I have a Velocity Micro system that is having hardware problems. The manufacture wants me to return my system so that can replace the motherboard.  When this happens, what  happens to all of my recorded HDTV programs, recorded with an ATI CableCARD turner?  Since the recordings are keyed to the hardware are they  now going to be unplayable?  Can the manufacture use the same BIOS key as on the original board?

dnr:

I have a Velocity Micro system that is having hardware problems. The manufacture wants me to return my system so that can replace the motherboard.  When this happens, what  happens to all of my recorded HDTV programs, recorded with an ATI CableCARD turner?  Since the recordings are keyed to the hardware are they  now going to be unplayable?  Can the manufacture use the same BIOS key as on the original board?

Sounds like a question for Velocity Micro.  Chances are that you will not be able to play any of your existing recorded tv.

The Velocity Micro support rep said they could, but I don't necessarily believe them.

yet another reason that DRM is stupid!  i am getting so frustrated with cablecard DRM.  I could go on and on, back i will stop myself.  good luck, hope your recordings are still able to play

If they replace the board with the same version and bios, then do a image restore, everything should still work.   I have seen some screwy things with DRM and swapping hardware.

Jbworks, how did you make out?  Were you able to play your recorded items?

When I replaced the Motherboard, recorded TV would not play.....for two days.....then all of a sudden, without me doing anything explicit, it started to work agian.  I do not know why.

That gives me some hope!  Did you do a system resore?

jbworks, can you explain what you mean as an image restore?  Do you mean a system restore through Vista?

I did nothing.  The old defective motherboard was pulled out, the new one put in, the OEM put their ID in the BIOS and that was it.  No software changes of any kind.  I rebooted.  Old recorded programs would not run (I do not remember the exact message).  Two days later, just on a whim, tried playing the old recorded programs.  They played.  No backup, no restore, nothing like that.  don't know what.  The OEM does not know why.

rgc101:

jbworks, can you explain what you mean as an image restore?  Do you mean a system restore through Vista?

I should be more knowlegeable about cable card pcs then I am.  Like many I cross my fingers anytime I have to setup or make changes to a cable card setup.  They really are a pain in the butt to trouble shoot when things are not working correctly. 

Unless I'm mistaken when you rebuild (start from scratch) a Vista machine; a unique key is generated for your machine.  This hardware key is used to protect all of your DRM content.   If you rebuild a machine from scratch, you will not beable to play any of your existing content that is protected.  I have only had to do a fresh install once before and since we also upgraded the machine to Windows 7, it wasn't a valid test. None of the old protected recordings worked.

A image restore is just that.  A snapshot of your machine from a specific point in time.  A Homeserver backup,etc.  If you were to do a image restore all setting and configs would be retained.

I personally refuse to use a cable card pc in my house due to all of the restrictions, but have installed quite a few of them for other people.

jbworks:

Unless I'm mistaken when you rebuild (start from scratch) a Vista machine; a unique key is generated for your machine.

every time you install windows a Secure ID or SID is generated.  This is a unique identifier for your computer and is mainly used for identifying computers on network/domain.  there are tools for cloning SIDs, but i have only done it in a corporate IT environment.  however I would easily assume that a fresh install of windows on cablecard system with a cloned SID wouldn't work to recover DRM protected recordings.

jbworks:

I personally refuse to use a cable card pc in my house due to all of the restrictions, but have installed quite a few of them for other people.

as do I.  i have been researching a contingency plan to switch to a DishDVR if the requirements for "Draco" are anything like cablecard.  for my dvr needs the only requirement from the wife is to be able to watch the same shows in the living and in our bedroom.  tv in my office and in the baby's room/guest room dont need to be able to record anything.

Anyone tried using psgetsid.exe to get the current SID of their machine, then using NewSID to set the SID of the new computer to what the original SID was?

Link to PSGetSID - usage psgetsid computername$  i.e. psgetsid smith-john$

(NOTE: You have to download the whole tool kit - psgetsid is a part of it.)

http://download.sysinternals.com/Files/PsTools.zip

Link to NewSID:

http://download.sysinternals.com/Files/NewSid.zip

New motherboard installed and old programs play!  Very relieved.  After speaking to Dell, most likely because the same processor is on board.  Of course it was not OCUR compliant, like it was new, but the same guys that stepped me through the procedure for rectifying that before were very helpful again.  Just waiting for my new tuners.  Old ones were damaged by power surge.  They light up, but aren't recognized by the computer.