kingwr:

Superswiss,

Perhaps, without spilling the beans, you could elaborate on who you are and how you know this is getting attention.  That would also be very helpful.

WRK

Because, bad press usually helps getting things resolved. Here you go: http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9943631-7.html. No, I'm not the author.

I had the same problem and got a nasty look from my other half when she noticed it hadn't recorded (she was at work, oops).  But anyway I am running 2 Hauppauge cards off Dish Network.  Looks like someone at NBC screwed up, I origionally was blaming it on the guide provider but maybe I was wrong.

I received the same error on American Gladiators using an OTA antenna and a Hauppauge 1600 PCI card with Vista Home Premium x86 in St. Louis.

Same error here with American Gladiators...

Comcast - QAM via HDHomerun

Same issue here.
OTA with HD home run.  Same can't record due to copyright restrictions for American Gladiators.

Frankly, I'm shocked this many people want to watch American Gladiators.

Still, we should be able to record it.

---

Vista Ultimate 32-bit SP1
Asus M2A-VM HDMI
AMD Athlon 64 X2 5200+ (65W)
500GB SATA HDD; 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2 800 SDRAM
nMEDIAPC HTPC 500BAR
Samsung 20X DVD±R
HD HomeRun; nVidia DualTV
Linksys DMA2100; WRT600N Router
ZALMAN CNPS 8700 NT

Same error here with American Gladiators...

Mediacom - QAM via HDHomerun

ACraigL:

Frankly, I'm shocked this many people want to watch American Gladiators.

Still, we should be able to recordit.

hey!! don't be hatin' on the glads!! *heh*

frankly, what I find truly shocking is that WE STILL HAVE NO FREAKIN' FIX, and no official announcement/acknowledgement. based on this thread alone, any claims that ms gives a flying **** about users are toally absurd.

frickinmuck:

ACraigL:

Frankly, I'm shocked this many people want to watch American Gladiators.

Still, we should be able to recordit.

hey!! don't be hatin' on the glads!! *heh*

frankly, what I find truly shocking is that WE STILL HAVE NO FREAKIN' FIX, and no official announcement/acknowledgement. based on this thread alone, any claims that ms gives a flying **** about users are toally absurd.

I have no faith that Microsoft is going to fix this problem, nor that they even care, regardless of what the occasional MS rep says here. 

How long is acceptable to let a problem like this continue without a truely official acknowlegement and offer of support or a fix? A month, 6 months, a year, 1 1/2 years?  We're 1/3 of the way into Vistas lifecycle according to Gates' announcement that Windows 7 will be released in 2009(most likely just the beta).  Yet we're hoping for a fix for a widespread problem in both the newest and 2nd newest media centers after more than a year.  This should be our indication of the importance of this issue to MS. 

My desktop media center may need to be replaced soon, and with this level of customer care, I'm probably to move to OS X.  Besides, I can record any show I want with my dvdr, and even keep those shows on disc indefinitely for later viewing.

jholliday69:

frickinmuck:

ACraigL:

Frankly, I'm shocked this many people want to watch American Gladiators.

Still, we should be able to recordit.

hey!! don't be hatin' on the glads!! *heh*

frankly, what I find truly shocking is that WE STILL HAVE NO FREAKIN' FIX, and no official announcement/acknowledgement. based on this thread alone, any claims that ms gives a flying **** about users are toally absurd.

I have no faith that Microsoft is going to fix this problem, nor that they even care, regardless of what the occasional MS rep says here. 

How long is acceptable to let a problem like this continue without a truely official acknowlegement and offer of support or a fix? A month, 6 months, a year, 1 1/2 years?  We're 1/3 of the way into Vistas lifecycle according to Gates' announcement that Windows 7 will be released in 2009(most likely just the beta).  Yet we're hoping for a fix for a widespread problem in both the newest and 2nd newest media centers after more than a year.  This should be our indication of the importance of this issue to MS. 

My desktop media center may need to be replaced soon, and with this level of customer care, I'm probably to move to OS X.  Besides, I can record any show I want with my dvdr, and even keep those shows on disc indefinitely for later viewing.

