Brad, This is where my hopes of capturing the stream after the set top box started. Too bad they were dashed. Anyway I have read that the cable companies can detect how much bandwidth you are consuming...so viewing the content without paying is risky. Oh well, I guess the easy answer to capturing encrypted streams is that it can't be done today.
Julian --- Brad Templeton <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > On Tue, Jan 18, 2005 at 09:16:12AM -0800, Julian > wrote: > > Hi, > > > > Can someone explain then what the hopes for > recording > > encrypted HD "digital cable" content with the > HD-3000 > > or a similar device? I know there are smart cards > and > > the like, which TiVo intends to support, but what > hope > > is there that MythTv will be able to support such > > schemes? For me, and prob. others, this is the > root > > of the newbie's concern when brewing and investing > > into a PVR. > > To answer this, and also to expand on the source > question about analog > vs. digital cable. > > Analog cable consists of signals modulated into > channels, with a series > of carrier frequencies each so many mhz apart, just > like over the air. > > Most cable companies implement digital cable by > taking some of these > frequencies, and instead of putting in an analog > signal, they put in > a QAM digital signal (still modulated on a carrier > in the same band.) > > The digital cable box is able to decode the QAM > signal. Due to compression, > each old analog channel can hold several streams of > MPEG for > SDTV. So one old analog channel now carries I think > up to 16 different > SD channels. Quite efficient. The analog channels > are still there, > and this allows the same wire into the house to > provide analog and digital > cable. > > A new TV with a QAM tuner is able to do what the > digital cable box does, > decode those QAM channels, demux them and view them. > Unlike the digital > cable box, it can't decrypt the ones that are > encrypted. However, the > cable card interface allows you to insert a card > into the TV that can > do the decryption. > > It turns out, at least where I live, but I think > this is common, that if > you have analog cable all it means is that you don't > have a digital cable > box. I put a QAM tuner on my analog cable and was > able to pick up all > the QAM signals, and watch the unencrypted ones > (most, but not all local > OTA stations.) > > As for the hopes of recording the encrypted content? > To do that they > would need to trust your system with the decryption > keys, which they > don't want to do. In theory one could build a box > with a cablecard > slot to decrypt but they are unlikely to licence you > the tech to do that. > > In theory, one could imagine a PVR that records the > encrypted stream and > plays it back later unmodified. However, what I > have heard is there > are timestamps in the stream so that the box can > tell the difference > between live and delayed, and refuse to decrypt > delayed. Perhaps if > you fool the clock? > > _______________________________________________ > mythtv-users mailing list > mythtv-users@mythtv.org > http://mythtv.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users > ===== Live simply so others may simply live. -Ghandi Pluralitas non est ponenda sine neccesitate. "Entities should not be multiplied unneccesarily" -William of Occam __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail - Helps protect you from nasty viruses. http://promotions.yahoo.com/new_mail
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