Does EPG123 install require breaking DRM and loosing access to past recordings?

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garyan2

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#21

Post by garyan2 » Sat Jul 06, 2019 8:32 pm

whealthy wrote:So I should have reinstalled PlayReady when I ran the TV Setup during the EPG123 install?
TV Setup will sometimes ask to install PlayReady... sometimes not. I haven't found the logic behind it. At the same time, if you say no, it will tell you that you can install later.
- Gary
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whealthy

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#22

Post by whealthy » Sat Jul 06, 2019 9:59 pm

So I have been playing around with how long the copy protected files play after reboot and it is consistently around 9min to 9:15. I don't know whether that means anything or not. I am looking at doing a system restore before I installed EPG123. I was going to try installing/updating playready as suggested.

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#23

Post by garyan2 » Sat Jul 06, 2019 10:26 pm

Having a backup of your system before EPG123 makes things a lot easier to handle. I would suggest the same that you are... try uninstalling/reinstalling PlayReady to see if that helps. Some of my searching mentions having to run TV Setup again as well after the update, but I'm not sure about that.

Can you look into your backup and see if that C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\eHome\MCENDIndiv.hds file existed? If so, you could try and just restore that file and see if that brings it everything back.

Can you play the recordings in Windows Media Player beyond 9 minutes? The 9 minutes doesn't make sense to me. I don't know if it means anything.
- Gary
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#24

Post by DSperber » Sat Jul 06, 2019 11:46 pm

garyan2 wrote: Sat Jul 06, 2019 10:26 pmCan you play the recordings in Windows Media Player beyond 9 minutes? The 9 minutes doesn't make sense to me. I don't know if it means anything.
Can't use WMP for playing copy-protected content, which I assume these programs are.

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#25

Post by Space » Sun Jul 07, 2019 3:37 am

The error you are getting ("Display driver error...") indicates a problem with the display. Either the display itself, the HDMI cable or connectors, or a problem with the graphics drivers. I assume you did not change anything related to any of these things?

I really don't keep track of DRM issues that people have experienced, but the specific error you are seeing, I believe, is related to the display and not an issue with the licenses, etc. For that type of problem you would get an error such as "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" or "Update PlayReady - The PlayReady update was incomplete. You will not be able to watch or record protected content until the update is successful".

One thing you can check is in "Device Manager". Look at the entry for the display device, such as "Generic PnP Monitor". See if is has a yellow triangle with a exclamation point. If it does not, then see if it does after you play back a DRM recording and experience the issue.

When I was having DRM issues, this is the symptom I was seeing, it would be fine for a while, but then I would see the "Display driver error". When this occurred I would also see the yellow triangle on the display device in device manager. My problem turned out to be a bad cable/poor connection to the HDMI port on the TV.

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#26

Post by whealthy » Sun Jul 07, 2019 6:54 pm

I did a system restore to a time before installing EPG 123 and everything worked fine, no error message when trying to play saved copy protected content, but I didn't have a guide. After discovering this, I went back and restored the system that was closest to being after I had installed EPG 123 and, again, I got the "Display Driver error..." message. Rebooting still resulted in being able to play a copy protected file for around nine minutes but once the message came up, I could not run any copy protected files without the message immediately poping up after playing about a second of video.

