Switching from Ceton - What to do with CableCard?

[STC]

You mad codger!

Please report back as to woes solved or not in the next few days.

[mdavej]

Well, we're gonna find out...

Amazon delivering HDHR Prime today. Sure hope it's better than the InfiniTV, or we're back to STBs from Verizon. WAF at major low (and even I hate it).

If you're in the mood to experiment, give it a day or so before you attempt to pair. You'll find many of your channels may work right away without pairing, or you may not get any at all. Those that do work, may eventually go away. I've switched from Ceton to Prime and back many, many times in attempts to solve issues that turned out to be my provider's fault. The main issue reported with Verizon is that the signal can actually be too strong, so a simple attenuator or splitter fixes it.

Personally, I see no downside to pairing, but many downsides if you don't pair. If WAF is low now, imagine how low it will be when you get no channels because you refuse to pair. I'm puzzled as to why this even started a debate in the first place. If you have a cable card, don't mess around and just use the damn thing.

[slowbiscuit]

nm

[slowbiscuit]

Verizon FiOS encrypts (not to be confused with copy-protects) everything except local broadcast channels. They do not enforce pairing. Which means if your CableCard is not paired, you can still receive encrypted channels that are marked copy-freely. You cannot receive encrypted channels that are marked higher than copy-freely, such as copy-once, without pairing. In most markets, copy-once is only used on a few movie channels.

While it is true that you can receive content that is encrypted and marked CCI 0x00 without pairing, the CableCARD is required to pass a CCI value to the host device for all content it decrypts...which means any content that lacks CCI when it gets to the host was not encrypted on the wire. So either RyC's content wasn't encrypted, or RyC is incorrect in stating the CCI values were not passed and the host fell back to CGMS-A.

On Comcast if the card is not fully paired (with correct Data ID on a Motorola system) you can get all channels except the ones that are CCI-protected. But I think in this case you mean that at minimum the Host and card S/N have to be in the provider's DB - IIRC without that pairing you can only get the clear QAM channels with a card. On Comcast that basically means nothing now since they've encrypted everything.

[richard1980]

But I think in this case you mean that at minimum the Host and card S/N have to be in the provider's DB - IIRC without that pairing you can only get the clear QAM channels with a card.

No, that's not what I mean. Without the pairing, you can get anything that is ClearQAM (regardless of the copy protection level) plus anything that is encrypted and has a CCI value of 0x00. And even if CCI is 0x00, the CableCARD is required to pass that CCI value to the host. RyC claims that he was receiving encrypted content but no CCI...which is not allowed per the CCCP.

[blueiedgod]

CableCARDs are conditional access devices...they have nothing to do with copy protection.

Without pairing the card you can't view copyright protected TV. You can still view encrypted TV.

[RyC]

Well I really don't think I was mistaken...maybe they're not following the spec.

[richard1980]

Without pairing the card you can't view copyright protected TV.

Yes, you can. You just can't receive content that has a CCI value other than 0x00. But you can still receive copy protected content that lacks a CCI value (e.g., copy protected ClearQAM).

Well I really don't think I was mistaken...maybe they're not following the spec.

TBH, I'm more inclined to believe you were mistaken rather than Motorola and/or Ceton not following the spec. But I certainly wouldn't rule out the option that Motorola and/or Ceton is doing something wrong.

[RyC]

Ah well, if I'm ever in such a situation again, I'll post immediately and you guys can take a look. Sorry to drag so OT. Moral of the story is pair your CableCARD!!!

[Scallica]

Moral of the story is pair your CableCARD!!!

Indeed! Topic closed.