According to reports the file format for VMC has been changed to WTV.  What is the difference between WTV and DVR-MS?  Am I correct to assume that WTC is still essentially an MPEG-2 file with other "stuff" tacked on?  What are the pros and cons?  The cynic in me says that this is to allow more DRM lockdowns - is that correct?

wayner9:

According to reports the file format for VMC has been changed to WTV.  What is the difference between WTV and DVR-MS?  Am I correct to assume that WTC is still essentially an MPEG-2 file with other "stuff" tacked on?  What are the pros and cons?  The cynic in me says that this is to allow more DRM lockdowns - is that correct?

The main problem with it is that it's so new NOTHING recognizes it. It won't play on other PCs...heck I don't think it will even play in Windows Media Player on the PC that recorded it. So that takes commercial skipping out of the equation for a while until the programs are updated.

It plays in the WMP on the Vista machine I put the TV pack on.  Frustrating part is it won't play on the other Vista machine in the house as of right now.  I was going to leave that machine alone and use the TV Pack one for some clear-Qam work.  Less frustrating is the fact that Windows Movie Maker on the TV Pack Vista will not load .WTV....Q

I have 3 DMA-2100 extenders and thinking about buying 2 more. Right now everything works well.

Of course WTV will work on the device TV Pack was installed on, but if it won't work on current V2 extenders then I have already wasted $750. 

Will V2 extenders get a firmware upgrade for WTV? Has Microsoft worked with V2 extender manufacturers to ensure the new file format will work?  Are V3 extenders needed?

If not, then it sounds simple, I keep my 3 devices, wait for them to go on sale (since they will obsolete) before I spend another nickel, and stick with Vista SP1 for a long time. I'm not going to install the TV Pack unless I can record and playback recorded TV on my extenders.

The cable companies lose because I won't buy HD until I can record it (I had it and returned the rental box).  Too bad for Linksys, I'm holding off buying any more 2100's. 

I have read on this site that if the Vista machine you are extending from has the TV Pack on it your extenders will have no problem.  They should play the .WTV files.  The problem I have noticed is that without the TV Pack a Vista machine doesn't know what .WTV is at all....Q

2100's work fine with TV Pack.

Danno100:

The cable companies lose because I won't buy HD until I can record it (I had it and returned the rental box).  Too bad for Linksys, I'm holding off buying any more 2100's. 

Because of the drawbacks of getting HD into VMC, such as no H.264 support which means you cannot use the HD-PVR until at leats Windows 7a, I am test driving Sage with an HD-PVR and may also buy Sage extenders.  Are you considering the same since it is the only way to get Rogers cable into a HTPC?

Karl_Il:

2100's work fine with TV Pack.

To be clear, the 2100's work with the TV Pack and WTV recordings? 

ChiWax

Do newly recorded cablecard recordings with the .WTV format play in WMP?

If I recall, WMP wouldn't play cablecard recorded programs in dvr-ms format due to DRM.  I never try, but I will when I get home.

I don't have CableCard.  I was just letting people know that the .WTV files play in Media Player on the TV Pack(ed) system.  I guess CableCard programs wouldn't work much like "protected" analog programs don't work either.  It's really messed up that there is that bridge between the programs.  Now that I've PACKED one of my Vista PCs I am finding out that other Windows programs besides Media Player don't know what the heck .WTV files are.  Not to mention un-PACKED Vista machines don't understand .WTV at all.  Q.

Danno100:

Karl_Il:

2100's work fine with TV Pack.

To be clear, the 2100's work with the TV Pack and WTV recordings? 

It works fine on my 360 as an extender, I'd have to imagine its the same for the Linksys extenders.

I also can't comment on CableCard though.

Yes they work... if you read Ben's report his article shows them working.

ChiWax:

I was just letting people know that the .WTV files play in Media Player on the TV Pack(ed) system.

Has anyone else been able to get this to work? I cannot. A post on the VideoReDo forums states that same (http://www.videoredo.net/msgBoard/showthread.php?t=6868&highlight=wtv).

Yogi

Yes, this works. It might not work, if you have e.g. ffdshow installed. In my case the audio and video codecs were mapped that way. But if you disable ac3 for audio and all mpeg2 for video then it'll work. Check the file in graphedit, if everything is mapped to the Microsoft decoders.

Any news if Windows Media Player 11 (WMP) for WinXP will ever get a plugin or codec to allow it to playback the new WTV format?

UPDATE:
Ok, has anyone figured out how to play WTV on non-Fiji Vista systems, or even on WinXP? I've done some digging, and so far here's what I found:

1. Using Graphedit on the Fiji-patched system, looks like WTV goes through some PBDA (Protected Broadcast Driver Architecture) DTFilters before getting to the MPEG decoders.

2. I tracked the DTFilter to the cpfilters.dll in the System32 folder.

3. I attempted to install cpfilters.dll using FilterManager on my WinXP Pro SP3 system. However, the Radlight filter manager gave me an "Entry Point Not Found" error:

"The procedure entry point memmove_s could not be located in the dynamic link library msvcrt.dll"

4. Looking at the msvcrt.dll file in WinXP Pro SP3, it was version 7.0.2600.5512, about 330kb in size. However, the version on my Vista Ultimate SP1 system was about 650kb in size and a higher version number.

5. Being foolhardy, I attempted to replace my XP version of the msvcrt.dll file with the Vista version. After banging my head against System File Checker (and figuring out how to disable it, another long story...) I was able to finally copy the Vista msvcrt.dll file over.

6. Having made said substitution, I attempted to reboot but no dice. WinXP would get to the first screen (WinXP logo and status bar at the bottom ), but then wouldn't boot past that. I had to restore my old DLL to get the system back.

So ... any idea how to get cpfilters.dll installed on a WinXP System?