can not play recorded tv?

[LenG58]

hello all,

just recorded most of season 2 of the walking dead series yesterday. when i try to play the file in wmc i get the following message:

copying prohibited
the broadcaster prohibits this content from being copied.
you can only play this content on the same computer on
which it was recorded.

that is exactly what i am trying to do. play it on the same computer i recorded it on. any ideas? thank you in advance!

-len

windows 7 professional

 

[Sardonicus]

This may help you.
"Copying Prohibited - The broadcaster prohibits this content from - Microsoft Answers

 

[dsperber]

Can you please provide details of your hardware arrangement, type of TV tuners (internal or external, manufacturer and model, etc.), cablecard setup, cable company or provider, etc..

Also, how are you trying to play back the show? In other words, are you playing it on the monitor of the HTPC you recorded it on? On an HDTV, connected via HDMI/DVI to your video card on the HTPC? Some other method?

Were you able to actually watch the shows you recorded before you set up the recordings? If so, then there's no question you should have been able to record them and play back those recordings.

It's certainly true that if your cable provider marks content (e.g. from AMCHD) as "copy-once" then you need a cablecard-enabled tuner to view them and record them usably. And it does need to be the same machine and installed Win7 that did the recording in order to play it back.

But if your setup allowed you to view the programs, you certainly should have been able to record and play back the recordings on that machine.

Need details.

 

[LenG58]

hello,

thank you for your response. here is my set up:

i have an internal hauppauge hvr-1250. i also have a samsung set top cable box. my service provider is cablevision in new york. i am using windows media center to view live tv and record.

as far as playback goes, i am playing it on the monitor of the pc i recorded it on. which is an hp2311x connected via dvi to a radeon x1300 video card. this is not an hd setup.

i watch and record shows all the time without problems. this particular set of of recordings came from the amc channel. i am able to view this channel, via live tv in wmc, as i type this. these were scheduled recordings so i was not at my computer during the recordings so i can't answer your question about viewing them before recording. i assume the answer is yes, though.

thanks for any help you can provide!

 

[dsperber]

i have an internal hauppauge hvr-1250.

This card is not capable of receiving encrypted (i.e. copy-protected "copy-once" programs) delivered by your cable service. To support this you need a cablecard in the TV tuner, and the HVR-1250 is not such a TV tuner. It can only support clear QAM from a cable company, not encrypted copy-once content.

When the coax connector is used, the HVR-1250 is intended only for (a) OTA/ATSC "copy-freely" digital content from a roof antenna, as well as (b) clear QAM "copy-freely" digital content from a cable provider. Alternatively you can feed it S-video (which is analog, not digital) for example from the S-video output of your Samsung STB (but this is 480i 4:3 analog, not 720p/1080i 16:9 digital HD).

But since it is NOT cablecard-enabled it CANNOT be used to receive encrypted copy-once (which WMC will treat as "copy protected") content from your cable provider... if Cablevision in NY delivers content as copy-once. For example, here in TWC/LA virtually every basic/premium channel is delivered as copy-once, including AMCHD. Only local networks channels (e.g. NBC, CBS, etc.) which you can receive OTA/ATSC via roof antenna are delivered by TWC/LA as copy-freely "clear QAM" unencrypted.

So your Hauppauge card can only be used to feed unencrypted channels to WMC. If AMCHD is provided by NYC Cablevision as copy-once, then you are SOL. The results you now see are exactly expected.

But that's why I asked what channel you actually tune to when you view AMCHD live. If you are tuning to a Cablevision channel through the Hauppauge tuner then it must be copy-freely clear QAM, and you should have no problem recording and playing it back. But I speculate that you are not tuning to that channel when you view it live... and you must be viewing it through your Samsung STB (S-video) analog connection, which isn't HDTV at all but rather is the 480i SD version.

i also have a samsung set top cable box. my service provider is cablevision in new york. i am using windows media center to view live tv and record.

But what source/channel is your AMCHD channel being viewed from, when you view it live?

And is this the same channel you specify for the recordings? I speculate NOT.

How is your Samsung STB connected to your PC, if you can view things from it as well? S-video? I can't imagine any other way for you to be viewing it through the Hauppauge card than an S-video analog connection.

i watch and record shows all the time without problems. this particular set of of recordings came from the amc channel. i am able to view this channel, via live tv in wmc, as i type this. these were scheduled recordings so i was not at my computer during the recordings so i can't answer your question about viewing them before recording. i assume the answer is yes, though.

