Not Recordable errors just started

[dfm1981]

My Magnavox combo unit just started giving me program not recordable errors (E45) on SPEED TV, FX and STARZ (FX and SPEED are owned by Fox). I recorded a Formula 1 race practice on a Friday morning but on Saturday morning the Qualifying wouldn't record. Same thing for FX, recorded Rescue Me fine and now I can't record it. According to the manual for my unit (Magnavox ZV450MW8A) there is a copy protection on some programs (like that on DVD's) and obviously that signal has been activated. I have COMCAST cable. WHat can I do?

[dfm1981]

One more thing, when I tried to record from STARZ, I got several little clips from the movie, like the copy protection would stop for a few seconds here and there.

[Seeker47]

Some have stated that a good TBC, like the AVT-8710 or DataVideo TBC-1000 (neither is what you would call inexpensive) can overcome the anti-copy Broadcast Flag. I have the latter unit, but so far have never had to put this to the test. A lot seems to depend on your cable or sat provider. One of the few good things I can say about Time Warner -- at least in this service region -- is that they don't seem to be enabling anything in their signal that inhibits my recording of whatever I wish, including premium channels and their VOD. Then again, this is a territory they took over from Adelphia, and a lot of the infrastructure is in pretty bad shape, so I wonder if that has anything to do with it ? Another factor is that different recording devices have different degrees of sensitivity, sometimes even giving false positives re things you should be able to record.

The DVR you might lease from your cable or sat provider ought to be able to record anything, for timeshifting purposes, but you won't be able to get what you recorded off of the DVR hard drive. (Possible exception: I'm still interested in getting more info about this external hard drive option that DISH supposedly offers. If you could save programming to an external hard drive, I don't see what would preclude editing and archiving it with your computer . . . unless the content was encrypted.)