I'll start this post by saying I'm slightly annoyed by this, if my assumption is correct. I use Vista Media Center and XBOX360 extenders (rather than pay my provider (Sasktel) $10 a month for PVR service).
The other night, my Media Center recorded an episode of "House". I have a bunch of recordings set up for the TV shows my wife and I enjoy, as we rarely (if ever) catch them "live".
After the kids were in bed, we fired up the extender and hit play on the new House episode. It started to play, the disclaimer about "adult content" displayed, and then the image paused and the sound quit. So, we skipped forward to the end of the show, and at the time where the next show started, the video started again and the audio kicked back in.
Last night we recorded the new episode of "Criminal Minds" and it did the exact same thing. Weirder still, if I mute it, the closed captioning appears on screen as the file "plays" even though there's no video or audio on screen.
So, my question is this: Is there some sort of content protection on the streams coming from my provider that my media center is obeying? I'm also curious to know if anyone who has a Microsoft Mediaroom provider (Sasktel, MTS, Bell Fibe, Telus TV, AT&T U-Verse) that uses their providers PVR service has had anything like this occur with any of their recordings.
I don't believe this is a media center issue specifically (as in my media center is just screwing up the recording). I have a strong suspicion that it's a form of copy protection that media center is obeying. And if so, it's really REALLY ticking me off. I'm a paying subscriber, 100% legit, and it's crap like this that's leading me to cancel that legitimate subscription and go to and "illegitimate" subscription (read: newsgroups).
I have my doubts that my provider is including it in the stream themselves. It's more likely that the content providers are adding it and Sasktel is passing it on. I should also mention that I NEVER had this problem with any other version of my service...it's only since the upgrade (based on Microsoft Mediaroom) that I've noticed it.
Anyone have any ideas?
The other night, my Media Center recorded an episode of "House". I have a bunch of recordings set up for the TV shows my wife and I enjoy, as we rarely (if ever) catch them "live".
After the kids were in bed, we fired up the extender and hit play on the new House episode. It started to play, the disclaimer about "adult content" displayed, and then the image paused and the sound quit. So, we skipped forward to the end of the show, and at the time where the next show started, the video started again and the audio kicked back in.
Last night we recorded the new episode of "Criminal Minds" and it did the exact same thing. Weirder still, if I mute it, the closed captioning appears on screen as the file "plays" even though there's no video or audio on screen.
So, my question is this: Is there some sort of content protection on the streams coming from my provider that my media center is obeying? I'm also curious to know if anyone who has a Microsoft Mediaroom provider (Sasktel, MTS, Bell Fibe, Telus TV, AT&T U-Verse) that uses their providers PVR service has had anything like this occur with any of their recordings.
I don't believe this is a media center issue specifically (as in my media center is just screwing up the recording). I have a strong suspicion that it's a form of copy protection that media center is obeying. And if so, it's really REALLY ticking me off. I'm a paying subscriber, 100% legit, and it's crap like this that's leading me to cancel that legitimate subscription and go to and "illegitimate" subscription (read: newsgroups).
I have my doubts that my provider is including it in the stream themselves. It's more likely that the content providers are adding it and Sasktel is passing it on. I should also mention that I NEVER had this problem with any other version of my service...it's only since the upgrade (based on Microsoft Mediaroom) that I've noticed it.
Anyone have any ideas?