My goal of creating the ultimate media center has been realized. I was able to add my ATi Digital Cable Wonder tuner to the setup. The original setup was a tad troublesome, but it was eventually solved with a reinstall..
Originally I had Vista Home Premium installed. After reading that there were tuner limitations between Home Premium and Ultimate, I decided to go Ultimate. This turned out to be a good idea, as Vista’s firewall has some issues with the cable tuner if you plug it in right away (the only way I got the device to work was disabling the firewall completely–Windows does treat the tuner as a network device).
After a reinstall (and getting everything ready to go), I decided to do some tests. My first test consisted of putting the CableCARD in my existing set top box in my new tuner. This did not work (and later I learned that during the activation process, TWC doesn’t even ask for the CableCARD ID, they just ask for the Host ID). I called up TWC to schedule an appointment to get my new tuner set up. I knew it was bogus that they’d charge me $40 for the trip, but I figured the on-going cost savings of $15/month (no more STB or remote) were worth it.
One cold Thursday afternoon, my door buzzed. I opened the door to find the tech had arrived to set up my new tuner. He gave me a speech about how I’d lose some channels (something I will be discussing shortly), then proceeded to set everything up. The process in Media Center was pretty straightforward. All the tech really needed was the Host ID. 10 minutes later, we tested a channel (channel 1). Everything appeared to be working, so he left.
After he left, I checked the channels after 100 (I had an analog tuner inside my media center, and I had a suspicion that channel 1 was on the analog tuner). It turned out my guess was correct–nothing over channel 100 worked. I began to sigh, when the door buzzed again. I was greeted once again with the cable installer, back to “finish a couple things that weren’t done right.” This part took much longer. He still needed the same information, but this time he was waiting longer (for an authorization, I assume).
About 10 minutes later, my door buzzed again. I opened it, to see another tech from TWC. This guy was apparently the manager. From what I could gauge, the HQ wasn’t asking for the right information, and activated the card improperly. So the tech used a second card (an SA card), and was able to activate that card. I tested the channels over 100 right away, and everything checked out.
After commenting on the number of wires and cables in my apartment, the two techs left, one with a grape soda in-hand. I then excitedly flipped through channels and celebrated the joy of no longer having the detestable cable box. It was then that I realized my next problem: SDV.
SDV was something I read about, but assumed it wasn’t going to be a big deal. I knew I was going to have to deal with it some way or another. SDV stands for Switched Digital Video, and is basically the cable company’s way of creating more bandwidth for channels.

(WARNING: Learning Content Ahead!)
Before SDV was used, cable sent all channels all at once to your cable box. If you wanted to change channels, you literally changed the frequency and picked up whatever was broadcasting on that channel. This is why cable splitters and the like worked–every channel was sent all the time.
As time went on, more channels were added. Then more channels went HD. Each taking up more and more bandwidth. At this point, the cable company can do two things. They can either compress (lower the quality of) the existing channels (more than they already have), or they can create a switched system where only the content you request is sent to you. For the networking folk, it’s just like a hub vs. a switch: the hub will send all data to all users, whereas the switch will only send you data that belongs to you.
While this system definitely frees up bandwidth, it also breaks the “open” protocol of the CableCARD. CableCARDs nowadays are unidirectional–that is, they only receive data. They are incapable of sending data. This means you can’t get Pay-Per-View videos, OnDemand content, as well as SDV channels. If you can’t talk back to the cable company, you can’t ask for a channel to be received. If you can’t ask for a channel to be received, you won’t get a channel at all.

Essentially, this means my new tuner gets all analog channels, a large majority of digital channels, and a very small percentage of HD channels. Included in this list of ghost channels is Discovery HD. This was a heartbreaker for me.

Despite these shortcomings, I’m still sticking with the new tuner. The cable box that TWC supplied me was driving me crazy. The UI was slow, recordings were buggy, and the device required a reboot every 1-2 weeks.

