Auto-unprotect - understanding the process

[Leonthefixer]

Hi,

I have recently installed the custom firmware and one of the packages I have installed is Auto-unprotect. I have done a lot of reading on the forums etc about it before installing it and starting the process.

I started it last night using Method 2 (WebIF-mediated auto-decryption) and it appears to be working as I now have some recordings with the green Flag 'Dec' showing next to some recordings. I also have a queue of around 500 recordings to be decrypted in the 'Queued Tasks'.

My PVR prior to starting the task was at 99% full (yes I should delete some recordings as I will never watch them all).

What I do not understand about the process and I am looking to understand is why has a folder appeared in the folder '[Deleted Items]' called 'webif_autodecrypt' and recordings are appearing in there and using up the last of the memory I had free now leaving me with a 100% full PVR?

The recordings appearing there are still shown in the main list of recordings and it appears these are recordings that have been decrypted. But why are they appearing in the '[Deleted Items]' folder?

Could someone help explain please as I am worried I am about to loose recordings I want to keep if they are automatically deleted out of the [Deleted Items] folder, are they going to be deleted entirely from the PVR. Also is there a way in which I can suspend to decryption process without re-encrypting the programs that have already been decrypted. As it appears to be slowing the box down so my thinking was to only run the process over night when the box would not be used normally and allow normal use during the day. For example could I click on ....My Video > OPT+ > Recursive Auto-Decrypt and use that as a toggle to turn the process on and off.

Any help in understanding this process would be very much appreciated.

 

[Black Hole]

The "deleted items" entries are only safeguards in case something goes wrong and you need to recover the original file. It was considered prudent when all this was new, but years of experience say there is very little to worry about and you could just turn off the wastebasket (remove the undelete package). Nothing gets put in the wastebasket you would normally want to keep.

I don't know why you would think anything will be re-encrypted. Once decrypted - it's decrypted.

You can restrict queue processing to specific times of day, eg in the middle of the night when nothing else is going on. Toggling the auto-decrypt flag may not help when the entries have already been committed to the queue.

The slowing down you report is very likely due to how full your HDD is. I recommend a good 20GB headroom minimum, so either strip out some of the crap you will never get around to watching, or fit a 2TB drive.

 

[MymsMan]

It was considered prudent when all this was new, but years of experience say there is very little to worry about and you could just turn off the wastebasket (remove the undelete package).

There is now an option in the settings menu to prevent the originals from autodecrypt and autostrip going to the dustbin retaining the benefit of dustbin for protection against accidental deletion

 

[Black Hole]

The last thing this guy needs is protection from deletion!

 

[Leonthefixer]

Thank you both for the replies, very much appreciated.

I don't know why you would think anything will be re-encrypted. Once decrypted - it's decrypted.

It was just my lack of knowledge thinking it may happen. Thank you for clearing that point up.

The "deleted items" entries are only safeguards in case something goes wrong and you need to recover the original file. It was considered prudent when all this was new, but years of experience say there is very little to worry about and you could just turn off the wastebasket (remove the undelete package). Nothing gets put in the wastebasket you would normally want to keep.

So the items in the wastebasket, are these encrypted original files?

So the (basic understanding) process of decrypting is:

1. Create a back up of the original file to be decrypted in the wastebasket
2. Decrypt the original file
3. If all has gone well move on to the next file to be decrypted and delete the backup created in step 1 above

There is now an option in the settings menu to prevent the originals from autodecrypt and autostrip going to the dustbin retaining the benefit of dustbin for protection against accidental deletion

Am I correct that this setting is the one in: Settings > Auto-Processing Settings > Create backup files in dustbin for decrypt and shrink? > Toggle Yes/No

And to avoid back up's I would therefore change this to 'No' from the defaulted 'Yes'?

You can restrict queue processing to specific times of day, eg in the middle of the night when nothing else is going on. Toggling the auto-decrypt flag may not help when the entries have already been committed to the queue.

Am I correct that this setting is the one in: Settings > Auto-Processing Settings > Choose hours during which automatic processing runs > Enable during / Disable during

And to be able to run the process of decrypting the PVR needs to be out of standby.

Sorry about these basic questions but having read various threads and wiki's I am not clear about it and much appreciate your help and time.

 

[Black Hole]

So the items in the wastebasket, are these encrypted original files?

Yes

So the (basic understanding) process of decrypting is:

1. Create a back up of the original file to be decrypted in the wastebasket
2. Decrypt the original file
3. If all has gone well move on to the next file to be decrypted and delete the backup created in step 1 above

No, a new file is created during decryption, then the original is deleted/moved and the new file renamed to match.

Am I correct that this setting is the one in: Settings > Auto-Processing Settings > Create backup files in dustbin for decrypt and shrink? > Toggle Yes/No

And to avoid back up's I would therefore change this to 'No' from the defaulted 'Yes'?

Yes

Am I correct that this setting is the one in: Settings > Auto-Processing Settings > Choose hours during which automatic processing runs > Enable during / Disable during

Yes. Are these things not clear from the wording? They are meant to be self-explanatory.

And to be able to run the process of decrypting the PVR needs to be out of standby.

Yes.

