# Digital rights management feature???



## wbmccarty (Apr 28, 2006)

Lately, when I view recorded programs, my R-15 wants to make really sure that it's okay to change channels to record any concurrent to-do list entries. So, it pops up a 5-minute warning box to obtain my authorization. For some reason, even after I approve the change of channel, the box pops up again several times over the next half hour or so. I've learned that the generally better alternative is to reject the change-channel request and hope to record the missed program at some future time.

This is annoying behavior at all times. But, it's absolutely infuriating when I'm burning a DVD. I estimate that I spent $5-10 on flawed DVDs during December alone.

Does anyone know how to turn off the silly notification without permanently damaging the R15? (That alternative has been the subject of due deliberation, but munging the box rather than its maker seems incompletely satisfactory.) Or, does DTV recommend some typically inane workaound such as "delete your to-do entries, watch the recorded program, and then restore your to-do entries?"

Are some folks just such positive thinkers that they take this and similarly egregious defects in stride? Or, is this problem affecting only some especially blessed subsegment of the user population? 

I begin to consider the notion that this is just the first salvo in a new digital rights management (DRM) strategy: Flood the market with such bad record/playback devices that DRM is the last issue on the customer's mind. That is, treat 'em badly enough and they'll happily beg for crumbs.


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## cybok0 (Jan 5, 2006)

Try a complete reformat, I think I read this here before.

I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong.


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## qwerty (Feb 19, 2006)

It should only give you the message once per instance of having to change channels. There's no way to turn it off.

A reformat is pretty drastic. I suggest trying an RBR first.

You might want to look at burning to DVD RW. Then if successfull, you could copy to DVD R and reuse the RW.


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## wbmccarty (Apr 28, 2006)

qwerty said:


> It should only give you the message once per instance of having to change channels.


I think that you mean that, given the current understanding of the defect, the problem should happen only once per program. I hope that you don't mean that the R15 actually _should_ request permission to change channels when the user is viewing a recorded program. That would lead me to infer that you're a member of the R15 software development teem. :nono:



qwerty said:


> You might want to look at burning to DVD RW. Then if successfull, you could copy to DVD R and reuse the RW.


Thanks for the thought. I don't think that approach is economically feasible. DVD-RWs don't have infinite life. And, the suggested procedure would roughly double the labor cost of burning a DVD. I impute a rather high value to my labor cost. Your mileage may vary.



cybok0 said:


> Try a complete reformat,I think I read this here before.


Yes, I have read claims that a complete reformat will cure problems as serious as the foreign trade balance and national debt. But, given any reasonable inventory of recorded programs, the cure is prohibitively costly. And, the prospects of a complete reformat actually curing any given problem seems to me to be relatively modest.

I am doing regular RBRs. Last week alone, I did 3 unscheduled RBRs. My holiday frenzy of DVD burning is intended to reduce my program inventory to a level at which a complete reset is feasible. Of course, if the complete reset fails to resolve my problems I want a refund on my cost of posting to this forum. Otherwise, I plan to organize a class-action lawsuit against all forum participants, myself included.


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## walters (Nov 18, 2005)

cybok0 said:


> Try a complete reformat, I think I read this here before.


Yes, but before you do that you'll of course want to burn everything to DVD--oops 

By the way, I occasionally (but not always) experience the problem being described here (asking to change channels for a recording and not taking yes for an answer). My personal bug that would ruin DVDs if I were doing this would be the fake caller ID messages (but at least you can turn that off).


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## cabanaboy1977 (Nov 16, 2005)

Wbmccarty, are the recorded programs that you are watching still in the buffer? If there are you might want to trying changing the channel before you start watching the recorded program, since if it's still in the buffer you might get that message because the R15 doesn't dump the recording from the buffer untill the buffer clears or changes (hence why we lose the 1st half of a show if the R15 reboots).


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## wbmccarty (Apr 28, 2006)

cabanaboy1977 said:


> Wbmccarty, are the recorded programs that you are watching still in the buffer?


