One question I am sure all of us CableCARD users are wondering is will our current Windows Vista Digital Cable license work with an upgrade to Windows 7?  Or will this require a new Digital Cable version of the Windows 7 license?

Has anyone with the PDC version of Windows 7 been able to configure Digital Cable with CableCARDs?

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John Chapman

Dell XPS 420, Core 2 Duo 3.0 GHz, 8GB DDR2-800, 2TB RAID 0, nVidia 8800GT 512MB, 3 x ATI DCT (CableCARD), Hauppauge HVR-1800 (ClearQAM), Windows Vista Ultimate x64 + TV Pack

I myself have been playing trying to get PlayReady on my device... I also have a XPS and have been testing W7 x64 with varying results... None involves a picture using my DCTs... I am of the opinion that M$ will not make users get additional software/hardware for digital cable... They have been prepping us with TV Pack... When trying to configure my DCTs, I get the error telling me that I need PlayReady to do digital TV... My thoughts are, they will turn on the ability to download PlayReady on one of the build updates...  Until then, I'm going to keep trying to find the flag that tells W7MC that it's ok to use the locally installed PlayReady software.

BTW... 8 GB RAM and 4 DCTs... show off

chapmanjw:

One question I am sure all of us CableCARD users are wondering is will our current Windows Vista Digital Cable license work with an upgrade to Windows 7?  Or will this require a new Digital Cable version of the Windows 7 license?

Has anyone with the PDC version of Windows 7 been able to configure Digital Cable with CableCARDs?

Does anyone have any information on this topic... With the PlayReadyPC hack, I am able to use my DCT to view basic cable any one had any luck with digital cable?

I'm waiting on my xps420 with digital tuners, and I'm was hoping this issue would be solved by the time I got it.  I've been using 7mc for the past 3 weeks now, and I'd like to stick with it...just signed up for netflix today (of course I have a 360) and I was happy to discover that mynetflix works nicely in 7mc.

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Dell XPS 420
Q6600 3GHz 1333 fsb
4 GB Ram
Dual ATI Digital Tuners
Hauppauge 2250
Radeon HD 4850

I have searched high and low but have not seen anything about digital cable and Windows 7... I'm currently running my 3 DCT as analog but don't know how long I can go without HD... I'm interested in W7MC because of the interface but again, the reason I purchased and OEM system was because of the requirement for DCT...

Post your experience...

wilkcards:

I'm waiting on my xps420 with digital tuners, and I'm was hoping this issue would be solved by the time I got it.  I've been using 7mc for the past 3 weeks now, and I'd like to stick with it...just signed up for netflix today (of course I have a 360) and I was happy to discover that mynetflix works nicely in 7mc.

Playready is the big thing here with cablecards or protected content. With out the playready installed, you won't be able to view protected content.

I attempted Windows 7 for a few hours on 2 machines, on one machine, a fresh install, playready won't download. On my HTPC, I did it as an upgrade (so I didn't lose all my settings in Media Center), it did work and playready was installed with the TV pack, so when I ran through the wizard for TV setup, it seemed to accept the old version and said my system was ok. 

I didn't notice any problems with protected content but, due to scheduled shows (WAF) and other issues (studdering live tv, etc), I restored from my backup of the TV pack...all is good again. I only got to play with it on this machine for about 2-3 hours.

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-Dave

MCP, MCSA, MCSE 2003
Windows Vista Connected Exp:Home Theater for Technologists
Windows Vista Connected Exp:Home Theater for Sales professionals

Home theater specialist (10+ years)

So... Let me ask you... Have you configured Windows 7 to work with ATI's digital cable turners?..  I have PlayReady working enough to the point I can see unencrypted cable channels... I'm not able to view any HBO, Showtime and channels of the like using Windows 7...

DavidinCT:

Playready is the big thing here with cablecards or protected content. With out the playready installed, you won't be able to view protected content.

I attempted Windows 7 for a few hours on 2 machines, on one machine, a fresh install, playready won't download. On my HTPC, I did it as an upgrade (so I didn't lose all my settings in Media Center), it did work and playready was installed with the TV pack, so when I ran through the wizard for TV setup, it seemed to accept the old version and said my system was ok. 

I didn't notice any problems with protected content but, due to scheduled shows (WAF) and other issues (studdering live tv, etc), I restored from my backup of the TV pack...all is good again. I only got to play with it on this machine for about 2-3 hours.

ARobinso0502:

So... Let me ask you... Have you configured Windows 7 to work with ATI's digital cable turners?..  I have PlayReady working enough to the point I can see unencrypted cable channels... I'm not able to view any HBO, Showtime and channels of the like using Windows 7...

Nope, Just ordered a machine with DCTs, but, I do know the protected content issues very well. If I change something, say, default codec on vista, and tune to some channels, they will give me protected content, I even know one channel that will always show me this error if something is wrong. Sounds like your problem but, with HBO....etc.

With what I did, with the upgrade to Win7, I was able to view the channel and let it play for like an hour with no issues, also known shows that protect the content on (some NBC shows), and they were able to play back fine...

