New owner + Dell Zino video issue

[outatime]

Hello All

Firstly hello and thank you for allowing me access to this great forum. I am a new owner of a Cetron Infinitv USB which I setup yesterday after my Fios install, its an amazing piece of kit and working great so far.

I am trying to setup another PC to share with WMC its a Dell Zino 400 that I bought a few years ago, I ran the cable advisor and it said the CPU/Memory was good but not the video. Couple of questions , firstly has anyone ever upgraded the video on one of these and Is there anything I can do to bypass the video to see what it would look like?

Thanks for any help

Stuart

[erkotz]

I'm not certain what video is in the Zinio, but even if you bypass it, it may not support protected content.

How to override DCA: http://www.missingremote.com/guide/over ... a-center-7
NOTE: Not supported. You break it, you own both pieces

Also, try upgrading to the newest video drivers and re-run WinSat, then try the DCA

[JohnW248]

Technically if you by-pass the DCA, you will be able to install the tuner on your machine. You'll be able to download a guide. BUT you won't be able to see any protected content. Just how much of a problem that is depends on your cable provider. If you are in TWC land like I am, then all you'll be able to see are the OTA Retransmissions of your local channels. The video may or may not be watchable depening on the ability of the computer to keep up with the data stream.

You would be able to record protected content, but then you'd have to have an extender paired with your machine to be able to see it since protected content won't play on any other machine.

Probably best to find another machine (avoid Win8 for the time being BTW since you have to win8 Pro before you can even install MC).

[outatime]

Thanks guys for the info

Just tried new drivers, mine were from 2009 but unfortunitly even the 2012 ATI Radion 3200 drivers didn't allow it to pass a graphics card test Really thought it would after that update.

Also tried the bypass software you just suggested but it didn't allow the pass, followed it as per instructions but still nothing.

Any other ideas guys?

Thanks

Stu

[RealCodeGuy]

Technically if you by-pass the DCA, you will be able to install the tuner on your machine. You'll be able to download a guide. BUT you won't be able to see any protected content.

This was not true for me. I bypassed the cable advisor because it said my video wasn't supported. I have an Asus 5450 and it displays protected content even though I bypassed the DCA.

[erkotz]

Technically if you by-pass the DCA, you will be able to install the tuner on your machine. You'll be able to download a guide. BUT you won't be able to see any protected content.

This was not true for me. I bypassed the cable advisor because it said my video wasn't supported. I have an Asus 5450 and it displays protected content even though I bypassed the DCA.

It depends why you are failing the DCA. Using the bypass on hardware that would still pass will still allow you to view protected content.
Did you try re-running WinSAT before running the DCA?

[Crash2009]

I had the HD 3200 for awhile. I didn't have many problems with it. Just for the heck of it I upgraded the drivers to the latest and greatest, and that's when my problems began. I tried a few different drivers with no success. Eventually I uninstalled the card in device manager, and asked Windows to "figure it out" Win 7 went down to the update site and came back with driver version 8.850.0.0 dated 04/2011. Assumably part of Catylyst 11/4. 8.850.0.0 works good with the HD 3200.

[outatime]

Thank you, yes I did use WinSat and the points did go up a little but it still failed on the graphics card, with the bypass will it still report problems like memory, CPU ect?

Is there a guide anywhere how to setup 2nd media center PC's? Just can't see any tuners and thought it was because of the hardware issue!

Thanks


Stuart

[JohnW248]

If you use the by-pass utility, then your copy of MC on that computer will be "passed" and you can go ahead and run tv-set up and follow all the steps for digital cableCARD activation, etc. The By-pass lifts the Bios requirement and write the PID into the registry. Anything that didn't pass will still not pass so if you fail on HDCP then it won't play protected content, if you fail on memory then likely the result will be very jerky video...it all depends on what the failure was, but you can install the tuners and check for yourself. I did that on an old compaq with a pentium processor and 2 gb memory which failed on memory. The tuners installed but are basically worthless on that machine.

[foxwood]

I ran the cable advisor and it said the CPU/Memory was good but not the video.

Does you have the old Zino that only has a VGA port? That can't be "fixed" with a software upgrade, becaue you can't play "protected content" over an analog only interface. But you mention that you've got FiOS, so you should be OK for most stuff except the premium channels (so far, Verizon hasn't been overly aggressive with copy protection), so go ahead and do the bypass.

[outatime]

Hello

Thanks for all the replies, its the Zino with HDMI out, ok I have got somewhere, run the network util on the host and client and gave up a tuner for the Zino and it seems to be working and with great video

One issue I have, each time I record something and then after its done go to watch live tv I got a blue HDCP Support Required screen, is this normal? Is it because I only have the one tuner and its caught up in record mode whilst trying to watch Live TV?

Seems if I reboot and start it up again I can watch Live TV without any issues, just a pain, should I free up another tuner maybe?

Thanks for all the support with this issue you have been great.

Stuart

[erkotz]

What are you using for a display? Does it support HDCP?

I ran the cable advisor and it said the CPU/Memory was good but not the video.

Does you have the old Zino that only has a VGA port? That can't be "fixed" with a software upgrade, becaue you can't play "protected content" over an analog only interface. But you mention that you've got FiOS, so you should be OK for most stuff except the premium channels (so far, Verizon hasn't been overly aggressive with copy protection), so go ahead and do the bypass.

Actually, VGA can support protected content - see http://support.microsoft.com/kb/944994

[foxwood]

One issue I have, each time I record something and then after its done go to watch live tv I got a blue HDCP Support Required screen, is this normal? Is it because I only have the one tuner and its caught up in record mode whilst trying to watch Live TV?

Seems if I reboot and start it up again I can watch Live TV without any issues, just a pain, should I free up another tuner maybe?

Freeing up a Tuner shouldn't make any difference - it's a HDCP error, not a Tuner error.

Can you watch recorded stuff OK - do you only get the HDCP error when watching Live TV? (Note that recording doesn't care about HDCP - you can, in theory, record on a system that doesn't even have a graphics card. HDCP only comes in to play when you need to display video that is marked in some way as "protected").

Does the HDCP error occur on all channels - even the SD locals (the low numbers)?

Do you have a spare HDMI cable that you can use, in the (probably unlikely) case that it's a cable issue?

[outatime]

Hi, when the error kicks in it happens on all channels even local but after a reboot it seems fine like I said I only seem to notice it when its recording or just recorded. I can watch Showtime and record it without any problems
Too.

[outatime]

Hi All

Just a little update, moved the Zino to an upstairs bedroom and mounted a new TV on the wall to go with it and so far no issues with the copyright warning, the previous TV was about 8 years old flat screen, is it possible that was the problem? Fingers crossed its gone now...I hope!

Loving the InfiniTV, only wish it had a few more tuners, might get the six when it comes out.

Thanks again

Stu