 

[Leonthefixer]

Thanks for answering those questions, much appreciated. I have turned off the backup setting and changed the processing hours to work when I know the box won't be in use and I have also gone through and done a quick clear out of some old recordings that have sat on the box for ages which won't be missed to free up some space and I now have 40GB of free space which will hopefully help with the speed of the box. I will try and clear a bit more out later when no one is looking at what i am deleting ;-)

Yes. Are these things not clear from the wording? They are meant to be self-explanatory.

Maybe I was looking in the wrong place but I didn't see any mention of these settings in the explanation about decrypting. And I couldn't find any explanation of the 'Auto-Processing Settings' if they are explained somewhere could you point me to them. The main place I have been reading about the various packages etc is: https://wiki.hummy.tv/wiki/Custom_Firmware_Package_Notes

 

[Black Hole]

Maybe I was looking in the wrong place but I didn't see any mention of these settings in the explanation about decrypting.

Well, no - because mostly they're not needed, and anyway the facilities have expanded over a long period of time and may post-date the write-up. I'll add a note to Method 2.

And I couldn't find any explanation of the 'Auto-Processing Settings' if they are explained somewhere could you point me to them.

I meant the wording on the actual control panel - the settings do what they say on the tin.

The main place I have been reading about the various packages etc is: https://wiki.hummy.tv/wiki/Custom_Firmware_Package_Notes

It's also useful to go to the original package discussion: https://hummy.tv/forum/threads/index-of-package-primary-topics.8005/

 

[Leonthefixer]

I meant the wording on the actual control panel - the settings do what they say on the tin.

I would say they are clear(er) when you know about them and have some understanding of what they are there for but tbh I didn't have a clue what they were for as I hadn't seen any mention of 'Auto-Processing' and hadn't put 2 and 2 together and realised they were linked to the decryption process. I still don't know what 'Auto-processing log level' / 'How many days should completed entries stay in the queue' are for and can't see any explanation to help.

There are a few others like The TVDB Integration Settings that I would say don't really say on the tin what they are for but I haven't spent time trying to find out if I am honest.

It's also useful to go to the original package discussion: https://hummy.tv/forum/threads/index-of-package-primary-topics.8005/

Yes, I have been using that page to learn but there was no link for a topic discussing auto-unprotect so I wasn't able to find anything via that. Maybe it has been missed off the page by accident?

 

[Black Hole]

The index entry is listed, but I couldn't find relevant discussion to link to. auto-unprotect and unencrypt were amongst the first few custom firmware packages at the beginning of time.

 

[Leonthefixer]

Thanks for all your help with my questions, much appreciated.

 

[Leonthefixer]

I completed the Auto-unprotect process a while ago but since completing it I have been having a lot of my recording that have recorded either prior to or post starting the Auto-unprotect process come up with a message of "The channel is scrambled or not available" when I attempt playback of the recording.

The recording I have no reason to believe has not work, the icon in the menu when selecting the recording from the Media menu shows an image of the recording, the recording shows as for example 60 minutes in duration and takes up the appropriate amount of space on the box.

This has become very frustrating as I have been left with some episodes in a series unwatchable thus making the series pointless and no longer able to access the epsiode via iPlayer for example, I had one where I watched the 9 episodes and it happened to be the tenth and final episode that came up with this message.

Is this a known issue, is there any fix? Should I just turn off Auto-unprotect which I think is causing the issue and just live with the loss of several recordings to be discovered at some point in the future, if so how do I turn it off please?

Any help most welcome!

 

[Trev]

On what device are you trying to actually view the recording?

 

[Leonthefixer]

Sorry I should have stated in my post, it is on the Humax HDR T2 box that it was recorded on using the built in HDD.

 

[Black Hole]

auto-unprotect is not the problem, all that does is clear the flag in the .hmt sidecar file that tells the HDR not to decrypt the recording if copied to USB (or served via DLNA).

When was the last time you rebooted the box?

 

[Leonthefixer]

When you say rebooted do you mean put it into standby and back on after leaving it a few minutes or turn off at the plug and turn it back on after leaving it a few minutes?

If you mean putting it into standby and leaving it at least a few minutes before turning it back on, then this will happen multiple times per day with it left in standby over night and a large part of the day.

If you mean at the wall, then it has been sometime since this has been done.

The reason I thought it was auto-unprotect that was causing the issues was that they seemed to coincide with enabling this. There had never before been an issue with it. Last night I removed auto-unprotect from the box so I will see if the issue continues on new recordings over the next few days. If it doesn't it would seem to auto-unprotect being the cause, if it persists then I can rule out auto-unprotect.

 

[Black Hole]

However you do it, reboot = showing the Humax splash screen on startup.

 

[Leonthefixer]

However you do it, reboot = showing the Humax splash screen on startup.

Then I reboot the box at least once a day if not multiple times as the box is put into standby. It has not however been turned off at the plug for several months, if not years.

No recordings made since turning off Auto-unprotect have had the issue yet, though there have only been 5 or so recordings so the sample size is still too small.

 

[Black Hole]

It has not however been turned off at the plug for several months, if not years.

You are very lucky then, in that your box never crashes.

 

[Leonthefixer]

What is the advantage of turning it off at the wall? What does this do to prevent crashes that putting it into standby and therefore rebotting it when turning it back on does? Thanks.