HD ready tv dont think so ! ripped off HDCP

sporty1

I bought a tv 18 mths ago, at the end of Jan 07, it was HD READY with 2 HDMI sockets, i packed in smoking to buy this!;)
As technology changes so fast I DID MY RESEARCH i made sure that the tv was good technology wise for at least 4-5 yrs i.e HDMI etc. The tv came with freeview various ways of connecting appliances and most importantly HD READY, as i wanted in the future to connect to High Definition on whichever source, so now Oct 08 i choose to connect to sky HD who is one of the biggest supplier of digital throughout the uk.
I now this week have took the offer from sky £75 hd box + £35 installation total £110, using the savings of my ciggie money ( i’m proud of it packing in smoking ).
Sky engineer came out to install on 13 oct 08 and was emmediatly prompted with a HDCP banner across the screen. Saying this is not compliant with HDCP Basically the people in Hollywood copying there films shown on tv onto dvd players etc, I was told by the sky engineer that one of there technical boffins would ring me to explain the situation , after speaking to him at long length he basically told me it is a tv issue and not a sky problem, i therefore got intouch with PHILIPS the manufacturer of my tv, who are fully aware of this issue and offer a free software/firmware upgrade so that the tv and sky box do an electronic handshake ( accept each other ) the upgrade is via a usb dongle which is sent free of charge in the post simply insert into tv and follow the instructions and it solves the issue. Unfortunately my tv doesn’t have a usb port, when i told Philips this they quickly told me i would have to go through there recommended tv engineers as it is out of warranty at a cost of a minimum of £165 + VAT AT MY COST
( i dont think so ), i have now had to go down the route of trading standards who have told me that the book stops at the retailer who sold me the tv as it does not suit the purpose it was originally bought for HDMI connection (under the sales act of 1979 ). I am still awaiting the response from the retailer .
So to clarify i have purchased a HD READY TV to watch HD when i’m ready (which is now! :j , BUT CANT BECAUSE OF THIS HDCP BANNER ) :mad: Philips say i need the upgrade software to which they don’t have a plan B of getting it into my HD ready tv because i have no usb on this model ( unless i do the other option above at my cost, by having it sent away the back took of to make it then HD viewable ).
I think this is totally unacceptable as i purchased the tv HD READY at a cost of £1200 so not a cheap tv ,
As anyone else experienced this problem if so how was it resolved , bearing in mind the new sky boxes only support HDMI connection
thanks

aliEnRIK

I know the older (6th gen I think) Pioneers suffered from this also. But they respectfully come and sort it out free of charge to anyone with the HDCP problem.

Keep on at them Sporty. Philips in particular appear to have BAD after service (in fact, bad advertising too, displaying products at FULL 1080P for example when they are not!)

sporty1

Cheers,
i am not paying 1200 quid for a hd ready tv, then they expect me to fork out £160+ minimum so i can view hd, i will definatly pursue it cheers for the support!

keith1950

Hi, are you using the hdmi cable supplied by sky or have you fitted an alternative one. About 2 years ago I had similar problem with a Toshiba lcd. I had bought an extra long cable beforehand and got the same banner. On fitted the short sky lead it worked ok. I then tried various leads borrowed off several people and found I could only get a longer cable to work if it was a better quality one. (£60-£70), in the end I gave up, moved my equipment so the standard sky led would do.-Wierd eh.

aliEnRIK

Thats a fair point actually. I would suggest (if you dont already have one) use a 1.3 HDMI lead (Ebay have them well cheap) as they allow more 'bandwidth' through. This could possibly fix the problem (Though I doubt it as Philips have virtually admitted its their fault)

sporty1

The sky man tried 3 different boxes, and 2 different leads including my short gold tipped hdmi lead still same just the HDPC banner!

aliEnRIK

Just because the hdmi is gold plated doesnt mean its 1.3 compliant

sporty1

aliEnRIK wrote: »

Just because the hdmi is gold plated doesnt mean its 1.3 compliant

sorry for sounding what is 1.3 complaint,mean , they used the lead that they send out with the box when they install, also philips have said it is an upgrade issue there aware of the problem
thanks

aliEnRIK

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HDMI
1.3 lets MORE information through than the ones before it.