Anyway around it, if you installed Win7 and Playready failed on install, you will not be able to view ANY protected content. Protected content depends on the Playready drivers with the TV pack and Windows 7.....

You need Playready to install or your Premium channels will continue to have this problem.

 

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-Dave

MCP, MCSA, MCSE 2003
Windows Vista Connected Exp:Home Theater for Technologists
Windows Vista Connected Exp:Home Theater for Sales professionals

Home theater specialist (10+ years)

ARobinso0502:

I myself have been playing trying to get PlayReady on my device... I also have a XPS and have been testing W7 x64 with varying results... None involves a picture using my DCTs... I am of the opinion that M$ will not make users get additional software/hardware for digital cable... They have been prepping us with TV Pack... When trying to configure my DCTs, I get the error telling me that I need PlayReady to do digital TV... My thoughts are, they will turn on the ability to download PlayReady on one of the build updates...  Until then, I'm going to keep trying to find the flag that tells W7MC that it's ok to use the locally installed PlayReady software.

Remember this is pre beta software. People have been able to use it with DCT's, but since it's pre beta your experience will vary. You should not expect it to behave in a predictable way at this point in time. There is no switch that they will turn on to download PlayReady to install. It sounds like it's just an issue with there installation process. The current PlayReady runtime you have installed may not be compatable with Windows7 from a structural standpoint. You should try upgrading over your vista install to force it to install, and you get to keep your settings in place. You have to have PlayReady to view protected content. it's an integral part of the os structure regarding protected content.

I wouldn't consider using Windows7 until it's at least had one beta. I use my machine to much to play with pre beta software. I need it to just work. That being said, its impressive for it to be this far along before getting into the first beta phase. Vista wasn't anywhere near this stable when it started it's beta phase.

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HP d5000t(Silverstone LC-16M case)
LG Blu-ray/HD-DVD
3 Cable Card Tuners
Q9300 Quad 2.5ghz
Zerotherm BTF95 cpu cooler
3 gig ram
Vista Ultimate 32 bit
Silverstone Nightjar 450w fanless psu
46" Samsung LN46A550 lcd
WHS w/8TB

Thanks for the suggestion... I have tried both, fresh install with SP1/SP2 and a in-place upgrade...While I have PlayReady functioning, the part that fails is when the process ask me to enter my "Product" key for premium or high definition content... While I know this is Beta-beta, I still would like to test installation, usage and scalability...  I'm actually hoping to become a beta tester with some information I have found around the net, I'm hopeful...

Until then, someone post some links with people using DCT and premium cable, PLEASE!

teddyboy16:

Remember this is pre beta software. People have been able to use it with DCT's, but since it's pre beta your experience will vary. You should not expect it to behave in a predictable way at this point in time. There is no switch that they will turn on to download PlayReady to install. It sounds like it's just an issue with there installation process. The current PlayReady runtime you have installed may not be compatable with Windows7 from a structural standpoint. You should try upgrading over your vista install to force it to install, and you get to keep your settings in place. You have to have PlayReady to view protected content. it's an integral part of the os structure regarding protected content.

I wouldn't consider using Windows7 until it's at least had one beta. I use my machine to much to play with pre beta software. I need it to just work. That being said, its impressive for it to be this far along before getting into the first beta phase. Vista wasn't anywhere near this stable when it started it's beta phase.

"Please enter the activation key to enable support for digital cable".  I tried entering my product key from Vista but it does not work..  I get the same message from a fresh install to a upgrade...

ARobinso0502:

Thanks for the suggestion... I have tried both, fresh install with SP1/SP2 and a in-place upgrade...While I have PlayReady functioning, the part that fails is when the process ask me to enter my "Product" key for premium or high definition content... While I know this is Beta-beta, I still would like to test installation, usage and scalability...  I'm actually hoping to become a beta tester with some information I have found around the net, I'm hopeful...

Until then, someone post some links with people using DCT and premium cable, PLEASE!

I just installed W7 6956 and ReadyPlayPC v 1.0, digital TV works... I was able to insert my digital cable product key and now I'm in bliss... This version looks great and it does have the internet guide as part of the channel GUIDE...  Again, this post in 10 minutes after a fresh install with all my PREMIUM channels are functioning...  I'm running all the default codecs... The only two pieces of software installed is ReadyPlayPC and ATI's latest 2600 HD XT Catalyst package...

Sweet!  I'll be trying it as soon as I find a copy.

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Dell XPS 420
Q6600 3GHz 1333 fsb
4 GB Ram
Dual ATI Digital Tuners
Hauppauge 2250
Radeon HD 4850

Where can you find the PlayReadyPC install?  The old link in the original TV Pack thread seems to be dead.  Does anyone have a working link for it?

curbnoise:

Where can you find the PlayReadyPC install?  The old link in the original TV Pack thread seems to be dead.  Does anyone have a working link for it?

Ah, google is a wonderful thing.  I originally searched on MS website and came up dry.  Searched on Google and came up with:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=1f93c0ac-21ae-4eb2-acd2-86ab616b8ba6&DisplayLang=en

Now it all good.