[mythtv-users] Power off STB: a new twist from our local cable provider

Brian Wood beww at beww.org
Sun Jan 10 15:35:01 UTC 2010


On Sunday 10 January 2010 08:17:57 am mike wrote:
> On Sat, 9 Jan 2010 17:12:10 -0700
> 
> Brian Wood <beww at beww.org> wrote:
> > On Saturday 09 January 2010 04:55:29 pm Ronald Frazier wrote:
> > > On Sat, Jan 9, 2010 at 4:40 PM, Christian Szpilfogel
> > >
> > > <chrisznews4 at rogers.com> wrote:
> > > > If my STB has been on for a while they start displaying "Press
> > > > any key to watch TV".
> > >
> > > Please don't "bump" your post (especially after just an hour).
> > >
> > > Are you sure this problem happens based on how long the box has been
> > > on? The typical thing I see is that it's based on how long it's been
> > > since a button was pressed...as long as you press a button every
> > > hour or two, it's fine. If my suspicion is correct, then the best
> > > course of action would be to see if there is a button you can press
> > > which won't actually do anything (cancel or escape may be the best
> > > bet) and cron it up to run automatically at set intervals (and pick
> > > an odd time, like 12 minutes after the hour, just so you aren't
> > > likely to activate it at the same time a channel change happens.
> >
> > If they want you to press a button every now and then it sounds like
> > they may be getting ratings information and want to make sure you
> > haven't just turned on PBS or CSPAN and gone out to dinner.
> 
> This happens on my STB(sa3250) along with a blue screen overlaying the
> video and requires a key press to remove the blue.
> 
> AFICT its activated if you go over 2 hours without a keypress/channel-
> change and it appears to be for checking if someone is actually
> watching.
> 
> As stated above, the ideal solution is a 'dummy' command for the stb
> channel change script which emulates a key press without doing anything.

I think sending the "dummy" press as part of the channel change is better 
because if you cron it Murphy's Law says it will happen just as a regular 
channel change occurs.

Though I suppose if you cron it for something like 11 minutes after the hour, 
a regular channel change is unlikely to happen at that time (at least in the 
US).

It sounds more and more like they are garnering information for ratings. Even 
if they do not collect personally identifiable information, it's a short step 
from there to being able to provide a list of Fox News viewers (just as an 
example).


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