Multirecording encrypted channels and decrypting

[Reddwarf]

I decided to start a new thread since the subject has moved somewhat away from the original one.

I have successfully recorded four encrypted channels on one capture device, one of the channels were decrypted and the others encrypted. I don't know if this is a limitation in MDAPI or the recording service. I have successfully decrypted using OfflineCSA (Offline decrypter) v2.5 with Acamd and NewCS. The decrypted file plays fine in both WMP11 and WMP-classic but not in PVRX2. When trying to play it pvrx2 just returns after a second of black screen.

I'v uploaded a decrypted show here http://www.megaupload.com/?d=CZYIH4SN, can someone with more knowledge of .ts format take a look at it?

[Graham]

For me the file won't play in WMP or GBPVR.

It does play in WinTV V7 and Media Player Classic HC.

The only decoders that I have installed are MPV and the MainConcept decoders installed by WinTV. WinTv uses the Mainconcept decoders to play the file. I suspect that WMP doesn't try the Mainconcept decoders and that is why it can't play the file. AFAIK, GBPVR uses the same method as WMP to play files using Video Library so I can't force GBPVR to use the Mainconcept decoders in Video Library.

And finally, the video does not play back well ... it stops and starts while playing.

Good Luck

[Reddwarf]

Saying it plays fine was maybe an exaturation , but it plays. The reason for stopping in the playback is that I hadn't the optimal settings in OfflineDecrypter, here's what the author of the program said when I asked if it was possible to increase the speed:

If you get a reasonable high speed, this means 3x-4x, them no, there
is no way. OD in modern PCs can descramble at 20x-30x but most of the
time it sends the ECM to the plugin and this send it to the card,
which is decrypted taken around 300 ms, so the whole process takes
near 0.5 seconds which reduces the descramble speed a lot. Other
possibility is that the ACamd is not sending the two DCWs to decrypt
so OD is always waiting for that second key. Go to the .INI file and
set a much lower timeout for non-found DCW (in example do not wait
more than 500 milliseconds).

You can speed it up a bit playing with the "ECMs before wait" value,
as higher speed will raise too, but the risk of overlapped keys, or
needed key but no key present, are much higher. This is provider
dependent, some requires new keys to be available around 1 second (in
real time) after the new ECM has been sent, in that case the "ECMs
before wait" should be around 10% of the value "ECMs between change",
others are much less restrictive and the "ECMs before wait" can be
raised up to 50% of "ECMs between change", higher values usually give
you pixelations and frame drops every 10 seconds. So for your provider
is a trial error task.
Take a piece of .ts file, around 5 minutes, descramble it with a value
of around 25% of "ECMs between change" and pass the result by
"ProjectX" which will let you know if the stream has dropped frames or
pixelated frames. If no error raise the value by around 10 and try
again until you get errors. When you get errors, try to match the
higher value ±5% and give a 5% margin (lowering the value).

K> Also, I can play the decrypted file in WMP11 and WMP-Classic but not in
K> GBPVR. Any idea why?

Maybe GBPVR needs the first arriving PID to be the 1 which carry some
information about the current program. OD does not take care of this
(as not all .TS carry this PID, mines only have audio, video and ECM),
and as the first to arrive is quite sure a video one it will not show
the image. This is a "bug" in GBPVR as in a stream format, like .ts,
the order of arriving PIDs is not garanteed in anyway, so the software
should try a bunch of packets in order to get a synchronization
(usually 1 megabyte is recommended). This is the reason that some
decoders take ages to switch channels, they do not cache the PIDs and
first they wait for PID 1 which is garanteed to be broadcasted every
0.5 seconds, parse it and them wait for PMT which is garanteed to be
transmitted in 1/3 seconds, them open ECM, video and audio and
synchronize them and the whole process in a bad case can take up to
around 5 seconds.

You can "solve" this quite sure converting the .TS to .mpg using
ProjectX which also will detect errors and correct them as much as
possible (it does not recode).

-- Best regards, JoshyFun

After adjusting the discussed value to 25 I descrambled a whole movie and it plays really fine without stopping/starting, but sadly not in gbpvr.

[Graham]

The decrypted file plays fine in both WMP11 and WMP-classic but not in PVRX2. When trying to play it pvrx2 just returns after a second of black screen.

It is my understanding, from posts by Sub, that GBPVR plays files ...

When a file is selected from Recordings, GBPVR uses the decoders specified on the Playback tab of Config and does not try any other decoder.

When a file is selected from the Video Library, GBPVR uses the same mechanism as WMP to play the file and allows "WMP" to select the decoder.

This can result in a situation will GBPVR is unable to play a file in Recordings but can play the file in Video Library or vice versa.

[Reddwarf]

I was trying to play the file from Recordings, I'm able to fix the file with TSDoctor (v1.01), but TSDoctor complains about the start of the file and has to start with an offset.

[pcostanza]

Probably not related but I've been having trouble with all my TS files while using HDTVtoMPEG. Don't have the error in front of me but it doesn't work. In fact, many programs have problems with them for some reason.

[Reddwarf]

Have you tried checking the files with TSDoctor or ProjectX?

[pcostanza]

Not yet but I took note of those programs as I'm not familiar with them. Thanks for the info, I'll try them out and see what they can do.

[Graham]

I was trying to play the file from Recordings, I'm able to fix the file with TSDoctor (v1.01), but TSDoctor complains about the start of the file and has to start with an offset.

If the file plays in WMP, it should play in GBPVR Video Library (unless I have got it all wrong again).

[dennit]

It is my understanding, from posts by Sub, that GBPVR plays files ...

When a file is selected from Recordings, GBPVR uses the decoders specified on the Playback tab of Config and does not try any other decoder.

When a file is selected from the Video Library, GBPVR uses the same mechanism as WMP to play the file and allows "WMP" to select the decoder.

This can result in a situation will GBPVR is unable to play a file in Recordings but can play the file in Video Library or vice versa.

I put lots of avi and mkv files into Recordings. I presume it must default to the WMP method for those.