Protected Content and Flickering

Help with tuners from ATI, Hauppauge, AverMedia and more.
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spyke562

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Protected Content and Flickering

#1

Post by spyke562 » Fri Jun 07, 2013 6:01 pm

Hi Everyone,

I have a PCI Ceton turner in my HTPC. I am assuming after a windows update I started getting "The video playback device does not support playback of protected content." error message. I get it sometimes when changing the channel but most times when I am coming back to live TV from Netflix or from watching a recorded show. A quick fix is to minimize WMC and bring it back to full screen. I found the below link and was wondering if this fixed worked for anyone else?

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/wind ... cb1d39afb0#

Also, on some channels like SyFy, USA, and FX I see a flickering. It looks like my TV is changing the brightness really fast from dim to bright. I don't get it while watching Netflix, outside of WMC, or recorded shows. Only live TV on certain channels. But the odd thing is not all the time. Anyone else see this?

I am wondering if my Ceton card is slowly crapping out.

Thanks for any information.

Shackleford

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#2

Post by Shackleford » Fri Jun 07, 2013 7:21 pm

Sounds like a video card driver and setting issue. Check with your video card manufacturer website (AMD, Nvidia, Intel) to be sure you have the latest driver package. Also disable any auto contrast features.

spyke562

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#3

Post by spyke562 » Sat Jun 08, 2013 12:53 am

Hi Shackleford,

Thanks for the information. I updated my video drivers from ATI but that did not resolve the issue. I then also ran through the steps in this article.

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/wind ... cb1d39afb0#

Those steps also did not seem to resolve the issue. However I noticed while running through the setup PlayReady was not able to update. I then ran through the steps from this article.

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/wind ... c015d7ab1f

This so far has seemed to resolve my issue with the protected content error.

However, on certain channels I am still getting that 'contrast flickering'. I re ran through the display setup in WMC but this did not resolve my issue. I also disabled any auto adjustment picture settings on my TV and even disabled my 240Hz feature. So far nothing is resolving this issue. I may just try to buy another Ceton card if nothing else works.

Thanks for anymore information you can provide

Shackleford

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#4

Post by Shackleford » Sat Jun 08, 2013 1:39 am

The flickering you're experiencing is most likely the 29/59 bug and is unavoidable. Disabling any video enhancements and the dynamic contrast within the catalyst control center is about as much as you can do to lessen the effect. Some video cards handle it better than others. To verify you can press 411 then the info button on your remote and press the right button until the last screen. Here's a video that may help.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4mD_MFTR0oM

foxwood

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#5

Post by foxwood » Sat Jun 08, 2013 2:03 am

Shackleford wrote:The flickering you're experiencing is most likely the 29/59 bug and is unavoidable.
He's seeing the flicker on USA, FX and SyFy - it's a safe bet it's not the 29/59 issue. It's much more likely to be a dynamic contrast setting in his graphic card or TV.

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#6

Post by Shackleford » Sat Jun 08, 2013 2:09 am

When I get it on those channels its what is displayed in the video I linked. Either way disabling dynamic contrast in the video card settings should help.

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#7

Post by richard1980 » Sat Jun 08, 2013 3:00 am

foxwood wrote:He's seeing the flicker on USA, FX and SyFy - it's a safe bet it's not the 29/59 issue.
I'm not following your logic...any content on any channel can be encoded in any manner. In fact, I just observed the 29/59 fluctuation on USA. I don't have SyFy, but I'm pretty sure I've seen it on that channel as well. FX is the only one of those three channels that I have not observed any fluctuation on...but just because I haven't observed it doesn't mean anything.

spyke562

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#8

Post by spyke562 » Sat Jun 08, 2013 4:23 pm

Hey guys,

Thanks for the information. I did say I see it on SyFy, USA, and FX because they the channels I see it on most. I was just giving an example on some channels I see it on, sorry for the confusion. I haven't really noticed it on all channels. I was not aware of the 29/59 issue, I will do some research on that. I will also adjust the settings in catalyst control center and post back what happens.

Thanks for all your input.

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#9

Post by spyke562 » Sat Jun 08, 2013 5:36 pm

Thanks again for the fix. I disabled the dynamic contrast in CCC and it appears to have resolved the flickering issue.

However now when I tune to syfy, fx, USA, and TNT instead of flickering i get the channel for a second then a service unavailable and weak signal message. I have seen this before but it goes away after a bit. Can you provide any information on this?

