I'm in Hawaii and have two new HDTV's. One is a 40" Sony Bravia in the living room and works fine via HDMI to the Scientific Atlanta cable box.
The other one is a 27" Samsung in the office that I also wanted to double as a monitor for my PC. Hooked up the cable box and HDMI...turned on the TV...everything works great. Plug in the computer, switch to the PC input...again works great. I switch back to the HDMI and I get a message telling me that HDMI output has been disabled.
I proceeded to reboot the cable box and on startup it tells me that I need to use component video instead of HDMI because my TV does not support HDCP. Upon calling Oceanic Time Warner, I learn the following:
- The TV does support HDCP and has detected a "recordable device" has been hook up and therefore "the box" (read, the cable company) disables HDMI output.
- They are unsure whether component cables will work either, but I should "try it".
- They do offer a cable card (costs more than the box) and it will work in a Tivo HD, but not a media center computer (the TV does not have a cable card slot that I can see).
I have three questions:
1.) I can run component and if I have to run component, that will work for this application...but will it work? Does component video have anything to do with this HDCP mess?
2.) What on earth does a computer being hooked up to another INPUT have anything to do with being a "recordable device". Is HDCP dumber than it looks when figuring out what an output or input is? I really can't see how it's legal for a cable company to disable entire features of my TV (the ability to hook up a PC). Is everyone on Time Warner facing the same restrictions or is something amiss here?
3.) If I get a Tivo HD am I going to be stuck in the same mess? And - are certain cable cards really not able to work in media center pc's?
Mostly, this has been an exercise in frustration. I am happy to plugin component cables, but I was excited to only be running one cable through the wall to the component closet instead of 5.
1)If you disconnect the HDMI cord from the box and TV, reboot the box and then connect the component cables (with audio as component doesn't provide audio like the HDMI does), you should have no problems. If you have component cables connected at the same time as having an HDMI cord connected it can cause some operational problems. It's generally best to only have 1 or the other connected and not both.
2)Do some reasearch on what HDMI is and how it interacts between your cable box and your TV. It's easier then trying to explain it all here. As for the legality of a cable company disabling that feature, again, you need to read up on the HDMI and what it does. The cable company only incorperates the HDCP protocols that the FCC mandates. If the big studios didn't demand such contraints be put into place to ensure their "money makers" aren't being illegally copied, then it wouldn't be an issue. The only time you run into those types of problems are when copy protection doesn't provide the right flags and the box shuts down as it's instructed to per FCC guidelines.
3)Ooooh nice subject.... part I: No, but make sure you research about the cable card tivo and what features it offers, and if those options are sufficient for what you intend to be doing. There is also a new version of tivo on the market that uses the new multi-stream card, so you only need 1 and not 2 like the series3 required. part II: there is a new product I've been reading about on the tech forums (blogs on the net). This new product is designed to work with a windows vista operating system and allows you to connect a cable card, through an ATI cable card reader, then connect via usb to your PC. From what I've read about it, it looks pretty neat and gives you the ability to record directly to your harddrive. Unfortunately from what I've read about it, you are not able to just simply upgrade your exsisting PC to use this new feature....you have to purchase a compliant PC that has the same strict guidelines to ensure it is not being misused.
those are my thoughts, others may disagree, but you can't argue the facts. I really believe time warner would rather be dealing with other issues then the ones you presented, in fact most cable companies would rather not be dealing with them, but the consumer wants, the consumer gets...then complains about not knowing. Reasearch, ask, reasearch some more then purchase. Stop the pattern of buy then ask, then research, then complain..and one last thing...don't blame the poor cable guy standing in front of you, he didn't make this mess, he's just the poor guy trying to deal with it like we all are.