 7 box and use that as my "server". I had only temporarily ran Media Center on my main box just to register and bind the cable card to the HomeRun Prime - but does that mean they are linked and I will have to call CV again if I reformat or wish to use another machine with it's Media Center?

The Media Center's WTV files are playable ONLY on the machine that recorded them, right? Or a registered media extender (which is set up in the Media Center's set-up area). I noticed that the .wtv files play fine in Media Center - the same one that recorded it - but trying to play it with anything else seems to be futile.

Thanks for people's help here. Like anything else, we all are newbies once (I still am with this) but then we learn and we assume everyone is on our level. That's why your help is always appreciated. A tip here and there can do wonders - one reason I always like these forums!

I had the same experience - worked great and CV knew how to do the activation. I skipped the tuning adapter completely.

You can use any computer. The activation/linkage ties the card to the HD HomeRun Prime.

Yes - only playable on the computer that recorded, or an extender.

I bought an xbox for an extender - which we play periodically, but mostly use as an extender. It is connected wirelessly.
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NOTHING justifies terrorism. We don't negotiate with terrorists. Those that support terrorists are terrorists.

reply to Ken Peterson
You can watch/record live TV from the SilconDust HD HomeRun Prime on any WMC 7 PC on your home network. Just download the latest Windows software from the link below and configure the additional machines as you did the first. The M-CARD in the SilconDust HD HomeRun Prime has no link to initial PC you used to activate the M-CARD from.

»www.silicondust.com/support/hdho···wnloads/

Do not bother with the CD-distributed software, as it is likely old and will only need to be upgraded anyway.

You can play recorded WTV files on any WMC 7 PC, provided they are not marked as Copy Once by Cablevision (which is ultimately determined by the content owner). You can also convert to a different container format (like an MPEG-2 Program Stream "*.mpg") using any number of free programs like MC-TVConverter. The advantage here is the recording will be playable with other media players besides WMC/Windows Media Player.

I place my WTV converted files (to *.mpg container) on a network attached HDD and play them back on my living room TV using a hardware media player (WD TV Live). You need a WMC extender to stream live TV from your WMC PC to a TV (unless your WMC PC is directly connected [e.g., HDMI]) to TV)

Ken,

Most of the stations I regularly record are not copy restricted (local broadcast stations [WABC, WNBC,] USA, TNT, History, Discovery, etc). If you are recording premium (subscription-based) movie channels, then that may be a different story.

I am not sure about trying to backup WTV recordings that are marked CopyOnce for the purposes of disaster recovery. (I have never tried)

--Rob

reply to Ken Peterson
So I am curious... I'm in an all-digital area (Stratford, CT located in the Bridgeport system). It looks like a Tuning Adapter is NOT needed unless I want to record movie channels? I occasionally record stuff from Cinemax and Starz (the 2 movie channels that I actually subscribe to).

reply to Ken Peterson
It appears DRM licenses with WMC cannot be recovered or moved to a new computer. »experts.windows.com/frms/windows···661.aspx

I only use my WMC for temporary recordings - nothing so important it is permanently archived. I figure anything recorded off TV will be available from the rights owner another way, such as from their website, netflix, or DVD from the library if I wanted to watch again.

Still, it seems ridiculous that you cannot transfer from one computer to another - Apple figured out how to do it.
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NOTHING justifies terrorism. We don't negotiate with terrorists. Those that support terrorists are terrorists.

