Motorola 6200 STB and firewire
Submitted by shockwave on April 2, 2009 - 7:57pm
Anybody have any idea how to get a Shaw HD STB on firewire?
It should be easy but my luck seems to suck lately. I'm wondering if Shaw disabled the 1394 ports. How would I tell?
I assume by Shaw you mean
I assume by Shaw you mean your cable company, if so then yes they can turn on and off the firewire port of any moto settop box. They usually are defaulted on and turned off through access control at the headend. I can't remember if you can see the firewire status in the diagnostics screens or not. I will look tomorrow but if it is off there is no way for you to turn it on. You would have to contact your cable company and request it.
Regards,
Mike Bennett
www.mbppg.com
Regards,
Mike Bennett
www.mbppg.com
I just checked the
I just checked the diagnostics of the moto settop box, it does in fact show the status of the firewire port (1394). The two parameters it shows are if it is Enabled and Active with a yes or a no. To get into moto diags turn on the settop with the TV on so you can see video. Then turn off the settop and immediately push the select button and you should be presented with a Diagnostics screen, look for Interface/Port Status Im my case d11 and use the arrows keys to mode to that item and push select to see that diagnostic screen. There you will see the 1394 port and its status. Hope this helps.
Regards,
Mike Bennett
www.mbppg.com
Regards,
Mike Bennett
www.mbppg.com
Thanks for the info!
Well, it worked - sort of.
I can see the front panel change to the expected d XX codes but the output to my TV turns blank. When my I called my cable provider to ask if they had locked out the diagnostics and firewire output and all I got was a "I don't think that's something we support"
Add to that, the quality of the channels I want are only marginally better than standard.
Since this was trial unit I packed it up and returned it.
I seem to be the hard luck case around here.
The sticker said Window XP or better - so I installed Linux
The sticker said Window XP or better - so I installed Linux
I don't know about shaw, but
I don't know about shaw, but I spent a ton of time and no small amount of coin trying to get my Charter Communications Motorola 6200 to work.
At the end of the line, it will work until Charter activates it. Once activated all firewire output is encrypted. Totally violating FCC law. I reported this to the FCC, they reported it to Charter, Charter called me to ask what was wrong, I explained the problem, she said 'so you are happy now' I said 'what?', she said 'I'll report back to the FCC that you are happy now, goodbye' and hung up.
Thing is, FCC rules state that if a customer complains, they contact the company and accept whatever the company says. Great consumer protection. :(
Bottom line, if Shaw is doing it too, you will never get firewire to work, even if it's the law and you are all setup correctly; and no one cares.
My next attempt at this (including premium channels from the 6200) is going to be just using the regular output into a capture card and controlling the channels with usb or an IR blaster
Good luck, let us know how it turns out.
How is encrypted firewire in violation with FCC?
I don't know about shaw, but I spent a ton of time and no small amount of coin trying to get my Charter Communications Motorola 6200 to work.
At the end of the line, it will work until Charter activates it. Once activated all firewire output is encrypted. Totally violating FCC law.
How is having the output of the firewire encrypted against FCC law? Cable companies have to protect content that they show or they are in violation to the providers who provide their content to the cable company. Some people just get lucky because the firewire output is not encrypted and it works for them. I not saying your cable company handled your request very well and did not treat you well but it is their right to protect the content they stream to your settop box. I know we could get into the discussion about easy you can capture the video coming out of composite or component port with a capture cards, yes but being able to take it firewire direct into a hard drive without having to do anything is much easier so some cable companies turn off firewire.
Regards,
Mike Bennett
www.mbppg.com
Regards,
Mike Bennett
www.mbppg.com