Pez

Distinguished
Jul 26, 2008
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Hi all.

I recently installed a TV tuner card (the Hauppauge Colossus). I've had previous TV tuner cards, but this one is a fairly new release on the market as of this writing, and this PCI-e card has both HDMI and component inputs.

I have an HD receiver from DirecTV, and it can output the signal through both HDMI and component cables. Now.....something many of you probably already know, but I myself only found out recently, is that the data that's sent through an HDMI cable is encrypted with HDCP.

Even though my TV tuner card has an HDMI input, this would be for, say, something like a camera that has an HDMI output that you want to upload its content in through the card. But, if you try to input an HDMI cable coming from, say, a DirecTV HD receiver........then you will receive no image on-screen because it's encrypted.

My Samsung monitor, besides being a monitor in-and-of-itself, is also a TV tuner. If I want, I can plug the HDMI cable from my DirecTV HD receiver directly into the monitor and watch television that way (the monitor is HD compliant and can complete the "handshake" for HDCP decryption).

But if I put the HDMI cable directly to the TV tuner card, it cannot produce the image.

If I use the component cables, then no problem, I can watch TV through the card and record shows with it also.

Now.....if what I'm about to inquire or ask about is considered "illegal", then I'll understand if this post gets locked or deleted.

I've done some searching on the 'Net, and evidentially there are things out there termed "HDCP strippers"; it seems to be a gray area as to whether they are illegal or not.

Then I also came across an article that says an HDCP "master key" was released. If you go to this link....

http://www.engadget.com/2010/09/14/hdcp-master-key-supposedly-released-unlocks-hdtv-copy-protect/

....and then scroll down a bit, someone posted a forty times forty element matrix of fifty-six bit hexadecimal numbers. I can't really make heads or tails of what you're supposed to do with all of that.

Then there's even this link....

http://www.cs.sunysb.edu/~rob/hdcp.html

.....from some people from SUNY with an encryption/ decryption code in a download.

I'd just like to be able to watch high definition content on my PC via an HDMI cable from my DirecTV HD receiver and record it onto my hard drive if I want to; I'm not out to rip anyone off.

Does anybody know if it's possible to watch HD content through an HDMI cable through a TV tuner card? I'd rather not invest in another piece of hardware (like these HDCP "stripper" boxes I've read about). I'd rather go a "software" route. Or, those links I provided with that matrix of numbers/ letters or that other link with that download.

Right now I'm using the component connection from my DirecTV HD receiver to my TV tuner card (along with two RCA plugs to carry the audio signal). It's a nice picture and all, but, it'd sure be nice to do it all through just one HDMI cable!!! :D

And like I mentioned earlier, if what I'm mentioning here is "illegal", then I'll understand if this post is locked/ deleted.

But thanks for reading and any possible info.............
Pez
 
The Colossus can't pass signals if the STB is outputting HDCP, so you've already guessed the 2 possible solutions:

#1 Strip the HDCP
#2 Use component + audio cables

I say just use component. You can bundle up the cables together with a cable sheath from Home Depot and call it good.
 
I think the whole point of protecting a signal with HDCP is to prevent full quality recording or copying. HDCP is a buggy and poorly implemented copy protection that stops more legal setups than illegal, but it is here and we have to live with it. I would also recommend going the component route, as I can't see how stripping the HDCP yet leaving the full HD signal can be legal.