Today Microsoft is will a patch to correct the issues seen in last month’s reported “Broadcast Flag” issues.  In reality, the fix is for CGMS-A and the official word is still that Media Center doesn’t support the Broadcast Flag.  Last month’s issue propagated from CGMS-A being on the analog source data that was broadcast by NBC.

The patch changes functionality in Media Center for CGMS-A on antenna and non-STB configurations where CGMS-A CopyNever (1:1) will be recorded as CopyOnce (1:0) effectively ending the “Recording Prohibited” messages seen last month.  This means if CGMS-A finds its way onto an OTA broadcast it will always be recorded, but if CGMS-A is set it will be protected once recorded.  If you are using analog cable (no STB) the same takes places.

For configurations using STBs, this patch doesn’t fix any of the existing CGMS-A issues which include incorrect and otherwise excessive CopyNever flags (Sorry Canadians).  I’ve made sure this issue is still on the table at Microsoft, but currently there is no official fix (other than unplugging your STB).  Personally I’d like to see the issue fixed in the same manor, but that does present issues with content that is supposed to be CopyNever on an STB.  The other option would be to just disable CGMS-A when Media Center is setup using a Canadian postal code.

The patch should be up on Windows Update now (KB950126 - June Cumulative Update) and related download link is posted below.

Related: June 2008 Cumulative Update for Media Center for Windows Vista (KB950126)

Update: As noted on the CE Installer blog this doesn’t cover CableCARD which comes with CableLabs regulations.  With that said, the majority of the issues with CableCARD could be software conflicts rather than content flags.  If you are having major issues with CableCARD and Restricted Content messages, please leave a comment here and/or post it to this thread on The Green Button.