cable box with ieee-1394 (firewire)

[mousemurder]

hi, my cable company gave me a motorola hd set top cable box. i looked at the back of it and it has ieee-1394 ports as well as a usb on the front.

what can i do with these. i was hoping of some way connecting it to my pc and using it as a dvr ?

thanks,

[Ghitulescu]

Have a look in the manual ;)

How are we suppose to know when you do not specify even the model of the box?

[mousemurder]

i dont have a manual; it's weird but there is no model on the box but i think its this one: Motorola DCT-6200 ?

[SeeMoreDigital]

Are you able to take photographs of the front and rear of the STB?

[Video Dude]

The Motorola DCT-6200 means you are in the US.

The firewire port is meant to stream to a supported device such a D-VHS deck. The USB ports do not stream video.

There is some software that can capture the firewire stream as long as the cable company did not encrypt the channel. It depends on your cable company and the box that you have. Most likely most of the channels will be encrypted.

[Blue_MiSfit]

Indeed. And that's IF the ports are even active :)

~MiSfit

[onesloth]

You can get a lot of general info about the box here:
http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/How_to_use_a_Motorola_DVR
That page has this link to get the windows firewire drivers for the box:
http://exdeus.home.comcast.net/~exdeus/stbfirewire/
Then get capdvhs from videohelp.com (it might be included with the above drivers).

I believe the firewire output is required to be active by US federal law. Of course that probably doesn't mean a whole lot to your cable company...

[mousemurder]

thanks for the help much information above
Are you able to take photographs of the front and rear of the STB?
it looks like the picture on this website:
http://macteens.com/magazine/features/fullstory/how_to_make_your_own_home_theatre_mac_htmac/
The Motorola DCT-6200 means you are in the US.

The firewire port is meant to stream to a supported device such a D-VHS deck. The USB ports do not stream video.

There is some software that can capture the firewire stream as long as the cable company did not encrypt the channel. It depends on your cable company and the box that you have. Most likely most of the channels will be encrypted.i (mistakenly) assumed that since it is output from the box that it is already unencrypted.

interesting: when i unplugged my archos dvr from the usb connection the cable box reset.
i was planning on using a debian pc as a dvr.

is there some sort of dvi -> usb capture card that i can record from ?
maybe i'll just settle for standard composite to usb ?

[Ghitulescu]

i (mistakenly) assumed that since it is output from the box that it is already unencrypted.
Yes, it's unencrypted but it's flagged as copy protected, that's why most consumer (and some semipro) gear cannot record the firewire stream. I think the D-VHS is allowed to record it because there is no way for any digital bit to get out from a D-VHS deck. That's what I've heard.
is there some sort of dvi -> usb capture card that i can record from ?
maybe i'll just settle for standard composite to usb ?
Even that would record only non-flagged DVI signals.

I believe the firewire output is required to be active by US federal law. Of course that probably doesn't mean a whole lot to your cable company...
If it's active then is flagged as copy-protected, a nice circumvention of the law.

i dont have a manual; it's weird but there is no model on the box but i think its this one: Motorola DCT-6200 ?

I can't believe there is nowhere a sticker, mostly on the back, that does not disclose DCT-6200 ... alone or part of a serial number or the like.

-=-

Anyway, having a digital cable card (like DVB-C in Europe) in your computer with a nice software is much easier and flexibler as tweaking the Motorola.

[Blue_MiSfit]

Indeed. A QAM tuner would probably serve your purposes much better than trying to record via 1394.

A last resort is to get a component capture card like the BlackMagic intensity pro. This will allow you to capture the analog HD otuput of the box, but is a real bear when it comes to setup and hard drive performance!

~MiSfit

[jeffareid]

This is what I used before:

http://replayguide.sourceforge.net/dct6412

My last download was this one for the DCH3416 which I have now:

http://home.comcast.net/~exdeus/stbfirewire

I bought VideoReDo to convert .TS to .MPG, but for Adobe Premiere Pro CS3, 1080i stuff still needs yet another step with VirtualDud with Mpeg plugin to work. I read that you can just get VirtualDub with .TS plugin, or you can use the HDTV2... converter.

I have Cox cable, and all of the "over the air" stuff, and most of the sports stuff will go out the 1394 interface on the STB (set top box).

[mousemurder]

...
Even that would record only non-flagged DVI signals.
....
i was thinking how would it know if it wasnt my tv connected to it... but i guess it does something to probe the device and if it doesnt like it its shuts it off.
...
I can't believe there is nowhere a sticker, mostly on the back, that does not disclose DCT-6200 ... alone or part of a serial number or the like.
there are 2 upc stickers but nothing with a model # (it is weird)
...
Anyway, having a digital cable card (like DVB-C in Europe) in your computer with a nice software is much easier and flexibler as tweaking the Motorola.
i agree, i wuld buy a dvb card but i'm pretty sure i cant pvr my premiums (hbo, stars, ...)

