# Directv2PC HDCP issues



## Maverick1701 (Jun 10, 2011)

I recently got my Hr20-700 hooked up to the Internet and thus decided to try Directv2PC.

I downloaded it from the Directv website and installed it, activated it with the key, and it loaded up fine. It shows the DVRs playlist no problem.

However, upon playing video, it green screens. When I first installed it, it gave me the "your video card driver doesn't support copy protection" but after trying to update them, it no longer gives the error, but shows the green screen.

Before I tell you what the playback advisor tells me, let me explain the system setup.

Its a new (from March) Dell Inspiron N7110 17" laptop. Its one of the new Intel i3 systems that have the fairly beefy built in Intel HD graphics processors "onboard"

However, I play games quite a bit, so I opted to add an Nvidia GPU as well; its a 525M.

Nvidia has a new thing for their mobile processors called Optimus or something, where it uses the onboard graphics drivers as needed until it switches to the Nvidia chip for heavy processing. You can't disable the intel driver at all, both are "always on" However, you can tell the system to prefer the Nvidia card at all times, and its thus enabled as the default Graphics processor (you can even right click on a shortcut to select which GPU a program uses, via "Run with...")

So when I ran the DTV2PC analyzer, it had 2 red buttons: The copy protection one, and the Driver version.

However, it listed the GPU as the Nvidia 525m, but the Driver version number was for the INTEL driver.

If I run it specifically on the Intel GPU then it shows the correct information AND the Copy Protection shows green (but driver version shows Red still)

I have updated both the Nvidia and intel drivers to the newest versions, but it didn't help (it did start the green screen instead of the error message, though)

I did switch to Windows Basic theme to turn off Aero, though the program was doing it automatically anyway.

FWIW

Analyzer version: 1.0.0.2107
Directv2PC version: 5717

Intel graphics driver version: 2361
Nvidia Driver version: 275.33 (june 1st)

I noticed a sticky with a 7000+ version, is that not officially released on the DirecTV site?

Any thoughts on what I can do it get HDCP recognized?


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## veryoldschool (Dec 10, 2006)

Is there any way you can select the nVida in the BIOS as default, thus disabling the intel completely?


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## Maverick1701 (Jun 10, 2011)

Nope, I wish. The bios is pretty barebones, in fact.


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## veryoldschool (Dec 10, 2006)

Maverick1701 said:


> Nope, I wish. The bios is pretty barebones, in fact.


The only other thing I can think of is to see if you can disable the intel in the device manager.


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## Maverick1701 (Jun 10, 2011)

Nope, if you try to disable the Intel GPU, the screen goes dark; it doesn't seem possible to run just on the Nvidia GPU in windows.


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## veryoldschool (Dec 10, 2006)

Maverick1701 said:


> Nope, if you try to disable the Intel GPU, the screen goes dark; it doesn't seem possible to run just on the Nvidia GPU in windows.


I'm out of tricks/ideas. :shrug:
This is a very strange laptop with two graphic chips.


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## harsh (Jun 15, 2003)

The 525M is a graphics coprocessor as opposed to a standalone display driver. I'm guessing that it would have to be disabled for DIRECTV2PC to work.

You are not alone: http://forums.directv.com/pe/action/forums/displaypost?postID=10873835


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## Maverick1701 (Jun 10, 2011)

veryoldschool said:


> I'm out of tricks/ideas. :shrug:
> This is a very strange laptop with two graphic chips.


Sadly, it won't be all that strange for too long, its the new standard for Nvidia notebook GPUs.

They've had "switchable" GPUs for a few years now, but it was manual-switching. This is the next step, basically the Intel chip sits "between" the Nvidia chip and the "application layer" that programs send graphical data too.

So when it needs the Nvidia's power, it acts as a "Passthrough" video controller and relays the data - when requirements are lower it turns off the Nvidia chip and does the work itself, ostensibly to save battery life (which is always the goal in Notebooks)

Of course, we're seeing one example where this complex layering is poorly handled - I assume ALL HDCP "exercises" are going to be like this - I've also had trouble with software that "detects" the GPU and adjusts accordingly, I had to add some flags to the shortcuts to force it to run in a certain mode.