You're not providing enough clear, precise, non-ambiguous information.

You have TWO sources for feeding WMC, it seems to me: (a) you probably have one side of a split coax going to the coax connector on the HVR-1250, and (b) you probably have the other side of that split coax going to the Samsung STB which then is connected via S-video to the HVR-1250. Is this right or wrong?

Then, what precise channel do you tune to when you watch AMCHD via WMC? Are you watching it through a channel provided from the coax input (which would imply clear QAM, unencrypted copy-freely delivery of AMCHD from Cablevision to you)? Or are you watching it through S-video fed from the Samsung STB?

And then which tuner/channel do you specify for the setup of your recording? If you watch from the Samsung STB (via S-video) and thought you could just specify the digital cable channel (feeding the coax connector on the HVR-1250, but encrypted so that it is useless to the HVF-1250 which does not have a cablecard) and do the recording, well you can't. The results you're getting now are exactly what would be expected if AMCHD is delivered copy-once by Cablevision.

Your symptoms imply that Cablevision is delivering AMCHD as copy-once encrypted copy-protected and you tried to record this channel (which is why WMC won't play it back for you, since you need a cablecard to decrypt it which the HVR-1250 does not have).

I'm suspecting you've been watching AMCHD (or so you thought) using the analog 480i 4:3 letterboxed SD S-video input to the HVR-1250 coming from the Samsung STB, not from the coax connection into the HVR-1250.

So... please clarify. Provide channel numbers, cabling connections to the HVR-1250, and exactly what/how you set up your recordings, vs. how you actually watch AMCHD live.


P.S. - I don't think WMC supports S-video input, so I'm actually baffled to grasp how you're making any use whatsoever of your Samsung STB to feed WMC in your PC? Need more details, please.

 

[LenG58]

as mentioned this is not an hd set up. my coax cable(from cablevision) goes into the back of the stb (which has a cablecard) and then from the stb to the hvr-1250. i do *not* use s-video.

when i watch live, or record, the source is the stb. i recorded channel 43 which is amc. i use the wmc guide to watch live and set scheduled recordings. as a test i just recorded 30 seconds of "independence day" on hbo. i was able to watch the 30 second clip in wmc with no problem.

i hope i am providing the necessary info for you to help and i appreciate you taking the time to try and help!

 

[dsperber]

as mentioned this is not an hd set up. my coax cable(from cablevision) goes into the back of the stb (which has a cablecard) and then from the stb to the hvr-1250. i do *not* use s-video.

Ok. No S-video.

But then what happens??? The STB is connected to the HVR-1250 how... by coax??? Coax out of the STB to coax in on the HVR-1250?? What is the connection from STB to HVR-1250?

Is your HVR-125- set to tune to "channel 3"?? Apparently not. It's apparently set to tune to channel 43, but I don't understand how channel 43 can be delivered over coax out of the STB. Makes no sense to me.

Coax out of a STB is 480i SD only, and is normally supposed to go to an old fashioned TV tuned to channel 3/4. The coax delivers only SD content, not HD content. It is not a digital delivery method OUT of the STB. Only the original coax can provide digital channels to the QAM tuner in the HVR-1250.

So... do you have the Cablevision coax split, with one side going to the STB and the other side going to the HVR-1250? I cannot believe you have coax out of the STB going to the HVR-1250.

when i watch live, or record, the source is the stb. i recorded channel 43 which is amc. i use the wmc guide to watch live and set scheduled recordings. as a test i just recorded 30 seconds of "independence day" on hbo. i was able to watch the 30 second clip in wmc with no problem.

Well I'm completely baffled, although I'm guessing channel 43 is not the HD version of AMC is it? Is it the SD version? Isn't there a second HD channel for AMCHD, separate from the SD version channel? Or does Cablevision deliver its HD version of AMCHD on channel 43? Do you have two AMC channels (one SD and one HD) or just one?

For example, here in TWC/LA AMC standard definition channel is 46 and the separate second high definition channel is 479. The AMCHD content on 479 is of course true 16:9 1080i high definition, and the AMC content on 46 is the 4:3 letterboxed 480i version of the same 16:9 content which is on 479 (since AMC letterboxes its 480i delivery which is downconverted from the 1080i 16:9 original HD version, which is why its 480i looks so good... although it still is 480i SD and not true 1080i HD).