This could possibly fix the problem (Though again, doubtful if Philips have already admitted the problem)

sporty1

sporty1 wrote: »

I bought a tv 18 mths ago, at the end of Jan 07, it was HD READY with 2 HDMI sockets, i packed in smoking to buy this!;)
As technology changes so fast I DID MY RESEARCH i made sure that the tv was good technology wise for at least 4-5 yrs i.e HDMI etc. The tv came with freeview various ways of connecting appliances and most importantly HD READY, as i wanted in the future to connect to High Definition on whichever source, so now Oct 08 i choose to connect to sky HD who is one of the biggest supplier of digital throughout the uk.
I now this week have took the offer from sky £75 hd box + £35 installation total £110, using the savings of my ciggie money ( i’m proud of it packing in smoking ).
Sky engineer came out to install on 13 oct 08 and was emmediatly prompted with a HDCP banner across the screen. Saying this is not compliant with HDCP Basically the people in Hollywood copying there films shown on tv onto dvd players etc, I was told by the sky engineer that one of there technical boffins would ring me to explain the situation , after speaking to him at long length he basically told me it is a tv issue and not a sky problem, i therefore got intouch with PHILIPS the manufacturer of my tv, who are fully aware of this issue and offer a free software/firmware upgrade so that the tv and sky box do an electronic handshake ( accept each other ) the upgrade is via a usb dongle which is sent free of charge in the post simply insert into tv and follow the instructions and it solves the issue. Unfortunately my tv doesn’t have a usb port, when i told Philips this they quickly told me i would have to go through there recommended tv engineers as it is out of warranty at a cost of a minimum of £165 + VAT AT MY COST
( i dont think so ), i have now had to go down the route of trading standards who have told me that the book stops at the retailer who sold me the tv as it does not suit the purpose it was originally bought for HDMI connection (under the sales act of 1979 ). I am still awaiting the response from the retailer .
So to clarify i have purchased a HD READY TV to watch HD when i’m ready (which is now! :j , BUT CANT BECAUSE OF THIS HDCP BANNER ) :mad: Philips say i need the upgrade software to which they don’t have a plan B of getting it into my HD ready tv because i have no usb on this model ( unless i do the other option above at my cost, by having it sent away the back took of to make it then HD viewable ).
I think this is totally unacceptable as i purchased the tv HD READY at a cost of £1200 so not a cheap tv ,
As anyone else experienced this problem if so how was it resolved , bearing in mind the new sky boxes only support HDMI connection
thanks

Just been told that when the shop sold me the TV i it did have the software version 1 in the tv, which at the time worked and i would have been able to watch HD TV then ? .... but now 16 mths on there is new software in the sky boxes i.e version 3 , which is now not compatable with my tv.:mad:

So i still think this is unfair as when yyou go into a shop you should be told that you have a limited time to hook up to hd otherwise there is a possible chance that the HD READY tv you re buying for 1200 quid might not work in a few months:rolleyes: its a total sham the consumer getting ripped off by companies i am furious, trading standards say there is nothing can be done, as at the time in the eyes of the law when bought we were able at the time to watch the HD if we had got connected then, people like me who cant afford to hook up to hd at the time and need to save up lose out again i'd as been aswell buing a NON HD tele for about 600 quid cheaper as basically thats what i'm left with.

superscaper

sporty1 wrote: »

Just been told that when the shop sold me the TV i it did have the software version 1 in the tv, which at the time worked and i would have been able to watch HD TV then ? .... but now 16 mths on there is new software in the sky boxes i.e version 3 , which is now not compatable with my tv.:mad:

So i still think this is unfair as when yyou go into a shop you should be told that you have a limited time to hook up to hd otherwise there is a possible chance that the HD READY tv you re buying for 1200 quid might not work in a few months:rolleyes: its a total sham the consumer getting ripped off by companies i am furious, trading standards say there is nothing can be done, as at the time in the eyes of the law when bought we were able at the time to watch the HD if we had got connected then, people like me who cant afford to hook up to hd at the time and need to save up lose out again i'd as been aswell buing a NON HD tele for about 600 quid cheaper as basically thats what i'm left with.

Isn't that a problem with Sky then in neither being consistent nor backwards compatible. Sky aren't synonymous with HD and I'm sure just about every other HD source would work with your TV since this is more a copy protection mechanism software issue rather than anything wrong with the HD itself. Nothing is ever future proof and so wouldn't it be impossible to anticipate what other manufacturers are going to introduce or standards and specifications they'll adopt? That's always been the way hasn't it? I think you've been particularly unlucky and you should probably return the TV to the shop as unfit for purpose.