Let me get off-topic for a moment, about ATSC in Canada. The problem is that we don't have guide data for Canada, and our implementation relies on guide data for tuning information. And then for folks who live close enough to the states to get programming, we don't have a workaround so you can choose "US" for ATSC and "Canada" for another TV source type.

But not having ATSC support in Canada is one of my pet peeves, so I keep pushing my friends in the guide data group to work with me to get ATSC for Canada in the product. No promises, of course, but hopefully...

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This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

JessZahn:

Let me get off-topic for a moment, about ATSC in Canada. The problem is that we don't have guide data for Canada, and our implementation relies on guide data for tuning information. And then for folks who live close enough to the states to get programming, we don't have a workaround so you can choose "US" for ATSC and "Canada" for another TV source type.

But not having ATSC support in Canada is one of my pet peeves, so I keep pushing my friends in the guide data group to work with me to get ATSC for Canada in the product. No promises, of course, but hopefully...

Thanks Jess, but just to reiterate what I posted before - you can use guide data for analog channels as the content of the analog and digital channels is 100% consistent.  And the data for the digital OTA channels is available in the cable feeds - for example my cable feed in MCE is for Rogers Digital Cable in Scarborough, Ontario.  This includes all of the OTA digital channels that are available in my area - channel 513 is CBLT-DT the Toronto Digital CBC affiliate.  So all of the data IS THERE, it just isn't properly aligned to an OTA source.  And that is how I do it now - given MCE's wonderful remapping functionality I tell it to use the data for cable channel 513 for OTA channel 20-1.

And almost everyone in Canada lives within 100 miles of the US border so a large portion of the Canadian population can get US OTA channels.

Believe me, Jessica is aware of this (Peter and to a lesser extent, my
brother and I discussed this with her at the MVP summit).

--
Jason Tsang - Microsoft MVP

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wrote in message news:183800@10.240.6.244...
> JessZahn:
>
> Let me get off-topic for a moment, about ATSC in Canada. The problem is
> that we don't have guide data for Canada, and our implementation relies on
> guide data for tuning information. And then for folks who live close
> enough to the states to get programming, we don't have a workaround so you
> can choose "US" for ATSC and "Canada" for another TV source type.
>
> But not having ATSC support in Canada is one of my pet peeves, so I keep
> pushing my friends in the guide data group to work with me to get ATSC for
> Canada in the product. No promises, of course, but hopefully...
>
> Thanks Jess, but just to reiterate what I posted before - you can use
> guide data for analog channels as the content of the analog and digital
> channels is 100% consistent. And the data for the digital OTA channels is
> available in the cable feeds - for example my cable feed in MCE is for
> Rogers Digital Cable in Scarborough, Ontario. This includes all of the
> OTA digital channels that are available in my area - channel 513 is
> CBLT-DT the Toronto Digital CBC affiliate. So all of the data IS THERE,
> it just isn't properly aligned to an OTA source. And that is how I do it
> now - given MCE's wonderful remapping functionality I tell it to use the
> data for cable channel 513 for OTA channel 20-1.
>
> And almost everyone in Canada lives within 100 miles of the US border so a
> large portion of the Canadian population can get US OTA channels.
>

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Jason Tsang - Media Center MVP
http://blog.jasontsang.ca

Hey folks -

Back to the original topic. If you have experienced this issue, can you send me a private message that tells me which programs you see it on and what TV service provider you have? And obviously where you are.

Thanks.

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RandyG:

RandyG:

JessZahn:

I love your math. I'm not sure I can validate it (although I could probably find out how many EPG downloads we do for Canada each day), but I like the theory.

Anyway, no, no update - except that people here are talking about the issue and what to do. I just don't have anything else I can say to you guys at this time.

Another two weeks have rolled by with 7,578 views now.  I won't do the math again :-)

Jessica, how are your guys doing?  Are they talking to the Canadian cable providers?  Will there be a Canadian MCE patch to fix this?