Same with HBO... 503 is SD HBO (4:3 480i) and 427 is HD HBO (16:9 1080i).

But the 480i SD content on channel 46 is NOT copy-protected (at least I'm almost certain it's not, since I don't ever watch SD channels). In contrast, the 1080i HD content on 479 IS copy-protected. The "suits" couldn't care less what you do with content from 486. They only care about the digital HD content on 479.


I cannot fathom how you can get HBO delivered from your STB to the HVR-1250 and WMC for viewing/recording... using a coax from the STB to the HVR-1250... so that WMC on the PC is tuned to the specific HBO channel.

Is WMC and HVR-1250 somehow controlling the tuning on the STB remotely, so that you actually are "tuning" (the STB) to HBO, and then the STB is simply delivering its HBO output over coax and the HVR-1250 is really tuned to channel 3?

I must obviously not understand how the HVR-1250 works, nor can I imagine how the STB delivers a tunable channel 43 from its coax output (unless it's a pure pass-through, as if it were a split coax).

 

[LenG58]

yes the stb is connnected to the hvr-1250 by coax. so, coax out of the stb to coax into the hvr-1250. sorry for earlier confusion. the hvr-1250 is tuned to channel 3.

cablevision provides hd signal on channel 43. so channel 43 is a hd channel. my stb is a hd box but the hvr-1250 does not give me hd when using a stb.

 

[dsperber]

yes the stb is connnected to the hvr-1250 by coax. so, coax out of the stb to coax into the hvr-1250. sorry for earlier confusion. the hvr-1250 is tuned to channel 3.

Well now we're making progress. This at least makes more sense to me.

Ok... I am telling you that you are NOT getting HD recordings this way. Channel 3 OUT of the STB via coax is simply conventional old-fashioned 480i 4:3 content of whatever the STB is tuned to, and its appearance on your TV (when viewed live or played back from a recording) is a function of (a) how the source channel delivers its content, and (b) how the STB is configured to deliver 16:9 720p/1080i content out over its 480i 4:3 SD outputs (e.g. OUT via coax).

So, since you say 46 is AMCHD then you are obviously watching what originally was 1080i 16:9 HD content, which has been downconverted to 480i for delivery out over what really is (I'm sorry to say) the worst possible video you can imagine, namely 480i output over coax channel 3. And I'm going to guess it's been letterboxed in that process, so that you still see the 16:9 image in your 4:3 screen window from WMC. Maybe you've "zoomed" things with WMC, but believe me it's really downconverted 480i 4:3 SD.


And, consequently, WMC should have ZERO concerns with the notion of copy-protection, as this is all-analog SD 480i 4:3 channel 3 via coax. There is NO copy-protection involved here.

You must have set up your recordings for the AMCHD shows to record from channel 43... not from channel 3.

 

[LenG58]

yes, i completely understand that this is not an hd video setup. the scheduled recording was set to record from channel 43(through wmc) and not channel 3. so this brings up the question. is there anyway to view the .wtv files i have recorded?

 

[dsperber]

yes, i completely understand that this is not an hd video setup.

I understand. But given that you're feeding the HVR-1250 nothing but channel 3 via coax, you have to live within those constraints.

One constraint, of course, is that you're not watching true HD.

But the other is that you must always view and record using channel 3. NO other channel is delivered on that coax except channel 3, which corresponds to whatever actual channel the STB is tuned to at that moment.

There is NOTHING on the coax at any other channel but 3. Period.

the scheduled recording was set to record from channel 43(through wmc) and not channel 3. so this brings up the question. is there anyway to view the .wtv files i have recorded?

Not at all. You recorded nothing but some frequency on the coax.

There is nothing on your coax that has any meaning other than channel 3. Period.

I don't understand how you schedule recordings... because your WMC recording must be set to channel 3, and simultaneously you have to be sure the STB is on the true channel you want to be recording (in this case AMCHD on 43). How do you make that happen... manually? Some programmed Harmony remote or something that auto-tunes the STB via timer/programming?

And if you've recorded things in the past correctly, presumably those recordings were made using WMC and setting to channel 3. How/why did you mess up this time and set WMC to record channel 43? Temporary brain out-to-lunch?

Anyway, your WTV recordings of what was supposedly channel 43 are 100% worthless. The "copy protected" message is clearly not a true statement, but probably is just coming out because WMC can't figure out what it's looking at in that channel 43 WTV recording and assumes that it's encrypted or at least cannot be decrypted by what is supposed to be the active cablecard, hence it must be "from another computer recording".