reply to jondough
Well, I am sorry to have been out of touch for a month, but a lot of work stress, etc. AND this "easy" installation of the HDHR3 took me out of the mainstream for a while into a necessitated hiatus.
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I am glad that some have had easy installation. That is reassuring as I still believe in the HDHR3 product. I hope that some of my 50 hours of discussions with CV and SD and the SD forum in early May has helped something. I have yet to have a smoothly working system as I now still have the unavailable tuner issue. I believe that I have had every error mentioned on the SD forum, new error after last solution. I think that the responses provided in that month by satisfied and educated people says it is possible to have a great solution to owning your own "cable box". But. Yes 50 hours and no complete solution
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1. Why HDHR3 or 2x3 or 6 over Ceton. There is a big utilization difference between how they function. [and pls correct misconceptions]. Ceton's four tuners each have to be "assigned" to a specific computer and cannot be accessed by others. Nice, like having a cable box at each computer that only supports that computer. Also like having a Haupauge tuner slot in computer. Old philosophy.
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HDHR [have had one for years] and HDHR3+ use a more open philosophy. Instead of being dedicated, they are network accessible from any computer on network that runs W7 Media Center. Other programs can access Free Quam and ATSC, like a HDHR can provide, but not the digital channels. W7MC seems to have a monopoly on that. Now that means that at each TV you want a full TV lineup, you need at least a micropc with W7MC. Geting cheaper all the time.
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2. So, W7+MC is now an indemic part of personal CATV tuning. So it better get its act together and make it a laymans installation. In general, it functions very nicely. But behind the scenes it does not play well with others in its usual self protection mode. I can say that several of the issues I have experienced are caused with proprietary W7 formatting that makes it harder for devices to connect without strict compliances and they do not always reveal those compliances. The fact that issues that have been present with SD for six and more months without resolution are part of this smokescreen.
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I will give you a commonly reported failure example. Turn on MC, tune a channel you want to record, set up and go to another to watch. All good. MC and SD worked perfectly. Until ten minutes or two hours later, you get a treasured MS blue screen of death, message on screen, tuner conflict no available tuners, you look at HDHR3 and it starts to flash on both channels and the only solution seems to be reboot [or some reported disconnect network for 45 seconds]. So either way, you just got frustrated and lost a minute of what you were watching [ and the goal and replay happened just then, ugh]. There seems to be no answer. SD knows of the problem and do not respond any more to questions.
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3. Cablevision has been stellar in attempting to help. Though when I entered a hiatus two weeks ago, I decided they could not help until MS and SD figured it out. I had five cable cards, seven on line support calls, three in house visits [ one by the CV 'box' expert] and every time they left with either a solution or not, another ugly reared its head.
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My only criticism of CV, and probably any cable company, is that they know the handwriting is on the wall, and though they do not like the words they must acknowledge the coming transition. By not being ahead of the curve with Ceton, Hauppauge, SD, etc. type devices, they will have no educated resources to train their support staff and move things to an expert pool right away. Most reps though extremely helpful, had heard of Tivo but had no working knowledge of what even Tivo was. So saying its like a Tivo made them pass the call to level 1.5 or something. Even when transferred to "Advanced support for Cable Card", the HDHR was unknown, some had heard Ceton, and all knew Tivo and TVs as a problem. So it is not just HDHR. But not one oerson I talked to was a skilled CableCard tech beyond scripts, which some were thorough with but most I will be generous in saying had an old script. That is not the reps fault, THAT is CV Technical Management fault.
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4. Finally SiliconDust. They have a great product that in HDHR form was independent of WMC, digital, SDV and worked flawlessly. So with bright minds they moved into the next era and ran into a lot of new technology that they may not have been prepared for. Maybe in general they understood, but what they did not understand was the diversity in which the cable companies would integrate technologies OR how diverse individuals "home theater" components could be. I do not believe they are alone in hitting this wall as I understand that Ceton and Hauppauge have their problems also.
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The fact that some can have a hastle free install is good indication that if all is equal, their product is a great product. But add even small variances, and nothing can be expected, especially when more than one are present at same time.
