recording digital channels from TV

[OhioJack]

I have 2 dvd recorders, one is panasonic, and the other is Phillips. Both seem to work fine. My problem is when I set them to record from a digital channel, SOMETIMES the recording comes out blank. The wording on the screen suggest I recorded the right channel at the right time, but only blackness shows up. This does not happen all the time, just once in a while. I am in the Cleveland Ohio area and the prob usually happens on ch 3.1, but has occured on 19.1 also. Anyone know what is causing this ?

[DB83]

Premium channels ?. Maybe the tv sends out a copy-protection signal.

[usually_quiet]

Perhaps the DVD recorder's tuner is receiving a signal that is too weak to tune properly. I think copy-protected programming would generate a message telling you why these programs could not be recorded.

[edDV]

More info required:

Are you recording off air ATSC or from a cable/sat box? If off air, there SHOULD be no copy protection but local channels often screw this up and set a copy protection bit by mistake. So far Congress hasn't authorized this. Cable companies can do what they want for other than broadcast pass through. For broadcast they are prohibited from adding copy protection or encryption*.


* It gets more complicated than that depending on the status of the local station as "must carry", "retransmission consent" or PBS. Each has separate rules.

[davideck]

My Philips DVD Recorder does the same thing on some digital cable channels. IIRC, it is a known issue and has been discussed at avsforum. I don't know about the Panasonic, though...do they both fail on the same channels?

[drjtech]

Sounds like the Broadscast Flag was set:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broadcast_flag