Is it really a bug? Frankly, I doubt it. From comments made, the behavior is intentional. It is my understanding, that the DRM spec contains a "do not record" flag among other restrictions that the broadcaster can put on the broadcast. It appears that many DVRs out there including cable provider's DVRs (ironically) do not obey some or all of these flags. Media Center does obey them. The result is that if some bonehead at NBC flips the wrong switch (which most likely happened Monday night) our recordings are getting blocked. The question is, is Microsoft going to follow those other DVR vendors and start ignoring these restrictions? Remember: DRM is not about fighting piracy, it's about the broadcasters controlling how we consume their content. It's just sold to congress and the FCC under the piracy umbrella, but our lovely politicians are not seeing it.

superswiss:

Is it really a bug? Frankly, I doubt it. From comments made, the behavior is intentional. It is my understanding, that the DRM spec contains a "do not record" flag among other restrictions that the broadcaster can put on the broadcast. It appears that many DVRs out there including cable provider's DVRs (ironically) do not obey some or all of these flags. Media Center does obey them. The result is that if some bonehead at NBC flips the wrong switch (which most likely happened Monday night) our recordings are getting blocked. The question is, is Microsoft going to follow those other DVR vendors and start ignoring these restrictions? Remember: DRM is not about fighting piracy, it's about the broadcasters controlling how we consume their content. It's just sold to congress and the FCC under the piracy umbrella, but our lovely politicians are not seeing it.

big part of this thread you've missed is that this CGMS-A flag which doesn't exist in countries outside of the USA is being "respected" by MCE incorrectly

MS clearly doesn't give a crap, this is well over a year since it's been documented

Tikker:

superswiss:

Is it really a bug? Frankly, I doubt it. From comments made, the behavior is intentional. It is my understanding, that the DRM spec contains a "do not record" flag among other restrictions that the broadcaster can put on the broadcast. It appears that many DVRs out there including cable provider's DVRs (ironically) do not obey some or all of these flags. Media Center does obey them. The result is that if some bonehead at NBC flips the wrong switch (which most likely happened Monday night) our recordings are getting blocked. The question is, is Microsoft going to follow those other DVR vendors and start ignoring these restrictions? Remember: DRM is not about fighting piracy, it's about the broadcasters controlling how we consume their content. It's just sold to congress and the FCC under the piracy umbrella, but our lovely politicians are not seeing it.

big part of this thread you've missed is that this CGMS-A flag which doesn't exist in countries outside of the USA is being "respected" by MCE incorrectly

MS clearly doesn't give a crap, this is well over a year since it's been documented

To me this is a clear indication that MS is not really paying attention to the Media Center and is content to let it die on the vine. 

I personally have had a lot of business dealings with MS in Redmond and, like most large companies, the different parts of the company are on independent paths and there is little, if any communication between them.  This means that the developers and managers in the Media Center team, who could actually fix this problem, are very unlikely to get the attention of MS executives and attorneys who would have to agree to change a specific MS strategy and start "ignoring the flag."  It just ain't goin' happen.

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dnr
edelan

I'm reluctant to admit, but I was able to tape and watch gladiators monday night.  Portland, OR Comcast QAM HDHomerun Vista x64 Ultimate.  Why do I feel like I shouldn't have been able to?  Could the flag only have been set in certain regions or something? 

Just wanted to share my experience.

Vista MC Machine, HDCP compliant video card DVI out to HDMI on a newish HDCP-compliant TV using two VBOX Cats Eye 150's to record OTA HD.

We watched American Gladiators while cooking and then watched Bones and House on Fox and recorded Medium, which did not record due to being prohibited.

Since then, two L&O's have recorded correctly so it looks like the test as to wether or not it would piss off users is over.

On a side note - could it be that MCE users were specifically targeted because of the availability of DVRMS-Toolbox?

tsh:

I'm reluctant to admit, but I was able to tape and watch gladiators monday night.  Portland, OR Comcast QAM HDHomerun Vista x64 Ultimate.  Why do I feel like I shouldn't have been able to?  Could the flag only have been set in certain regions or something? 

I think if you record it with a HDHR, the flags don't even make it to MCE. But if you use an internal tuner they are intercepted by MCE.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong...