I am currently running Vista Premium with 3 DCT connected... I recently did and WindowsUpdate and there was an optional driver update: ATI - Streaming Media Broadcast Devices - ATI TV Wonder Digital Cable Turner. 

I choose to install this driver and notice that I upgraded my firmware on all my DCTs.  I will test to determine what's the difference between the newest ATI driver and this one.  If anyone knows off hand, please reply to this thread.

 

Did it just update the firmware to 1.17? that has been out for a couple of weeks now if that is the case?

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Dell xps420 w/ dual ATI cable cards
Hdhomerun for QAM
Panasonic 50" Plasma fed by xbox 360
Panasonic 42" plama fed by xbox 360
3TB in storage and counting

So is the listed firmware after the MS update newer than the latest on the ATI site (1.17)?

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Dell XPS420, 2.4GHz Quad Core
3GB 800MHz RAM, 2 x 500GB HD
Dual ATI DCT
HD Homerun
......all feeding directly to a Panasonic 50" Plasma

boxerboys:

So is the listed firmware after the MS update newer than the latest on the ATI site (1.17)?

Just looked at it within the ATI update program, it still has the latest ATI firmware version on the DCT...  However, during the install of the patch from WindowsUpdate, it said "Firmware Update"...  The only other thing I have notice is now in the DeviceManger, you can update the firmware for your DCTs from with DeviceManger... I don't know if this is a old feature or not...

 

 

I have the update listed as well but can't find any information on really what it is for?

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Dell xps420 w/ dual ATI cable cards
Hdhomerun for QAM
Panasonic 50" Plasma fed by xbox 360
Panasonic 42" plama fed by xbox 360
3TB in storage and counting

I installed it but I can't really tell if it made any changes. It doesn't appear to have broken anything though.

jhale83:

I installed it but I can't really tell if it made any changes. It doesn't appear to have broken anything though.

I don't know if this is related or not ...

Yesterday morning when I shut down my MCE PC, I saw an update in progress.  That evening when I turned my media center on, I was watching HD content just fine for about 1 hour.  All of a sudden I got a "Restricted Content - either your device or provider has restircted this content" message and could not longer watch any cable TV.  I changed channels, rebooted the system, etc. to no avail.  I then rolled back my system to 5/12 and successfully watched HDTV for about 5 minutes and then it stopped and displayed the error again.  I reapplied the update but still got the error.  I updated the firmware to 1.17 and still got the error.  However, I was able to successfully view HD content that was recorded as well as watch Blu-Ray movies through my player.

This leads me to believe that the HDCP is working throughout the chain of BIOS, Video card, playback device (Blu-Ray), and monitor, however NOT through the ATI DCT.  I tried resetting the cable card and powering off off the DCT.  Still no effect.

Does anyone have any ideas on what might be my problem and how to proceed?  My system has worked almost flawlessly for 5 months.  The only thing I have noticed in the past is that whenever I would see the "Restricted Content" message (rarely) it would go away if I either changed channels or I rebooted my system.  However, this time, it is not going away.

 

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Jon
Carrollton, TX

Dell XPS420, 2.4GHz Quad Core
3GB 800MHz RAM, 320GB 7200rpm HD
NVidia 9600GT 1GB w/Display Port
BD Drive + DVD-RW, ATI DCT
Dell 3008 WFP 30" 2560x1600 Monitor/TV

I am having the exact same problem.  Ran the update; it said it was updating firmware for my two DCTs.  Now, today, for the first time in months, I am getting the "Restricted Content" error.  So far, I cannot get any live TV picture (I get "Restricted Content" on the HD channels and a black screen on other channels).   I'm not sure a system restore will help me since it updated firmware, but I will probably try that next. 

I am getting the same error all of a sudden. I updated the firmware throught ATI last week and it has been fine until tonight. I have a Dell XPS 420.

nathang:

I am getting the same error all of a sudden. I updated the firmware throught ATI last week and it has been fine until tonight. I have a Dell XPS 420.

Ok, updated XPS 420 Bios to  A4 I think, no difference.

Every time upon a reboot, the tuners would show Restricted Content message.

I went ahead and reflashed the latest Tuner firmware, and after 2 reboots the tuners seem to work.  Still am waiting an hour or two to see if the Restricted Content message comes back.

What bothers me, is that it sounds like there may be a bad MS update, but it's not even showing as installed.  The last update I have, and only one this month, is for Outlook Express.

 

-D

I ran a system restore to before the updates.  It failed, and asked if I wanted to try another restore point, so I tried again to an earlier restore.  It, too, claimed to have failed, but I am no longer getting the Restricted Content error.  I have no idea if the "failed" system restores corrected the problem or if something else happened, but for now, I'm up and running again.

Update:

I had an extra new in box ATI DCT.  Don't ask how, but through Dell's total incompetence I ended up with an extra one.  Last night, I called Verizon FIOS to test the cable card.  The technician reinitialized the card to no avail.  I then replaced the ATI DCT.  I purposely did not update the firmware to 1.17.  The tech reset the cable card and every thing worked fine.  I left the HDTV on all night purposely.  This morning I had tuner errors and once I rebooted the system, the Restricted Content error returned!!!!!

I have just now been fiddling with the Device Manager and decided to uninstall the ATI DCT from System Manager.  The tuner immediately reinstalled itself and when I went into MCE, the HDTV is working once again!

May I suggest to everyone to uninstall your ATI DCT and let it reinstall itself and see if the issue resolves ... at least temporarily.  This issue would provide further evidence that this is a Microsoft update issue.

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Jon
Carrollton, TX

Dell XPS420, 2.4GHz Quad Core
3GB 800MHz RAM, 320GB 7200rpm HD
NVidia 9600GT 1GB w/Display Port
BD Drive + DVD-RW, ATI DCT
Dell 3008 WFP 30" 2560x1600 Monitor/TV

There seem to be similarities in the problems talked about in this thread with another, seemingly unrelated thread:

http://thegreenbutton.com/forums/thread/262879.aspx

Other users have reported that NBC had set the DRM "Do not record" flag on certain shows here just recently.  The early word from NBC is that they were not aware of doing so and are looking into it.  Microsoft is also involved as it seems to have only been reported by Vista users running ATI DCT's.  The error message received is eerily similar to the one we are getting:

"Restrictions set by the broadcaster and/or originator prohibit recording of this program"

Does anyone think that the latest update may be causing all these problems with the ATI DCT?  I have posted in the other thread as well...

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Jon
Carrollton, TX

Dell XPS420, 2.4GHz Quad Core
3GB 800MHz RAM, 320GB 7200rpm HD
NVidia 9600GT 1GB w/Display Port
BD Drive + DVD-RW, ATI DCT
Dell 3008 WFP 30" 2560x1600 Monitor/TV

jdrake:

Does anyone think that the latest update may be causing all these problems with the ATI DCT?  I have posted in the other thread as well...

I have not installed this update and got the restrictions error on Monday night along with everyone else, so I am not convinced it is related to the update.  Also, the restrictions were seen the HDHR tuners as well.

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Dell XPS420, 2.4GHz Quad Core
3GB 800MHz RAM, 2 x 500GB HD
Dual ATI DCT
HD Homerun
......all feeding directly to a Panasonic 50" Plasma

I'm only seeing the issue with NBC content... I really think its the broadcast flag.  Other channels record without issue.

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Niveus Rainier 500HD Media Center PC
4 tuners (2 CC, 2 OTA)
64" Pioneer Elite (PRO-720HD)
Marantz, Parasound, Mirage, Definitive Audio Equipment
Logitech 890 Pro Remote
Linksys DMA-2100 Extender
HP MediaSmart WHS
3 Xbox 360s
Zune
Sonos