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My example is that I run a Hitachi Ultravision 65" RPTV [still fantastic picture from Cable box and better from HDHR] that is about six years old. It only has two DVI inputs and three [some shared] component plus SV and V. I have run my cable boxes for years on DVI without problem. I move the DVI which was HDMI out adapted[left component] to my new HTPC direct DVI. Well not the same seems. I did not use W7 or MC before but now I kept getting HDMI errors. [they have gone away mostly somehow]. Not just my issue.
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On my HTPC when I load up the HDHR setup, I get a UPnP error. Have followed all directions, still get it. Not just my issue. For some unexplained reason by SD, I cannot complete a channel scan from HDHR setup so I cannot test channels individually. Again, not just my issue. Of course, thanks to MS and others, I cannot use anything except MC to view digital at home. I cannot even buy a license for home for any other tuner program I choose. Because I cannot run the scan, I cannot use the built in QuickTV HDHR tuner.
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So I have finally gotten W7MC to work correctly - which is a long story for another session in itself. I sit down to watch TV, all is good, until the afore mentioned Blue Screen of No Tuner Availble kills everything. AGAIN, not just my problem. Reboot from W7MC and start again for some indeterminate while until it never fails to happen, whether watching, recording, one, two, three tuners.
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I have compared every log I can find in W7 against the log in the HDHR3 [which shows NO event let alone problem] and have yet to find anything to explain. It is probably why SD has been uninterested from the beginning in a large collection of screen grabs and logs illustrating problems without answers.
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And here is a final kicker, though I cannot run the HDHR scan and tuner software, I downloaded NextPVR and can still see the QAM channels from a tuner that is not available.
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And because I have some issue with WMC on my Dell W7 laptop, I have not been able to get a second W7 computer to check things out at the same time.
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Finally, on the SDV Adapter Tuner Box. Large and ugly and another thing to power. I am in Morris County, one of the Premier Digitial systems in CV. So our SDV lineup is quite different than many others and they can be different from each other or have no SDV. I have yet to find someone who could definitively tell me what is SDV and what is not, except generically the foreign language packages, some HBO-SHO-etc, interctive channels and pay per view. It is different.
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Did not know that when I went to MicroCenter in Paterson, I picked up a HDHR3 and went to Fairlawn for a CableCard and the nice people not only handed it to me but the guy knew how to set up the activation. Joy and Great, except it took me several tech phone calls to find out the Fairlawn CableCard does not work in Morris County. Nothing the reps saw gave them a clue. A trip to Randolph store on a Saturday and another clever rep who activated the card gave me a correct card, except, it still did not work. A tech was allowed for Sunday, and a very nice guy who had seen several Tivo and TVs did not have a clue. I had a third call from the area 'experienced' tech who was very good but left after having no card to try a replacement and saying it take a while to populate your activations. So be very aware of different systems, even in one provider.
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Besides the above mentioned issues, I will end briefly with a few more so people are aware. Again, not just my issue, but I had to be tested with all of them. LOL
A. Channels that show in HDHR log as Subscribed or Undefined [Probably Basic] sometimes are not recognized in WMC and cannot open.
B. Channels that are single use record on single computer will keep showing message every tune and often will not let you access channel.
C. Channels will show up as weak signal even with 0dB+ signal, will then fade and blank. They may come back with re-tune but often not.
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My final thoughts are that SD has a great product in HDHR3+ but failed to work well enough with M$ and cable systems to understand the possible issues. These mostly are not just CV issues. They also failed to reach out and train the cable systems about their product, no matter how resistive the cable systems maybe. Also, the cable systems, as mentioned at top, are being reluctant to prepare in even a basic way to have some staff that know these new technologies.
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An my last shot has to always be at any provider that keeps things so locked down, protected, and irresponsive [exactly like Apple] and subsurviant to financial powers that they use that as an excuse to make things far more complicated than they need and loose simple installation because of it. In this case , that would be Microsoft. I believe that the oversensitivity to various things are causing faults that are difficult to trace because they want it that way. End Rant.
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Hope this helps someone. Was a bit purging of ever so many hours of effort and still not have a fully functioning system.
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Comments welcome.