As requested by garyan2, I updated PlayReady using the link provided and that made no difference, still got the error. (The link I used was the 64 bit link. It must be an update not a whole version. I tried uninstalling PlayReady and then installing using this version and I kept getting a message when I tried to run WMC that play ready was incompletely installed. I didn't have a problem when I just ran the file with PlayReady already being installed.)
I replaced the newer version of the MCENDIndiv.hds with that from the version that worked but it made no difference either. I then replaced the newer version of the mspr.hds with that from the working, preEPG123 install and that did nothing. Still getting the "Display driver error: The video playback device does not support playback of protected content" error.
Since it was apparent I was not going to get anything to work, I again restored the system to the date prior to the EPG123 install. Again, it worked fine but I had no guide. I ran the WMC TV setup and declined the Guide agreement. I tested access the copy protected content again and was still able to. I updated the PlayReady using the PlayReady downloaded from the link given me by garyan2 for 64 bit (i didn't do an uninstall/install because of my prior experience) and I was still able to play the copy protected content.
After this I installed the new 6/30/19 version of EPG123. I ran the EPG123 client but didn't run the clean start setup. I did a manual import of the .mxf file I had saved. I manually assigned (subscribed/matched) some of the stations from the right side to the left. At this point, I have still been able to play my copy protected video files without getting the error message and have access to the EPG123 guide. I haven't yet done an automatic update of the guide.

In my case, it appears that running the clean start deleted something necessary to be able to play my copy protected video files and just updating playready and replacing the two .hds files with those from a working version weren't enough to correct the error message I was getting.

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#27

Post by garyan2 » Sun Jul 07, 2019 8:37 pm

Well, can't argue against reality, but there is something going on that we just don't understand. Besides the .hds file in the eHome folder, I found there is also a hidden system 'cache' folder that I am also deleting which contains some 'MCENDIndiv01' files. Maybe the .hds in combination with the cache files is the key.

Would you be willing to try a new epg123Client executable that leaves those files alone during a clean start and see if it changes anything?
epg123Client v1.2.14.10

The 9 minutes is seriously throwing me off, though. Why not the first second if it is truly a DRM issue?
- Gary
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#28

Post by whealthy » Mon Jul 08, 2019 8:31 pm

Is there a way to back up my scheduled recordings? For some reason, when I installed epg123 the first time, the recordings I had scheduled didn't get transferred. They weren't there when the option popped up when I did the clean start. I just put them all back in and I don't want to lose them if I try the clean start with the new version.

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#29

Post by garyan2 » Mon Jul 08, 2019 10:20 pm

The first thing EPG123 does for a Clean Start is make a backup of your current configuration which includes your recording requests. Those backups are in the C:\ProgramData\GaRyan2\epg123\backup folder. Your very first backup should have contained your recording requests... you can use the Transfer Tool to open the .zip file to see if they are there. You can use the Transfer Tool to open any/all of them. Note that if a requests already exists in WMC (the right side), then it will be hidden from the left side.

If you want a new backup of your current schedule, just click the [Backup] button in the client tool. As a backup of the backup, you can manually copy the C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\eHome\mcepgX-Y\backup\recordings folder somewhere else. You will be able to open the latest file with the Transfer Tool to import your recording requests that way as well.
- Gary
Keeping WMC alive beyond January 2020. https://garyan2.github.io

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#30

Post by whealthy » Thu Jul 25, 2019 3:23 am

garyan2
I have run into more issues with not being able to play copy protected files. They were playing and then the delay started up again. I went back to System Restore and did the System Restore before installing the epg123 and this time it also had the play the file for a time and then get the Display Driver error. I have experimented going back and forth and at this point, no matter what I do, the Display Driver error immediately pops up. I did notice that in one of the System Restore points, it showed me uninstalling "PlayReady PC amd64" and then installing "PlayReady PC x86". Could that be the issue? If so, why doesn't doing a System Restore before uninstalling the PlayReady PC amd64 work now. I thought I had downloaded the 64bit version of playready from the links you provided but maybe I didn't.

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#31

Post by garyan2 » Thu Jul 25, 2019 3:30 am

I honestly have no idea on this one. I'm strictly OTA and have never had to deal with this, but I have also never heard of anyone else dealing with this either.

Changing from 64-bit to 32-bit may be related, but I don't know. It does seem weird to do so, though.
- Gary
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#32

Post by Paul Anderegg » Wed Aug 21, 2019 12:40 pm

So....make sure to do an Acronis True Image full backup prior to trying out EPG123... :)

Paul

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