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.
Jay
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?
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.
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.
Marvin on Disapproving Rabbits
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
Mike
Win7 Ultimate x32 SP1, Harmony 700, Comcast Houston (cable co), Cooler Master Elite 360 Mini Tower case on it's side, ASUS M4A87TD-USB3 MB, AMD Phenom II 555 Black DualCore, 4G RAM, PNY GT440 1gb DDR5, 160GB SATA II (OS) - AHCI, 1TB SATA II (DATA) - AHCI, LG GGC-H20LK Combo drive, TMT3, Ceton InfiniTV 4, Onkyo TX-SR608, Samsung PN50C550