Comcast Cablecard Protected h.264 recordings glitchy

[kmp14]

So this is a new one for me. I have seen posts about live tv being fine but recordings having problems, and i always thought that was weird, but now I having that problem.

Comcast in my area (Chicagoland, Romeoville, IL specifically) has been switching to h.264. HBO switched a while back, and has been fine up until the last week or so. Any HBO RECORDINGS have a problem with stutter and pixelation and the audio also drops out during the glitch. Again, the weird thing is that it only seems to be recordings, live TV is fine.

My video card is an AMD HD6570. I have tried a few different drivers and IF they work at all, I get the same glitches. I even swapped in an AMD R7 240 with the latest drivers, and have the exact same problem. Since it is cablecard (Ceton Inifinitv) I don't think it is the tuner since all it really does it save off the bits, and because it works fine when live. Another test I tried was watching the recording on a Ceton Echo. There is no video which is a known issue with protected h.264, but I tried it because I wanted to see if I could hear the audio glitch, which I COULD NOT, so this is another reason I think, unscientifically, that the problem is NOT in the recorded file, but the decoding/presentation by the video card/media center.

Here is a quick clip of what it looks like:

https://youtu.be/RaQLa1JzTsk

Any help would be appreciated!

[webminster]

Been waiting in fear for this to happen in my area... with my Linksys extenders etc, it'll be pretty much be game over for WMC at my home...

I can't say with certainty but it feels like the problem is in PlayReady. PlayReady probably won't be engaged for live TV, but only when the stream is recorded. So if PlayReady is causing decode/decrypt issues, it would make sense you'd see it on recorded playback. There's been some blame (deserved or otherwise) put on PlayReady with respect to MP4 on extenders not working... maybe it's another artifact of PlayReady issues with non-MP2 streams...

[choliscott]

Just curious on how h.264 recordings look that are not protected

[JTScribe]

Saw it a couple times last night on Game of Thrones but I'm not sure if they've converted over. Wonder if it's a connection issue between Comcast and HBO?

[kmp14]

Just curious on how h.264 recordings look that are not protected

I am pretty sure those are fine. I have very minor version of this happening on "the cooking channel" recordings. I am not even sure that channel is h.264 though.

I am starting to wonder if the glitches are in the recorded file. It is impossible to confirm since protected h.264 ONLY plays on the PC that recorded it, BUT, the glitches happen at the exact same time when I replay a section with glitches, so maybe it is in the signal, but then why would live tv be fine? ARGH.

[kmp14]

Saw it a couple times last night on Game of Thrones but I'm not sure if they've converted over. Wonder if it's a connection issue between Comcast and HBO?

Maybe? For me, any HBO recording is unwatchable since the glitches and audio drop-outs happen every few seconds. This is true for recordings on all the HBO channels I receive.

[camtah]

LOL..Welcome to my world. Naperville here...Have all sorts of pixelation issues since the switchover. Box or cable card..same issue. Had a tech out (sub contractor for Xfinity) to verify connections, signal levels. Ran a new feeder line to the house and replaced a few connectors. Added maybe a 1db to the signal level which was good to begin with. Tech stated that others in our area experience the same thing and that the issue was escalated (yeah, right). That was 2 weeks ago.

I am recorded all the crappy pixelated shows I can find. I used the IM chat so I could document the conversations with the "Helpless Desk" as well... Giving them too much $$$ for this garbage and my patience is wearing thin