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Ask Slashdot: Dealing With Flagged Channels For XBMC PVR?

AlphaWolf_HK writes "I own an HDHomeRun Prime tuner, and unfortunately I live in an area where the cable provider (Cox) blanket flags all channels to be copy restricted. I'm tired of using Windows Media Center due to bugs and other problems, but since the channels are flagged it is the only option. Satellite is of course not an option at all (no cablecard or similar standard.) I've already begun moving most of my content watching to XBMC in the form of using sickbeard and couchpotato, both of which do an amazing job even with torrents now that Usenet has been getting hit pretty hard. To match this, I've already dropped my cable tier to the lowest possible for some basic digital channels that people in my household still watch and aren't available over torrents. But ideally I'd like to cut the cord completely as the service is otherwise useless. Are there any options for obtaining this content without physically moving to Comcast territory where they don't do this? Or perhaps any workarounds for the CCI flag? Ideally, anything that allows XBMC with digital content and no transcoding."

4 of 328 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Rule #1 by geminidomino · · Score: 5, Funny

    Thanks for that post. What would we do without you?

  2. Geeze by TheSkepticalOptimist · · Score: 5, Funny

    First world problems...

    --
    I haven't thought of anything clever to put here, but then again most of you haven't either.
  3. Re:Don't try it, it's illegal by BobNET · · Score: 3, Funny

    I, personally, would rather spend my time doing something useful than watch television. In fact, I don't even own one.

    I'm not an elitist. It's just that I'd much rather sculpt or write in my journal or read Proust than sit there passively staring at some phosphorescent screen. If I need a fix of passive audio-visual stimulation, I'll go to catch a Bergman or Truffaut film down at the university. I certainly wouldn't waste my time watching the so-called Learning Channel or, God forbid, any of the mind sewage the major networks pump out.

    People don't realize just how much time their TV-watching habit -- or, shall I say, addiction -- eats up. Four hours of television a day, over the course of a month, adds up to 120 hours. That's five entire days! Why not spend that time living your own life, instead of watching fictional people live theirs? I can't begin to tell you how happy I am not to own a television.

  4. Re:Don't try it, it's illegal by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    I'm not an elitist.

    Yes you are. Telling people with a certain hobby that your hobbies are superior to theirs is the very definition of elitist.

    Why not spend that time living your own life, instead of telling other people how to live theirs?

    Because his real hobby is telling people how much better he is than others.

    My hobby is pointing out hypocrites. Of which I am one.