Good thinking, CB. But, no, many of the programs in question are weeks--maybe months--old. This is one very lame R15 bug. Possibly, it affects only single-feed users or possibly others see the problem less often than single-feed users do. I haven't seen it in quite a while. But, it cropped up a lot in the last week or two. Presumably, my R15 updated. Then again, it could have choked on something--you know, a bit caught in the throat.


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## DJPellegrino (Nov 18, 2005)

cybok0 said:


> Try a complete reformat, I think I read this here before.
> 
> I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong.


...a windows PC. Reformat to fix it!

Maybe thats why DTV and MSFT are getting into bed together...they both have the same slogo...reformat it!:lol:


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## wbmccarty (Apr 28, 2006)

Yes, the idea of rebooting/reformatting has become ubiquitous. The act does have some practical benefits. But, as an analogy, amputation isn't considered an ideal remedy for gangrene. The need to reboot/reformat is symptomatic of bad design, bad implementation, or both. 

In my own computing world, with few exceptions, we reboot only in the context of hardware change--and then only in the context of a non-hot-swap hardware interface such as IDE. And, as a deliberate matter, we tend to purchase hardware that uses hot-swappable interfaces such as SCSI. Rebooting is for dweebs. Or, doobs. Or something. I forget.


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## mphare (Nov 15, 2005)

wbmccarty said:


> Thanks for the thought. I don't think that approach is economically feasible. DVD-RWs don't have infinite life. And, the suggested procedure would roughly double the labor cost of burning a DVD. I impute a rather high value to my labor cost. Your mileage may vary.


What's your labor cost for burning coasters?

True, DVD/RW don't last forever, but they are getting much cheaper as a disposable commodity.
I have a spool of them for just for this purpose.
The copy from DVD/RW to DVD/R is pretty quick on my PC. Just a few minutes.


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## wbmccarty (Apr 28, 2006)

Since I view my labor cost as prohibiting redos, I don't consider the DVD with the nag box a coaster. I just live with the low quality. If I'm lucky, I'll forget that I made the DVD and never even view it. It's happened before.... :lol: 

Unfortunately for me, my setup doesn't match yours in terms of performance. I was given my Panasonic DVD-R at the same time I was given the R15. The DVD-R has its own quirks. For instance, it has a habit of locking up. It has a 5-10% rate for being unable to finalize DVDs. And, at the top of my own list in terms of severity, it doesn't write PC-compatible DVDs, even though it's plainly advertised as doing so. As a result, I have to completely rip the DVD material to view its DVDs on my PC, which takes me about 30 minutes. If that step of the process were faster, I'd agree that my complaint is more kvetch than complaint. Based on your suggestion, I can see that my problem may be sufficiently idiosyncratic to rate as a mere kvetch in any case. 

It's amazing that we spend so much of our time working around the quirks of faulty gear. I've been pretty lucky in purchasing good gear for myself. I think my lesson learned is that I shouldn't buy as a gift anything more complicated than a non-mechanical pencil. :eek2: 

Cheers,


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## cabanaboy1977 (Nov 16, 2005)

wbmccarty said:


> Good thinking, CB. But, no, many of the programs in question are weeks--maybe months--old. This is one very lame R15 bug. Possibly, it affects only single-feed users or possibly others see the problem less often than single-feed users do. I haven't seen it in quite a while. But, it cropped up a lot in the last week or two. Presumably, my R15 updated. Then again, it could have choked on something--you know, a bit caught in the throat.


I didn't know that it was a single tuner. I'm almost 100% positive that's what the issue is then. They didn't seem to do any one tuner testing on the R15 at all. They didn't think they needed too, but they should of. I can see them saying "the unit required two tuners so why so we test it with one?'. The reason is (and you don't even have to take into acount that someone may only use on tuner) that if a tuner fails, storm take out signal on one tuner, mulitswitch takes out one tuner, etc, temp. power issue. Heck they didn't even spend the time to check what would happen if you where recording a show and the power when out (they don't seem to have any issue with you losing the first half of your recording if the power goes out, if they did they would have fixed that by now).

"Then again, it could have choked on something--you know, a bit caught in the throat. " :lol: I think the R15 does that alot it doesn't seem to like to swallow


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