This is the future, unless it falls on its face. Any notebook with a new Nvidia GPU is likely to come out with this arrangement;

Several of the big notebook manufacturers already ship notebooks with this setup: www . nvidia . com/object/optimus_technology.html (can't post links yet, but this one is informational from a reputable site)

You can also find more info on "Optimus" via the Whitepaper link on the left side there (requires PDF reader)

I hope this is something that the developers of Directv2PC (or the underlying tech) can adapt to, since its going to be common.

-----------------------------------

The version in the "Sticky" thread in this forum has a much higher version number than the one I got from the DTV site.. whats the deal with it? A beta version that never panned out? Any chance it might work better?


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## veryoldschool (Dec 10, 2006)

The version in the sticky is a newer version, and more than likely the last that will come out.


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## Maverick1701 (Jun 10, 2011)

Just tried it, same issue.

Why have the stopped developing it?


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## veryoldschool (Dec 10, 2006)

Maverick1701 said:


> Just tried it, same issue.
> 
> Why have the stopped developing it?


The "simple answer" is that they used this as a testbed for MRV [starting four years ago] and are now moving to other mobile options.


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## Maverick1701 (Jun 10, 2011)

I found out something interesting.

If I plug in an HDMI to the output on my laptop and set up my LG 26" HDTV as the only monitor, Directv2PC will playback HD content just fine.

My laptops LCD panel is installed as a Generic PnP driver (and the driver site doesn't list a driver for it) - so I reckon thats why it isn't working.

If I both monitors enabled, as mirrored or extended desktops, the HDCP check fails, the LCD laptop panel must be "off"


If anyone else is having trouble, try hooking up to an HDCP monitor or TV.


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## Beerstalker (Feb 9, 2009)

Yep, sounds like since it can't verify a HDCP connection between your video card and laptops built in monitor it won't let you display the content. The same thing would happen if you hooked up to an old monitor over DVI that didn't support HDCP.


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## David MacLeod (Jan 29, 2008)

isn't that friggin special


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## azarby (Dec 15, 2006)

David MacLeod said:


> isn't that friggin special


Not really, It's what the movie industry mandates for permission to allow you to view the content.


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## David MacLeod (Jan 29, 2008)

yeah so an external monitor is fine while the built in one is not. thats special.......


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## CCarncross (Jul 19, 2005)

If the manufacturers don't bother to correctly identify hdcp support in their crap, this is what happens. My guess is that Dell didn't bother to make sure their displays are certified hdcp compliant.


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## harsh (Jun 15, 2003)

Five will get you ten that it costs a non-negligible chunk of change to carry the HDCP label. By and large, the display on a notebook is relatively dumb. Adding HDCP handshaking can't be a trivial proposition.


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## proxybox (Jun 18, 2010)

I recently purchased a Dell Latitude E6420 laptop with an Nvidia 4200m graphics processor with Optimus enabled in the BIOS. Last night I loaded Directv2pc and noticed that I was getting the green screen with audio only problem discussed here. I started researching and noticed that even if I forced the program to use either the Integrated Intel or Nvidia GPU in the Nvidia Control Panel that it would fail. With the Nvidia GPU it would say that the screen capture protection wasn't enabled. With the Intel it would give me the green screen. Of course, I tried upgrading all the video drivers with the Intel and the Dell specific sites.

I decided to disable Optimus in the BIOS. Guess what happened? Directv2pc works! I'm not sure if it is a driver specific fix with Nvidia but Optimus definitely messes up Directv2pc. I also don't think it is an LCD HDCP issue since I was able to make it work with the right settings. Hope that helps and that Nvidia and/or Directv2pc fix the conflict. 

On another note, I had a weird situation with another laptop. On my Dell Latitude E6400 with XP Pro and integrated Intel graphics only (No dedicated graphics card ordered on this machine) I would get the dreaded screen capture error. I upgraded my video drivers with those from the Dell and Intel sites without success. When running the playback advisor it said I needed to upgrade to Vista. After upgrading to Windows 7, the program worked! I don't understand why Windows 7 would make a difference since I had a desktop that ran Directv2pc fine under XP. The HDCP must be quirky with Directv2PC.


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## davring (Jan 13, 2007)

HDCP monitor compliance is definitely enabled at all times; I run two monitors, and only one is HDCP compliant off a ATI Radeon HD5770 video card. If I slide a video I am viewing via DirecTV2PC, from the HDCP monitor to the other, non HDCP monitor, the program will shut down. The program has to be restarted on the correct monitor.


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