My mistake- the Channels app on my iOS and AppleTV devices are automatically directing my channel 6000 selection to the OTA channel 4 feed from my HD Homerun. At least that now makes sense.
If something like this happened (in the past the only system that worked with DRM was Windows Media Center) you’d lose the ability to do a lot with your recordings. When I had a cable card hooked up to a computer running WMC I could record stuff from HBO. BUT I could only watch it on the same computer I recorded it on. So there was no point recording anything you might want to keep for any length of time, because if your PC died or you just wanted to replace it, you’d lose access to those recordings. I mean, now that I’m a little more savvy about how all this works, I imagine I could have found some kind of software to strip the DRM off of the recordings and keep them, but it’s yet another step. And almost certainly they’d require all recordings to have DRM if they are putting DRM on their live streams. So that would be that. I live overseas and have been largely successful using Channels with a VPN. But honestly, I’m debating asking my parents to let me put my DVR in their house and get a cable card (since they have cable and Xfinity still doesn’t charge for cable cards or have limits on data where they live) and just remote in to keep from having to deal with the DRM.
1 Like
Be careful, though - some cable head-ends put DRM on the cablecards, too - it's incredibly frustrating.
1 Like
Thankfully, at least for now, Xfinity doesn’t do that, except on premium channels.
We worked long and hard to get Comcast to remove the copy once flag from the NBC stations when the first DVRs came out, and now NBC is the first one to turn DRM back on with all their streams. Perhaps they'll do that next with cable boxes, but I'm hoping their primary aim it to get streamers to use Peacock. Maybe there's a chance that ABC and CBS will remain more lenient like they were when DVRs were initially rolled out.
1 Like
That's a shame. Especially since they're working on expanding their 1.0 translators. But they were the first in the Nashville area to DRM their 3.0 signal too.
1 Like
Was fine here until yesterday when we noticed USA was gone when we went to watch RAW… needless to say wife and kids aren’t happy.
1 Like
Same. I’m having to record manually from OBS on my Apple TV from the USA Network app. For the foreseeable future. or Get a Hulu Subscription because it shows up there next day.
I had several passes for recording off of UNIMAS (HD on TVE only, not cable) that I just noticed haven't recorded since 4/30. I just now noticed the TVE channel is no longer even listed. Was that part of the NBC change as well?
It looks like it was. Does that mean that weather I get UNIMAS from YouTube TV or Fubo TV, DRM will still prevent Channels from being able to use it?
Unfortunately, Comcast cable only has the SD version of this network, while their TVE had HD. The SD version is horrible as it letterboxes the picture both vertically and horizontally to maintain a 16:9 aspect ratio.
1 Like
This Cord Cutters news article implies Comcast removed content from TVE to block Channels DVR. Is there any indication that Comcast was specifically targeting Channels DVR or is this article inaccurate?
2 Likes
I would believe that to be true & to go out of thier way to target a small company like channels dvr is disgusting.... but then again when you look at how they act, nobody should be surpisred.
1 Like
lol, there's zero chance that this decision was based at all on Channels.
7 Likes
That is a ridiculous article. There is ZERO evidence that this had anything at all to do with Channels DVR. It is FAR more likely that they are just consolidating all of their streaming content under one platform as they continue moving content into Peacock. I'd be surprised if anyone at NBC involved in this decision even knows what Channels DVR is lol.
Integrating TVE content into Channels DVR is a very clever, well executed hack. But it's still a hack and we shouldn't be a surprised if it breaks from time-to-time or even permanently.
1 Like
It seemed odd to me, thanks for confirming!
1 Like
Heres food for thought...... why only nbc owned networks & not any of the others? With everything going on today...... anything os possible.
1 Like
That article is BullCrap Comcast did not block anything because of Channels DVR. I can still record all these Channels with a Cable Card from Comcast in Channels DVR.
1 Like
It would be anticompetitive if true but it’s very unlikely
I think it's just the streaming channels (TVE) for now, and I can only hope it stops with NBC. I hope Disney doesn't get the same idea being that they have all the ESPN, Fox and many other networks that I watch much more often.
1 Like
I think ESPN is going full streaming.... direct to consumer.