Don't think about it anymore. The problem is now clear, that you mistakenly set the recording for channel 43 when in fact ALL your WMC recordings using this setup should ALWAYS BE ON CHANNEL 3, with the STB needing to be tuned properly at the same time to whatever true channel you wish to record via WMC/3.

 

[LenG58]

actually i am using a wmc remote. the hvr-1250 , with a ir blaster remote, is compatible with wmc. i *always* record using wmc and schedule it to the channel i want. so something is not correct.

i never program wmc to record channel 3 and then tune the stb to channel i want to record. there is something else going on here as to why i cannot watch these .wtv files?

 

[dsperber]

Well, I certainly have to state the obvious... that I have no firsthand experience with the HVR-1250 card, nor the configuration where an external STB feeds an internal tuner card via coax with WMC tuned to channel 3 (since that's all that comes from the STB to the tuner via coax) and yet you use WMC and the onscreen Guide to control the external STB via IR blaster controlled by WMC so that it gets tuned to channel 43 (or whatever) at the right time per the scheduled recording through WMC.

I appreciate the obvious "convenience" of having WMC do all of this stuff for you, i.e. controlling the IR blaster to actually tune the STB as needed, while at the same time letting you believe you're actually tuned to and watching that channel via the onscreen WMC Guide... when in fact it clearly is expecting and handling channel 3 coming into the TV tuner card through the coax. That WTV recording is actually from analog channel 3 arriving via coax, not digital channel 43 although we realize the true source is digital channel 43 on the STB.

But I've never actually used this setup.

Anyway, this "copy protected" symptom is in my opinion a completely inexplicable anomaly. No answer whatsoever. Obviously you have watched and probably recorded channel 43 before (tuned on the STB, delivered via channel 3 to the HVR-1250, but still seemingly channel 43 if you look at live/recorded info or Guide in WMC). You certainly said you just double-checked the same story with a 30-second recording from HBO and it worked fine.

And yet, when playing your AMCHD channel 43 recordings you show the "copy protected" message during playback, which is physically impossible to have occurred since the WTV recordings themselves are made on your WMC machine from the analog channel 3 input delivered via coax from the STB, which inherently cannot possibly have the digital copy-protection flags on it. Impossible. Physically impossible.

Obviously, some inexplicable anomaly. I certainly can't explain how it happened, nor can I even imagine any way it's possible to occur.

Why don't you try right now to again record something from AMCHD channel 43, and confirm that you do or do not have the exact same problem right now.

 

[LenG58]

interesting. i just did a 30 second recording on channel 43. (amchd). when i open it using wmc all is well and it plays fine. when i try to open it with wmp (windows media player) i get the following message:

Windows Media Player cannot play, burn, rip, or sync the protected file because you do not have the appropriate rights.

the original walking dead files also generate this same message in wmp.

hmmmm...

 

[dsperber]

interesting. i just did a 30 second recording on channel 43. (amchd). when i open it using wmc all is well and it plays fine. when i try to open it with wmp (windows media player) i get the following message:

Windows Media Player cannot play, burn, rip, or sync the protected file because you do not have the appropriate rights.

the original walking dead files also generate this same message in wmp.

hmmmm...

This is indeed odd.

WMC is the only program alive that has the ability and authority to play "copy protected" WTV files. WMP on the same system CANNOT.

And that's because normally, when digital HDTV programs are recorded which are delivered through a cable system that marks the content as copy-once, the usability of that encrypted copy-once content is facilitated through the cablecard which is theoretically in the TV tuner card being managed by WMC.

The cablecard is what enables WMC to decrypt the encrypted digital transport stream provided by the cable system, either for watching live or for record/playback capability. Without the cablecard only copy-freely unencrypted clear QAM content from the cable system is usable... by both WMC and WMP. For copy-once encrypted content, only WMC can do the view/playback, and then only if a cablecard is present.

So... if in your situation where the external STB is the "tuner" controlled by WMC via IR blaster remote, and if the delivered content is true analog channel 3 to the HVR-1250 and thus recorded as pure unprotected 480i where there is no copy protection involved in creating the WTV recordings, it seems to me that there shouldn't be any problem with either WMC or WMP playing back such a WTV file. It's not HD, it's not from a digital source (i.e. it came in as analog channel 3 via coax and was converted to digital WTV via A-to-D MPEG conversion by WMC itself), and there shouldn't even be a copy-protect flag on the WTV file.