JessZahn:

Funny you should bump the thread today. This morning I sent a ping to the folks who handle DRM issues to ask whether there was any news. I haven't heard anything yet.

However, even if I do hear something, it's possible I won't have anything to share publicly.

Another week gone by and 9,234 views now.   When 10,000 people have read this thread trying to figure out why their MCE can't record their favorite shows anymore, will there be a patch to fix this Jessica?   ;-)

Seriously, any progress on this?     This needs to be addressed, or you may as well stop selling MCE in Canada.  There is no point having a PVR that only records when it feels like it...

Jessica, be careful what you wish for.  10,306 people have viewed this thread now looking for answers... If ALL of them PM you, will a "KB9234999:Canadians Can't Record half their shows anymore" patch be released any sooner?

It's time to have that management meeting, and say
" Look, CGMS-A Copy Never restrictions only work where there is a governing body (FCC) willing to dish out severe fines for putting the flag on shows OTHER than PPV and VOD.  Maybe we need to look at changing the functionality back (Pre RU2), to treat "Copy Never" like "Copy Once" again.   When it appears to our customers that MCE only records when it feels like it, Microsoft looks bad, MCE looks flakey.  It's not good business."

I want all the PMs, seriously. I'm creating a report based on your information so that the right people can investigate and take action.

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This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

I'm beginning to think that of that 10,301 of those 10,306 views were from one person.<g>

No, just a gentle weekly reminder ;-)  

There must be an easy way of parsing the failures out of an xml file.  Where is the recording history stored?  It must be stored somewhere as I can browse through Recorded History and find recordings that failed due to this reason.  Presumably this also has a unique error code that we could look for.  Ideally someone should be able to write a simple batch file that would create a file that only lists recordings that failed for this reason.

I also complained to the CRTC about not being able to record Medium (a repeat at that) on W channel (didn't even know I got it). I use Aurora Cable and Internet (ACI) so the problem is spread across many cable companies. I don't know why this has all of a sudden started (release of Vista with the built in MCE perhaps) but after using MCE 2005 for the past couple of years, there is NO way I would even consider using a crappy cable company PVR so if this is their "master plan", they can give it up right now. I suppose if you had no idea about what's possible, the PVR5000 (or whatever they are calling it) would look great. However, my friends who have (sadly) the cable PVR have been blown away by my MCE system and always leave mumbling "why didn't someone tell me such a thing existed".

This is a svery erious issue which we need fixed ASAP. It's kinda sad that Microsoft is playing by the rules and our cable companies / TV stations are perverting them. Let's hope between MS and the CRTC they can get this resolved...

Steve

I just had an experience with this message myself and after much googling I've ended up here.  I've read most of this thread but can't quite wrap my head around this issue.

I have Vista Ultimate Media Center and only OTA ATSC signals.  (HVR 1600 tuner)

I live in California.

It was my understanding that anything broadcast I would be able to record (maybe not copy later on but record at least for personal use on the same machine).

Tonight I tried to record "Along Came Polly" off NBC in HD (channel 3.1 where I live) and the message pops up saying that recording is not allowed.

Am I *really* not allowed to record OTA transmissions like this?  Is that even legal?  I've never seen this before.

So THAT sounds like a bug - and a different issue from what the other people are seeing. ATSC has the "broadcast flag" - which we currently do not do anything with (because we don't have to). 

Can you PM me and let me know the EXACT wording of the error message and the exact words in the "Recording History" on that recording? Thanks.

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This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

Im getting the same error message from Directv non HD.

 

I will definitely send you the report when I get home later.  Sorry to sound like a noob but where is that log stored?

Also just a minor note - the movie seemed to be what was causing the recording problem.  For example - if I started recording during commercials it wouldn't complain about not being able to record until the movie came back on.  The message would pop up maybe 15 seconds into recording the movie.

Another note (not sure if its relevent at all) I could pause, rewind, and fast forward any part of the movie that was stored in the buffer.

I will have that log for you later today.

I can not view any of my pay channels or record any above analog. Cox says they are working with broadcasters to restrict computers.