[Blue_MiSfit]

Yep. The only way to record premium channels is either by sticking with the DVR and just watching on there, or by using an analog capture card. You can theoretically buy a PC with a CableCard equipped, and then record encrypted channels, but these things are truly horrible, and almost impossible to actually buy from what I hear.

For the record, what country are you in?

~MiSfit

[SatansChild]

Yes, it's unencrypted but it's flagged as copy protected, that's why most consumer (and some semipro) gear cannot record the firewire stream. I think the D-VHS is allowed to record it because there is no way for any digital bit to get out from a D-VHS deck. That's what I've heard.

You need a 5c compliant device to record copy once content off the firewire port. There are a couple DVHS decks that you could possibly get off ebay to record this content this way. Neither of the devices are being produced currently and some of the ones that where produced are not the best of quality (audio and video drop outs)

i was thinking how would it know if it wasnt my tv connected to it... but i guess it does something to probe the device and if it doesnt like it its shuts it off.

The HDCP protocol built into your stb is designed to prevent this. The HDCP protocol has supposedly been broken by some researchers but they declined to publish their results for fear of a DMCA lawsuit.

[mousemurder]

Yep. The only way to record premium channels is either by sticking with the DVR and just watching on there, or by using an analog capture card. You can theoretically buy a PC with a CableCard equipped, and then record encrypted channels, but these things are truly horrible, and almost impossible to actually buy from what I hear.

For the record, what country are you in?

~MiSfit

i live in the us. my stb is non-dvr $10 more a month for a dvr box.
i have an archos av500 dvr which can record from composite or s-video.

i guess that's my only option

[Ghitulescu]

there are 2 upc stickers but nothing with a model # (it is weird)

Then the type is known to the service engineer by the serial number. You know, when you have a problem to report ...

[Ghitulescu]

i live in the us. my stb is non-dvr $10 more a month for a dvr box.
i have an archos av500 dvr which can record from composite or s-video.

i guess that's my only option

Sell the box, step out of the contract and buy yourself a dish. With a subscription card you have access to thousands of programs, also many are free. I must confess I have no idea what channels are there in the States, and how are they distributed. In continental Europe there are 3 satellites that are close enough to receive them with only one dish, and they cover almost everything (13-16-19).

[onesloth]

5c protection can vary a lot depending on location. Several years ago I lived somewhere where nearly all channels were 5c but then I moved somewhere where almost none of them were. If you can get channels without 5c, firewire is a good way to capture. The firewire output doesn't display any of the cable box's OSD so it's a better solution than analog capture. Well, better that is unless you are trying to schedule recordings.

@mousemurder: Did you test your cable's channels for 5c? Some channels may be 5c while others aren't.

[jeffareid]

Some of the DVR's have eSata interfaces, allowing you to hook up an external hard drive, but I don't know if you can swap hard drives. Still 500GB to 1 TB of space would hold a lot of programming. Apparently your ISP has to enable the eSata port.

Example:

http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/products/home_entertainment/showcase

[Ghitulescu]

Some of the DVR's have eSata interfaces, allowing you to hook up an external hard drive, but I don't know if you can swap hard drives. Still 500GB to 1 TB of space would hold a lot of programming. Apparently your ISP has to enable the eSata port.

Example:

http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/products/home_entertainment/showcase

1TB size HDD will hold 1TB of what? What if the recording format is proprietary, or even worse, the box formats the HDD in a proprietary system, too?

In EU we have at least 3 manufaturer systems (I know 3, maybe there are more): Humax, Technisat/Hyundai and Topfield. To read their internal HDD (as most of them do not have digital ports - it's a certification requirement) one needs special drivers/software. Most of new models can however use a FAT32 HDD and record as TS or variants.

[mousemurder]

5c protection can vary a lot depending on location. Several years ago I lived somewhere where nearly all channels were 5c but then I moved somewhere where almost none of them were. If you can get channels without 5c, firewire is a good way to capture. The firewire output doesn't display any of the cable box's OSD so it's a better solution than analog capture. Well, better that is unless you are trying to schedule recordings.

@mousemurder: Did you test your cable's channels for 5c? Some channels may be 5c while others aren't.

not quite sure what 5c is.

my pc doesnt have 1394

[Capsbackup]

5c is just copy protection. Most pay channels will have it, like HBO, SHO, MAX, etc.. prohibiting using the 1394 (firewire ) for transfer to a PC. ABC, NBC, FOX and other OTA channels usually do not have 5c on, so those can be captured by 1394 and CapDVHS.

[Ghitulescu]

5c is just copy protection. Most pay channels will have it, like HBO, SHO, MAX, etc.. prohibiting using the 1394 (firewire ) for transfer to a PC. ABC, NBC, FOX and other OTA channels usually do not have 5c on, so those can be captured by 1394 and CapDVHS.

I was also nice to provide also some background information.

Luckily I have a document at hand: http://www.dtcp.com/data/wp_spec.pdf