I am almost 100% convinced that I know why I am getting the Restricted Content "bug". I put bug in quotes because I am no longer convinced that it is a Media Center issue. I think Media Center is doing exactly what it is supposed to do which is why I can still record a show that mere seconds earlier was restricted by the content provider.
The root of my Media Center angst is the cable card itself. I am 100% convinced that the cable card I have is bad. Case in point is The Daily Show from last night.
I have a lot of problems recording the Daily Show. This and the Colbert Report give me the Restricted Content error more than anything I try to record. Not because the shows are restricted but because of the channel they are on. My cable cards sometimes loose permission to the channels that are in the same tier as Comedy Central. In order to fix this all I need to do is try and tune is a few channels in the same tier and then Comedy Central will tune in. Once I do that, like magic, I can record what was once restricted.
Since the cable card is loosing permission to these channels, when I tried to record Media Center sees it as restricted content. As soon as I get it to tune, Media Center can now see the channels as normal and records without fail.
The other issue I was able to resolve was around my Series Settings. For both the Daily Show and The Colbert Report I have the series set to only keep 4 recordings of the show (since it only comes on 4 times a week). When I get the Restricted Content issue and then set it to record after resolving the tuning problem, the recording is seen as outside of my regular series recording. Because of that Media Center will not clean it up and I will end up with more than 4 episodes.
To resolve the issue you can go into the guide and find the show that is recording. You will see that it has 1 red dot instead of the 3 red dots. Press the info button and set the series to record. Media Center will recognize that you already have the series set to record and will ask if you would like to make the one time recording part of the series recording. Select "yes" and now you are back in order.
Time Warner should be here soon to give me a new cable card. We'll see if it works. In the meantime, the HDHomeRun should also be here today. The new dual tuner box will actually be the primary tuners for about 70% of my HD recordings. After evaluating my series recordings I found out that 70% exist on network HD channels that are broadcast in the clear (QAM). The HDHomeRun will only tune those channels so it will record all my network TV which then frees up my main tuners for watching live TV or more recording. The other bonus is that everything coming through the HDHomeRun's will be DRM free!!!
My total media center package
I have been asked a few times about what I have in my Media Center setup. I have sent information via email, but I thought it might be nice to build a concise list on the blog. So here it is.
Hardware
Software
So my grand total at the end of the day was $2,526.82. So what did I get for that money?? Well first I got a kick-ass new PC. My computer was on it's last leg and rebooted by itself every 2-3 days.
I also got a great home media experience. We have one central hub with lots of storage and easy access to our media. It's still expandable and I can't wait to see what Microsoft has coming (hopefully) later this year.
Hardware
| Component | Cost | Source | Comments |
| DELL XPS 420 |
| Dell.com |
|
| Western Digital 750GB SATA HD | $139.99 | NewEgg.com | Supplemented the 500GB HD that came with the PC. This is a "Green" drive and has multiple speeds to conserve energy. |
| HITACHI Deskstar 1TB SATA HD | $281.12 | NewEgg.com | I started run out of space quickly so I added this drive. |
| LINKSYS WRT160N Wireless Router | $79.99 | NewEgg.com | Didn't really need it, but I wanted to upgrade my router to an N router. |
| LINKSYS DMA2100 Media Center Extender | $149.98 | Amazon.com | I was not plannning on getting this now, but Amazon had an amazing deal on it and I am very glad that I did get it. |
| HD Homerun | $168.99 | DVRUpgrade.com | This adds 2 more tuners to the setup for a total of 4, but it will only tune the HD Local channels (which is about 75% of my recordings). It also records with NO DRM, unlike the CableCard recordings. |
| 1700 ft Cat5 Network Cable | $50 | Craigslist | I still can't believe the deal I got on this! |
| Xbox 360 (w/ 20GB HD) | $0.00 ($280-$400) | Best Buy | I put a cost of zero because I did not buy the Xbox specifically as a Media Center extender. I have had it for almost 3 years now. |
| Logitech Harmony Advanced Universal Remote for Xbox 360 | $107.24 | BestBuy | Great programmable remote. It hooks up to the PC. |
| Total | $2,499.92 | Not sure if I wanted to know this or not! | |
Software
| Name | Cost | Source | Comments |
| TapiRex w/ Media Center Plugin | $26.90 | Scendix Software | Try getting the Trial Version working first. |
| WebGuide | $0.00 | Asciiexpress.com | Allows for remote access of Media Center via a web browser or mobile device. It gives you remote scheduling, access to music & pictures and streaming non-DRM Recorded and Live TV content. |
| MyMovies | $0.00 | mymovies.dk | Great collection management interface for ripped DVD's |
| myTV | $19.99 | senseitweb.com | Similar to MyMovies but for TV shows. |
| Total | $26.90 | I am still using the beta of myTV. | |
So my grand total at the end of the day was $2,526.82. So what did I get for that money?? Well first I got a kick-ass new PC. My computer was on it's last leg and rebooted by itself every 2-3 days.
I also got a great home media experience. We have one central hub with lots of storage and easy access to our media. It's still expandable and I can't wait to see what Microsoft has coming (hopefully) later this year.
More on the Restricted Content bug
I think I am narrowing in on the true issue with my "Restricted Content" bug. I have narrowed it down to the Series Recording setup and one of my Cable Cards.
