HDHomeRun gets protected content approval

by StraightThruTheHeart

Quick status update & AMD GPU dilemma - 20160127 Postby nickk » Sat Jan 28, 2017 3:49 am

The approvals and certificates for handling protected content came through. The first platform to support protected channels (Live TV) will be the XBox One. Android TV platforms won't be far behind. Windows 10 Desktop support will officially enter beta with the next major update of Windows 10 (not far off). Before then it will likely be possible to play with if you have and Intel or Nvidia GPU and you purchase the Windows DVD Player app from the app store ($15). The Windows DVD Player app purchase won't be required once the Windows update is out.

AMD is a problem - we discovered when using GPU video decode (needed for protected content) that AMD APU based systems and AMD based graphics cards don't deinterlace 480i or 1080i MPEG2 so the resulting picture looks really bad. We verified that the video is correctly detected and marked as interlaced through to the GPU. With a 2nd-gen AMD A10 this problem can be solved by changing an obscure setting Catalyst Control Center (CCC). The CCC utility has an option for deinterlacing which is on by default, but that doesn't enable deinterlacing unless another off-by-default option is enabled (it isn't labeled as being related to deinterlacing). Going older - with a 1st-gen AMD A4 we confirmed it isn't deinterlacing and the CCC utility doesn't have the option to enable. Going newer - with a R9-380 we confirmed it isn't deinterlacing and the AMD Radeon Settings utility doesn't have the option to enable. Not sure what we can do. At least to begin with figure you won't be able to view 480i or 1080i MPEG2 channels on Windows 10 Desktop if they require content protection and you have an AMD GPU. Intel and Nvidia based systems will work fine and XBox One works fine. My home TV-watching system is an AMD A10 based system... I made it work by installing a Nvidia GTX 1050 graphics card (really impressed with video decode and deinterlacing on that GPU BTW). Plan continues to be full DVR support of protected channels. The Windows 10 release with Live TV support of protected channels is an important milestone.

Nick

squirrellydw

you have a link to this?

Bigsam411

Wow great news for those who have DRM channels. Personally the DVR has worked really well for me as I have no DRM channels to deal with.

StraightThruTheHeart

Yes, the DVR is really good and performs well overall. It still needs some bells and whistles, but the protected content is really the last major component and then they can start focusing on that kinda stuff.

Bodycount9

If I ever went back to cable TV, I'd go HDHomeRun Prime and a cablecard. Mostly because my cable company doesn't DRM any channel, even the premiums.

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zman0900

Does this actually work around those shitty "Copy Once" CCI flags? That was a big reason why I dropped Time Warner.

http://forums.timewarnercable.com/t5/Product-Feedback-and-Suggestions/Stop-abusing-CCI-quot-CopyOnce-quot/td-p/98078

denonsix

This is great news. If HDHomerun can get an EPG format that isn't horrible then things are looking really promising for the future.