Does this have to do with crappy Comcast and the channel/frequency matching up? It just odd that most channels work except the ones listed.

Thanks again for all your help guys

brobin10

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#10

Post by brobin10 » Mon Jun 24, 2013 11:05 am

i am having this same flickering issue on just premium channels (i.e. starz, showtime, encore and cinemax) it seems

where can i find this dynamic contrast control setting in the catylst control center?

thanks

spyke562

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#11

Post by spyke562 » Mon Jun 24, 2013 1:32 pm

Hey Brobin10,

From what I have been reading it appears the Ceton turners need 'a perfect' signal where as the provided cable boxes don't. I am currently looking into some type of filter or removing any spliters on my setup. After you change the setting take notice to see if you get the weak signal message or service unavailable.

It may depend on you version of CCC. Go to preferences and turn on Advanced View then click the Video tab -> Quality. Under the Video Quality section you uncheck the box next to "Enable Dynamic Contrast".

Good luck!

brobin10

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#12

Post by brobin10 » Mon Jun 24, 2013 2:53 pm

thanks for the response spyke562. i will update tonight after i get home and try it

worth a mention: this htpc is getting its ethernet connection via MoCA adapter. i checked my other htpc that uses the hdhr prime and a regular wired ethernet connection but it still had some flickering...not near as noticable as the htpc using the MoCA adapter....both htpcs use different video chips though....htpc w/MoCA adapter is ati radeon and other pc is built in intel HD3000 or so i think

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#13

Post by brobin10 » Tue Jun 25, 2013 11:07 am

spyke562....unchecking the "enable dynamic contrast" and a few other things completely removed the flickering issue....thanks!

i may or may not have a signal issue now....i was watching the news (non premium) and the channel dropped but i looked at the tray inet icon and it said disconnected so i am hoping it was just my MoCA adapter dropping the connection and nothing else

CBRworm

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#14

Post by CBRworm » Tue Jun 25, 2013 3:38 pm

After years of troublefree service, I have just recently started getting this flickering on one HTPC. dynamic contrast is disabled in CCC. What is interesting is that the flickering reappears, all I have to do is open and close CCC and it goes away for a few days.

This is with an HD6670 - I never had this problem (as long as dynamic contrast was disabled) until a few weeks ago - I don't know if it was a MS update???

brobin10

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#15

Post by brobin10 » Tue Jun 25, 2013 4:11 pm

CBRworm wrote:After years of troublefree service, I have just recently started getting this flickering on one HTPC. dynamic contrast is disabled in CCC. What is interesting is that the flickering reappears, all I have to do is open and close CCC and it goes away for a few days.

This is with an HD6670 - I never had this problem (as long as dynamic contrast was disabled) until a few weeks ago - I don't know if it was a MS update???
that is very strange....i am running a HD6310 and it seems fine for now

i keep all the windows updates turned off

Shackleford

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#16

Post by Shackleford » Tue Jun 25, 2013 7:36 pm

You might try updating or reinstalling the amd driver package.

blushrts

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#17

Post by blushrts » Thu Jun 27, 2013 1:45 am

CBRworm wrote:After years of troublefree service, I have just recently started getting this flickering on one HTPC. dynamic contrast is disabled in CCC. What is interesting is that the flickering reappears, all I have to do is open and close CCC and it goes away for a few days.

This is with an HD6670 - I never had this problem (as long as dynamic contrast was disabled) until a few weeks ago - I don't know if it was a MS update???
When I used AMD cards in the past I would find that occasionally settings that I turned off would turn back on. The dynamic contrast was one of them. You can search Google for a registry edit to make the setting stick.

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Crash2009

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#18

Post by Crash2009 » Thu Jun 27, 2013 3:52 am

CBRworm wrote:After years of troublefree service, I have just recently started getting this flickering on one HTPC. dynamic contrast is disabled in CCC. What is interesting is that the flickering reappears, all I have to do is open and close CCC and it goes away for a few days.

This is with an HD6670 - I never had this problem (as long as dynamic contrast was disabled) until a few weeks ago - I don't know if it was a MS update???
I have an HD 6670 also. Love it. I have been using ATI 11.4 (with no Catylyst or Hydrovision) for quite some time with zero problems. or, are you maybe overheating?

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