I think the main culprit for this problem right now is one of my Cable Cards. It has been displaying errors and losing signal. Since I switched the priority order on recording I have been getting less "Restricted Content Errors", or RCE. I am going to call Time Warner and try to get the card replace to see if that will hopefully solve the issue all together.
The other thing that I have noticed is that the "RCE" may be corrupting my Series Recordings. For example, this morning I received the error on my daily recording of Good Morning America. To quickly resolve the issue, I deleted the series recording and then set the series to record again. Just like that it is recording with no problems again.
So my hopes are that the new Cable Card will bring these occurrences down to almost zero and that the next release of Media Center will eliminate it all together.
I think the main culprit for this problem right now is one of my Cable Cards. It has been displaying errors and losing signal. Since I switched the priority order on recording I have been getting less "Restricted Content Errors", or RCE. I am going to call Time Warner and try to get the card replace to see if that will hopefully solve the issue all together.
The other thing that I have noticed is that the "RCE" may be corrupting my Series Recordings. For example, this morning I received the error on my daily recording of Good Morning America. To quickly resolve the issue, I deleted the series recording and then set the series to record again. Just like that it is recording with no problems again.
So my hopes are that the new Cable Card will bring these occurrences down to almost zero and that the next release of Media Center will eliminate it all together.
Restricted Content bug is hanging around
Two weeks later and the issue has not gotten any better. It seemed like my attempt at a fixed helped, but alas I am right back where I started from. Even posting at the Green Button out of shear frustration because of this issue.
I am really hoping that the updated release to Media Center, rumored to be code named "Fiji", will be released soon. Now that Service Pack 1 is out maybe the Media Center update will soon follow.
In the meantime, this bug is holding me back from making Media Center my default TV/Media System. There is no way I can commit to this 100% if I cannot rely on it to record my shows with the same consistency as the Scientific Atlanta DVR from Time Warner that I was renting for $6.95 a month. That is not saying much since my box would have to be rebooted a few times a week to allow me to use the HDMI connection.
The frustrating part is that other than this bug, it's a great system. I know it's a PC and there are a million things that could go wrong. Because of that I have really tried to minimize the use to be a Media Center PC specifically. I have no problems if all I have to do is reboot my PC once a week. I can live with that. I just want it to record TV consistently. Is that too much to ask? I hope not, because if it is I wasted my money.
I am really hoping that the updated release to Media Center, rumored to be code named "Fiji", will be released soon. Now that Service Pack 1 is out maybe the Media Center update will soon follow.
In the meantime, this bug is holding me back from making Media Center my default TV/Media System. There is no way I can commit to this 100% if I cannot rely on it to record my shows with the same consistency as the Scientific Atlanta DVR from Time Warner that I was renting for $6.95 a month. That is not saying much since my box would have to be rebooted a few times a week to allow me to use the HDMI connection.
The frustrating part is that other than this bug, it's a great system. I know it's a PC and there are a million things that could go wrong. Because of that I have really tried to minimize the use to be a Media Center PC specifically. I have no problems if all I have to do is reboot my PC once a week. I can live with that. I just want it to record TV consistently. Is that too much to ask? I hope not, because if it is I wasted my money.
Restricted Content Bug
So everything has been humming along since I bought the Linksys extender, or so I thought. I noticed that last week's American Idol results show had not recorded. When I check the history I was given a message about Copyright and Restricted Content (I can't remember the exact message off the top of my head). I remembered seeing this issue on the forums over at the Green Button so I jumped over there.
The discussion thread was long (about 30 pages) and old (going back to March 2007). I thought I was experiencing the exact same issue but after some further research I am not so sure.
The first thing I found in my research was that the problem was only showing up on one Tuner - Tuner A. Now that may be because it always tried to record on A and never tried B, so that did not rule out Tuner B from having the problem. I unplugged Tuner A and ran with one tuner and it worked great.
So after my first test I was more confident that it was Tuner A and not a system wide problem. My first thought was a Cable Card issue. I kept a close eye on things and tried to ensure that Tuner B was doing all the recording. As I did this, I noticed something else. I was able to watch TV on the tuner but not record.
To research my new symptom, I jumped into the web page for each tuner. I noticed that the tuner was somehow dropping out of Digital into Analog on the DRM page. Well, according to how Cable Card is supposed to work this would be my problem. It has to stay digital to apply the appropriate DRM or it does not work.
It may be that my signal is not strong enough do to the split or it may be that something is wrong with the cable card. I will be doing some more monitoring tonight and report back soon.
The discussion thread was long (about 30 pages) and old (going back to March 2007). I thought I was experiencing the exact same issue but after some further research I am not so sure.
The first thing I found in my research was that the problem was only showing up on one Tuner - Tuner A. Now that may be because it always tried to record on A and never tried B, so that did not rule out Tuner B from having the problem. I unplugged Tuner A and ran with one tuner and it worked great.
So after my first test I was more confident that it was Tuner A and not a system wide problem. My first thought was a Cable Card issue. I kept a close eye on things and tried to ensure that Tuner B was doing all the recording. As I did this, I noticed something else. I was able to watch TV on the tuner but not record.
To research my new symptom, I jumped into the web page for each tuner. I noticed that the tuner was somehow dropping out of Digital into Analog on the DRM page. Well, according to how Cable Card is supposed to work this would be my problem. It has to stay digital to apply the appropriate DRM or it does not work.
It may be that my signal is not strong enough do to the split or it may be that something is wrong with the cable card. I will be doing some more monitoring tonight and report back soon.