So I would have expected both WMC and WMP to play it fine. Certainly WMC should play everything it records and WMP wouldn't be able to play some WTV produced from digital copy-once input. But every one of these WTV files produced in your situation should be completely unprotected, as they arrive via 480i analog channel 3 through coax.

I don't have an answer yet. But there's no reason to want to use WMP, when WMC plays them fine, is there? At least you can play them with WMC (at least this most recent experimental snippet). Why are you trying to play them with WMP?

And, looking back at your original post, you didn't mention that you were getting this message from WMP. I assumed you were dealing with WMC, not WMP. Are you now saying that in fact all of those programs you complained about in your original post actually CAN be played successfully with WMC, and it's only when you try to play them with WMP that you get the "copy protected" error?

 

[LenG58]

yes. which brings me back to 10 episodes of walking dead sitting on my hard drive and unplayable. frustrating indeed. thank you for trying!

 

[dsperber]

yes. which brings me back to 10 episodes of walking dead sitting on my hard drive and unplayable. frustrating indeed. thank you for trying!

I'm still confused.

Are you trying to play these with WMC or WMP??

Again, I can understand WMP not being able to play copy-protected content whereas WMC can play them. But this is only when there is digital 720p/1080i content involved which was delivered directly from cable company to an internal or external TV tuner containing a cablecard (e.g. Ceton's InfiniTV, or SilconDust HD HomeRun Prime) and which has been marked as "copy-once". In that case, only WMC can be used for playback of WTV recordings.

But in your case, with the external STB delivering analog channel 3 for recording by WMC, I'm truly mystified that there is any hint whatsoever in the WTV recordings made of copy protection... since the source (and 480i at that) was analog and not digital (720p/1080i). In this case BOTH WMC and WMP should have been able to play these WTV files.

For sure, WMC should have.

So to clarify your original post where you didn't mention WMC or WMP specifically, and I just assumed you were talking about WMC, are you now stating that you CAN or CANNOT play these files with either (a) WMC or (b) WMP? Two separate questions.

 

[LenG58]

i originally was referring to wmc. i can not play these files in wmc. as an aside when i made my last 30 sec recording test of channel 43 (amc) i tried to play it back in wmc and wmp. but i'm only concerned with wmc...

 

[dsperber]

i originally was referring to wmc. i can not play these files in wmc. as an aside when i made my last 30 sec recording test of channel 43 (amc) i tried to play it back in wmc and wmp. but i'm only concerned with wmc...

Well, then we're back to the original story (now clarified, I guess). You theoretically did what you just experimented with a little while ago and had no problem at all using WMC... theoretically recording channel 43 with WMC for 30 seconds, and then playing it back with WMC, and it works fine. Did you set up a "timer recording", or did you just manually press REC while watching live?

And yet, your 10 episodes recorded previously (using timer recording technique)... for some reason they are NOT playable with WMC, and yet you believe you did exactly the same thing in terms of setting up the timer recording also from channel 43 using the exact technique you've always used without a problem.

I don't know what to say. Obviously there is something different about what you did when recording those 10 episodes, from what you just did as the 30-second experiment a little while ago.

It's simply impossible for WMC to complain about copy-protection when playing back a WTV recording made from analog channel 3. That's just not possible. But we're counting on WMC to realize that it needs to send out an IR blaster control to set the STB to digital channel 43, and also know that the input signal for recording through the HVR-1250 will be arriving on analog channel 3 via coax.

On the other hand, if something didn't go right, and WMC actually thought it was supposed to be recording actual digital channel 43 from the coax when we know full well there can't be a digital channel 43 on that coax fed from the coax output of the STB, well maybe this is where the issue was born. Perhaps playback of what must be a true garbage WTV recording of theoretical digital channel 43 is what is throwing that "copy protected" result from WMC. Don't know. No idea what's going on with any certainty. Pure speculation.

But if your recent 30-second experiment WAS once again successful (as I'm guessing it's always been before this unique 10-episode anomaly), then I'm afraid you're just going to have to deal with the loss of those 10 episodes. If they're re-aired, then set up another timer recording. Otherwise, sounds like they're history and we don't really know what you (or WMC) did differently that made them unusable.

 

[LenG58]

in my 30 second tests i just hit record while watching live.hopefully they'll re-air before too long. thank you again for taking the time to try and help.