How do I play/record DRM content?

[brandypuff]

I have SiliconDust Prime with a cable card. My cable provider Spectrum, DRM protects all music channels except a handful. I get several dozen with my basic cable subscription and they play fine using the HDhomerun app. However, my LG TV doesn't show the DRM channels and neither does SageTV. I get a COPY ONCE message when trying to play them using SageTV. Why? How can i listen to these channels on my TV? Any other apps people know about? What a huge hassle.

[graywolf]

Don’t have cable so can’t say for sure but maybe search the threads for HDCP or hdmi splitters. I recall discussions about some hdmi splitters stripping HDCP to get around it

[JustFred]

Originally Posted by brandypuff

... Spectrum, DRM protects all music channels except a handful. ... I get a COPY ONCE message when trying to play them using SageTV. Why? How can i listen to these channels on my TV?

Yep, that's all due to Spectrum's decision to copy-protect most of their cable tv channels and all their music channels.

For video, there are really only a couple of choices:

1) Use Spectrum's set-top box/DVR (or a Tivo) to do all recording/viewing, independent of Sage (ugh). Connect the STB directly to your TV. This also works for listening to their music channels.

2) To use Sage for recording tv, get one or more Spectrum set-top boxes to tune & strip the DRM. Connect it to a capture device such as the HD-PVR (via component video), or Colossus (via HDMI & an HDMI splitter box). Sage can control the cable box via USB-UIRT. Only stereo, no 5.1 audio. Lots of discussion in the forums about details of setting this up. Search, and you will find.

One of my Sage setups is currently using 2 Spectrum STBs + 2 HD-PVRs + one USB-UIRT & 2 IR-emitters. Needing to use the STB is far from ideal, but for Sage, there's no other choice with Spectrum.

The above setup doesn't seem to work very well for recording music. The HD-PVR and Colossus don't work very well capturing low data-rate channels such as music.

[brandypuff]

2) To use Sage for recording tv, get one or more Spectrum set-top boxes to tune & strip the DRM. Connect it to a capture device such as the HD-PVR (via component video), or Colossus (via HDMI & an HDMI splitter box). Sage can control the cable box via USB-UIRT. Only stereo, no 5.1 audio. Lots of discussion in the forums about details of setting this up. Search, and you will find

.

This sounds like a nightmare! I want to reduce my hardware complexity, not add to it. It also only allows me to record one DRM stream per STB but that's all i would need. I had one but returned it because i am using Sage with a 3 tuner HDHomerunPrime and 2 OTA EXTEND. Needing an additional box to record defeats the whole purpose of using Sage and makes me want to chuck it all and just watch OTA like the old days. Thankfully, most of my Basic cable channels are not DRM'd except for the music channels, CSPAN and some religious channels. Why, Spectrum? Was it impossible to develop Sage to play DRM content? My LG TV won't play it either but i hear Samsung TV's will. I will have to try that with my Samsung.

[btrcp2000]

There is no such thing as a simple SageTV setup for DRM content, especially if your cable provider uses the flag, meaning you shouldn't bother to research cablecard solutions. Things like sagetv were the exact point of DRM being the way it is. You want to watch remotely? Pay for the special super DRM'ed STB that comes with app access. You want to watch recordings in a different room? Pay for a second STB. Over time folks here have just figured out ways around it, but they are still kludgy workarounds. I still remember the sad day when my firewire tuner quit working because Time Warner flipped the copy once flag on everything. I paid for cable for a couple months without being able to use most of it until i figured out what to do because i wasn't giving sage up. Now it's spectrum, and I'm assuming it's still flipped.

Now that we have shield tvs on every tv to put sage/netflix/hulu/etc all in one place, the family streams a lot more, but I do hear complaints about the commercials from those sources. Hulu just announced more commercials, so I think there will always be a place for sage to be controlled by the end user, not the provider, but it will always require more TLC. I use ancient r5000hd dish boxes that I sunk $800 into 10+ years ago, but TBH the only paytv that really matters is baseball. My setup is still cheaper than MLB.com, which i can't get anyway due to the blackout rules.

[mike1961]

HD HR Prime allows me to record 3 shows at the same time but only on basic channels 2-13 with cable. So, what I do is I have two cable boxes with capture cards to record all channels. I then set the encoder merit to the Prime so that I almost never record 2-13 channels with my capture cards so they are always available to record the upper channels. This usually allows as many as 5 shows to record at one time (since many shows will be recorded on 2-13 when there are multiple shows being recorded). It's been working very well for me.

Like you - a simpler setup would be great and perhaps the new Prime 6 (if it ever comes out) will allow for that as it claims you can record the DRM channels.

[mike1961]

Almost forgot - another I do is I have configured my HDHR Prime where 2-13 channels are "low res" which looks very good and only takes about 1.3 gigs/hour. I then set 402-413 for HD which takes over 6 gigs an hour. We have TONS of recordings and the family does not like to delete much. So, it's easy to have hundreds of recordings and not worry about disk space and also the network traffic takes far less bandwidth. HD is always available if we really want to record with the prime in HD. I really like the HDHR Prime for that.

[KryptoNyte]

Originally Posted by JustFred

... Only stereo, no 5.1 audio....

If you use the original HDPVR1212, or an HDPVR2 [with SPDIF optical input port], and use the optical out from your source, you can get 5.1 channel audio with your video.

[JustFred]

Originally Posted by KryptoNyte

If you use the original HDPVR1212, or an HDPVR2 [with SPDIF optical input port], and use the optical out from your source, you can get 5.1 channel audio with your video.

I keep forgetting about SPDIF. My cheapo stb from Spectrum doesn't have it.

[KryptoNyte]

I actually use a cablecard and Windows Media Center, with an Xbox as the source, so I don't have to rent the STB's - and I make sure I get an Xbox 360 with optical output.

https://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=63212

[KarylFStein]

Originally Posted by mike1961

Like you - a simpler setup would be great and perhaps the new Prime 6 (if it ever comes out) will allow for that as it claims you can record the DRM channels.

The current Prime can record DRM channels, but they are not viewable with SageTV. You can view them today with things like an iPad. The same will be true with the Prime 6. The DRM content can only be played with "certified" hardware and software that provides a "protected path" meaning the data is encrypted from source to display. The STB to SageTV works because content providers still permit the STBs to output a non-digital signal--a DRM loophole for not still accepted by the content owners.

[SHS]

Originally Posted by KarylFStein

The current Prime can record DRM channels, but they are not viewable with SageTV. You can view them today with things like an iPad. The same will be true with the Prime 6. The DRM content can only be played with "certified" hardware and software that provides a "protected path" meaning the data is encrypted from source to display. The STB to SageTV works because content providers still permit the STBs to output a non-digital signal--a DRM loophole for not still accepted by the content owners.

There also the HDHomeRun Premium TV which dose but channel they have kind sink and half them are useless Sport and News

[brandypuff]

i guess i will just be happy with the unencrypted basic channels i get with basic cable and any i pull OTA with the Extend and torrent shows i can't receive for free via Amazon Prime or Hulu. There's not enough time in my life to waste watching content i'll forget about the next day, anyway.

Maybe i'll ask Spectrum, for a free STB which i used to have but gave back to them because i didn't see the need for one at the time, to listen to the music channels. But with Spotify, Amazon music, Pandora, etc., there are so many ways to get my music now so i don't know if i will bother.