Just because SDV is out doesn’t mean there’s no hope for the Digital Cable Media Center crowd. CableLabs has released a device for the TiVo digital cable tuner that enabled SDV support. There’s debate out there about how easy adding SDV to Media Center would be. Some say merely a firmware update is needed. Others say an extra USB device will cover it. There’s even some that say the entire device would need to be replaced (something I hope doesn’t happen).

Whatever does happen, one thing is for certain–CableLabs needs to speed up their specification for version 2.0. This version is due to support the bi-directional communication needed for things like SDV, OCAP, and other services that today’s STB can already handle.

If this works, MacJournal can post to my blog!

~Jaker

Ah, yes. I finally have my hands on the Windows 7 beta. It’s installed on my dev machine at work, and I’ll be playing around with it and passing on thoughts as I move along.

For now, here’s some trivia:

The default desktop is an illustration of a betta splendens, a type of fish.

~Jaker

(For the uninitiated: the channel 9 team refers to this as the one of the best/splendid betas they have ever released. Yeah, that’s right. I see you cracking a smile.)

Trips to the St. Paul office have definitely gotten better over time. The first time I went to the St. Paul office, I was a complete stranger to everyone in the office, the office itself felt temporary and not yet set up completely, and server problems were much more intense. At least they seemed so at the time. Perhaps I’ve learned a bit since then…

Or perhaps I wasn’t playing around with ISA Server.

Yeah, it was definitely ISA Server.

Anyway, trips nowadays are awesome. The office itself has taken on a new life. The designers that moved in from the other offices added their “touch” to the office, making it feel more recreational and fun, and less all-business. It’s also nicer from an IT standpoint. There’s no ISA server, and I know exactly what to expect when I’m working up there (my oh my, the joys of working with a network you set up from scratch).

The quest of this trip was to do the usual maintenace for the St. Paul guys, like updating permissions on shared computers, installing updated software, doing a reinstall or two, etc. There was also the plan of fixing the server.

The server in St. Paul has had a problem with it’s RAID config. Every time the server booted up, it would require user input (press the any key) during the RAID initialization (before Windows, which meant before I could remote to it and do anything useful). The plan of attack was to install Server 2008 and be done with it. Fortunately, it’s installed now and I’m just doing some mundane tasks (dcpromo–you know, the fun stuff). There is a small list of things that I would have liked to know before-hand, so I’m going to share these notes with you, dear reader.

Stuff you should do before implementing a Server 2008 DC in your Server 2003 network.

(FYI: If, for some reason, you have Server 2000 servers in your network, make sure they’re SP2 or higher [you haven't upgraded?] Strange things will happen otherwise, and you’ll be warned about it several times during the configuration)

ProTip #1: Prepare your forest

Fortunately, I had a Server 2008 image in Allenton. Otherwise, this would have been messy. On your forest domain controller, run adprep.exe /forestprep. This program is on your Server 2008 DVD under sources/adprep. Need I say that you need to match the architecture?  Let it do it’s thing. Once it completes, run adprep.exe /domainprep /gpprep. Gpprep updates your group policy. If you don’t include it, the tool will tell you that you need it. Just giving you a heads up!

ProTip #2: Replicate

When working in a multi-site environment, this part is fun. I was impatient, so I played around in Sites and Services and forced replication, but you’re better off just letting it do it’s thing. If your domain uses the usual 4-times-an-hour replication, then your other site should be updated in 1-2 hours. If you’re playing around with more than 2 sites, I’m sure it’ll take longer. You can test replication by using dcdiag /tests:replication, or just try the next step. If it fails, then keep waiting

ProTip #3: Prepare the domain

Walk over to the other server in the domain you are installing to–Server 2008 disc in hand, of course–and run adprep.exe /domainprep. If this fails, go back to step 2. If it succeeds, then you’ve prepared your existing environment. Log off your Server 2003 machine and get back on to that Server 2008 box again.

ProTip #4: Install Active Directory

You can take it from here. My only informational note is this: I have no idea what happens if you leave “use advanced settings” unchecked. I’ve always checked it. I’m sure it Wizardify’s the process even more. I’ll keep my tried and true method, thank you.

ProTip #5: Enjoy!

Hey, nice server you got there!

~Jaker