Change hardware without losing encrypted content?

[JTScribe]

My system is starting to act a little creaky. Motherboard, video card, and CPU are coming up on 3 years old and I was thinking about replacing them. Only issue is I have about 30 episodes of "Game of Thrones" to watch first. Is there anyway I can rebuild my system without killing DRM?

[adam1991]

As an aside, can you describe the "acting a little creaky"? My setup was 3 years old in March; other than bouncing on the limit on the 2TB storage disc and overall worrying about 3 year old discs that are always on, I don't *think* I'm seeing anything weird--but I'm always happy to hear from others in the outside world.

So I assume your shows are in fact copy protected? Is that what they say in Properties or in the WMC interface? 'Cuz if so, the answer is either binge watch right now, wait for reruns, wait for Netflix, or pay Amazon for the privilege of seeing them.

Putting them on the list to watch right away gives you some time to contemplate your answers for the next build, anyway, and get everything together.

[JTScribe]

Well, my original intention was always to use the onboard video. But the onboard video does this: http://www.thegreenbutton.tv/forums/vie ... f=7&t=2263

I have intermittent network issues like here (http://www.thegreenbutton.tv/forums/vie ... f=7&t=2263) that have persisted through OS reinstalls, router and switch replacements. I eventually moved the NAS off the network and just plugged it in over USB3. At this point I'm thinking there's just something flaky about the onboard NIC.

The motherboard just doesn't feel 'stable' is the best way I can explain it. Sometimes when the computer shuts down, I can't turn it back on with the front panel button. I have to unplug the power cord for a few minutes. When I plug it back in the power button works.

Sometimes when we turn off the system with our Harmony, when we turn everything back on the next morning or whatever, the HDMI path seems to have lost lock from the video card -> receiver -> TV. Rebooting the PC fixes it.

None of these issues are gamebreakers on their own, but the're definitely impacting WAF. I'd also like to move to a low-profile microATX case, but my current motherboard is full ATX.

And yeah, the Game of Thrones episodes are flagged. I can't even watch them on them on my home office computer that's running 7HP.

[adam1991]

I've seen many threads here about NIC issues where the answer is simply to update to the latest driver. But yeah, across reinstalls? Could be a flaky NIC, but it could also be a flaky infrastructure. Non-obvious wiring issues will cause such behaviors. You could have either known or non-obvious incompatiblities between your NIC and your switch. Those are easy things to test--get yourself a new long cable and a different switch, and see what happens on a test basis.

I lucked out 3+ years ago; I got an i3/Intel mobo combination that doesn't exhibit any video flakiness, and which handles the 29/50 situation flawlessly. I didn't plan it, it just happened that way. Now I'm sensitive to the concept. However, my system does have one flake: sometimes, on boot it doesn't boot until and unless I unplug the network cable. Then it boots, then I can plug in. But other times it doesn't care, and boots right up without any folderol. Of course, it's booting only because (a) I asked it to reboot (not often), or (b) it just restarts on its own in the middle of things (all too often for my likes).

Honestly, now that XBox does Netflix, I think the answer is a remotely located PC and XBox Slim at each TV. XBox handles the video issues brilliantly, has DVD player, and now does Netflix for no extra charge. With this configuration the PC can be cheap and ugly, it can be in a space with good airflow, it can make some noise, and none of that matters to the TV watcher.

[Tracer]

The only way you might be able to replace hardware without breaking DRM might be just replacing the MB using the same board that you were using before. It seems that certain combinations of MB, CPU, memory, and video depending on what gets replaced will break DRM. And of course a complete reinstall on existing or new hardware will break DRM.

At least if you are a HBO subscriber you can watch the episodes via HBOgo. If you have an Xbox you can download the HBOGO app.

[JTScribe]

Yeah, I'm also an Amazon Prime subscriber and they've started streaming HBO shows. Of course Game of Thrones is the only one not offered LOL.

[hooraah]

I just wiped out a bunch of recordings that were copy-once when I upgraded the CPU in my HTPC, leaving everything else identical. PlayReady seems to be much more tempermental than Windows Activation, for reference.

If I were you, I'd set my priority to watch the episodes while I planned my next build, as one of the other posters mentioned.

Heres one more idea for you. I don't have HBO, so I don't know if they do this, but do they re-broadcast repeat episodes before/after the normal time slot, or at odd times of the night? If you have a second PC that can record, you might set it to record the repeat episodes that come on at 2am. Of course, then those recordings are locked to that PC.

[blueiedgod]

You can strip the DRM by re-capturing the episodes by playing them back on an extender through a component/composite output and using a capture card like colossus back into the PC.

Or just download from torrents.

[JTScribe]

I just wiped out a bunch of recordings that were copy-once when I upgraded the CPU in my HTPC, leaving everything else identical. PlayReady seems to be much more tempermental than Windows Activation, for reference.

If I were you, I'd set my priority to watch the episodes while I planned my next build, as one of the other posters mentioned.

Heres one more idea for you. I don't have HBO, so I don't know if they do this, but do they re-broadcast repeat episodes before/after the normal time slot, or at odd times of the night? If you have a second PC that can record, you might set it to record the repeat episodes that come on at 2am. Of course, then those recordings are locked to that PC.

Yeah, with Game of Thrones I actually DVR'd all of the first three seasons the month before the fourth season because they repeated them.

After looking around, I'm kind of locked into a dead socket it looks like, so there really isn't an upgrade path with just CPU. My memory would work in a newer board, but if I'm going to get a new motherboard I'd like to go mini-ITX and get a new smaller case, etc., etc., ad nauseum. So yeah, I don't know that it's worth it at this point, LOL. Maybe I'll just clean up all the DRM'd stuff, stick the HTPC in a closet and use my XBox as an extender.