As most on this forum know, this is something that isn’t really possible.  It has been discussed many times over and over, however, I have done a bunch of research and I feel I have an approach that might work.  This is not finalized but is just the beginning.  For those of you that are stuck with your Dell/HP hardware this your chance to get this running on the equipment of your choice. 

We all know that two things are required to make a PC work with the ATI digital cable tuners:

1.)      A digital cable support PID (Windows key) provided from Microsoft

2.)      OEM Bios with OCCUR support

#1 really has no way around it.  You have to have this code; it’s the key to making this work.  To say that you have to buy a new PC to get this code isn’t 100% true.  It’s possible you could get this code from a 420 that isn’t using the code or get the code in other manners.  I was able to get a key from a Sony laptop off ebay.  The user was selling the ATI Tuner and offered the key with it.  For just under $150 I got a digital cable tuner and a Digital Cable PID.  Unless someone figures a hack for this,, you’d better find/have one of these.

What I really want to concentrate on is #2 because I think we have the most control over it.  I have been doing tons of research on this and I think it’s feasible to have any PC become OCCUR compliant.  In fact there are a couple methods through which I think this can be accomplished.  Most of my research has concentrated around SLIC hacking/emulation which you can research till your brain hurts.

Please feel free to correct anything that you see wrong with this article as I’m not an expert on this.  I’m going off what I have read and hope it’s all correct.

What makes a PC BIOS OCCUR Compliant?

A PC that is OCCUR compliant contains a small table in the BIOS that is checked by windows when trying to activate a digital tuner.  The ATI tuner by itself does not look for this table; it is Windows that looks for it. This table is called the OSFR table.  The OSFR table is one of many tables that are in the BIOS ACPI section.  This table is not specific to the machine but specific to the OEM.  No personal information is kept in the OSFR table and each OEM has the same table in every machine.  If you extract this information there is no way your PC could be banned nor is there any way to trace the information back to your specific machine.

You can view and extract any table from the ACPI section of your BIOS.  The most notable guides are on extracting the SLIC table but there is no reason this can’t be applied to the OSFR table. 

Guide on extracting SLIC

The OSFR table is 124 bytes which works out to be a length of “7C”.

Extracting the OSFR table should be a piece of cake. Now here comes the hard part.  Getting this information back into any BIOS is much more complicated.  This is the trickiest part and requires the best nerves. Continue at your own risk.  Here are some guides on adding SLIC information into the BIOS.  The same should apply for adding the OSFR table.  This is a guide for an AWARD BIOS.

Replace an existing table in your ACPI or Add a new table

Both of these are pretty complicated; let me know if you have success at manually adding tables.  I don't have access to OSFR tables so I have not tried this yet.

What I hope can be accomplished with this is that we can get a bunch of different OSFR tables extracted to be able to program an emulator that will emulate the OSFR table.   This is exactly the road that they went down for SLIC hacking because manually changing BIOS was very complicated.  Currently there are a couple tools that emulate SLIC that could be altered to add support for OSFR.  I plan to chat with the members over at this forum to see if anyone is willing to edit some of the tools to add support for OSFR.  Before we petition them to add support for OSFR, I think we should have the OSFR tables extracted and ready to go.

Some things that I haven't figured out:

How does the Digital Cable PID (Product ID aka Windows Key) interact with the OSFR/SLIC table?  Can you use a digital cable PID from a Dell machine but have an HP OSFR table?  When you activate the Digital Cable PID does it replace your existing vista PID or does the machine actually have two different PID’s installed?

Feel free to post your OSFR tables on RapidShare or anywhere else we can keep them.  We only need one from each OEM to make this work.  If you’re not comfortable posting them here you can email them to me at dan(dot)secure(at)gmail.com and I will upload them.
If anyone submits an OSFR table I will update this post with the OEM’s that we have already received.  I'm assuming different models don't matter so we should only need one from each manufacture.

So then here is the test:

http://thegreenbutton.com/forums/thread/334161.aspx

Get this HP replacement motherboard, which in theory should be OCUR enabled, try your digital cable PID key on it, and see if it works. If it does, this opens up a whole world of possibilities...there are quite a few systems out there with people not using their PID keys...

Of course, its going to be funny to see how long this thread lasts. Would be nice to escape from the tyranny of overpriced $2500 "premium" systems

Or you could go get one of these:

Aspen Media Products DIY digital cable tuner version $949

CL 1058 DIY

http://www.aspenmediaproducts.com/Products/ConsumerLine/tabid/86/Default.aspx

or

Ace Computing for $999

http://www.acedigitalhome.com/

Not a whole lot more expensive than building your own mid to high end HTPC solution.

 

 

Thanks for the reference, we (AMP) are working hard to support the mass market and DIYer's out there. We have been in the industry a long time (6 years, long for this particular market) and we realize the need for this.

in theory, you are close in this post, however the cable company themselves will also make sure you are listed on this:

http://www.cablelabs.com/udcp/downloads/MCE_HMS_PUB.pdf

So, we are trying to make a legal path for you without breaking the bank :)

My greatest concern is that I don't think people should be tied to certain hardware.  What if you can't find a replacement motherboard or if it cost way to much much for a replacement.  I am looking for an alternative solution so your not locked into the OEM's equipment. 

I'm sure the cable install guy/girl won't be checking what sort of equipment you are running..  I'll slap a sony sticker on the front of it and that would probably be good enough for them :)  I have a feeling they just ask when you call to order what type of equipment you are installing it on. 

I think we have solved another portion of my questions above.

Because of this post:
http://thegreenbutton.com/forums/thread/334634.aspx

I think we can conclude that the Digital Cable PID does not have to match the manufacture that it came from to the manufacture listed in the BIOS.  Getting any Digital Cable PID you should be able to activate it on any OCUR compliant motherboard :)

I think you may be pinning your hopes on a partial solution at best.  Cablelabs has been very strict on this topic and I would be surprised if restrictions were lifted or if there was a hack that would work to enable this on DIY builds.

While I think a DIY market would be a great benefit to the community at large, I just don't see it happening.  I think if there are any exposures to the closed system (so to speak), that MS and/or cablelabs would shut it down pretty quickly.

However, folks like AMP are doing wonders to bring cablecard to a much more reasoable price point and making these boxes fairly configurable so that they are within reason and a price range for a much larger audience.  They also offer some nice warranties so that should something fail, you are not out on a limb. 

Therefore, short of doing a complete DIY build, the solution that AMP is offering is a great way to get cablecard at an affordable price and is a great alternative IMO.

 

 

Java Jack:

I think you may be pinning your hopes on a partial solution at best.  Cablelabs has been very strict on this topic and I would be surprised if restrictions were lifted or if there was a hack that would work to enable this on DIY builds.

While I think a DIY market would be a great benefit to the community at large, I just don't see it happening.  I think if there are any exposures to the closed system (so to speak), that MS and/or cablelabs would shut it down pretty quickly.

However, folks like AMP are doing wonders to bring cablecard to a much more reasoable price point and making these boxes fairly configurable so that they are within reason and a price range for a much larger audience.  They also offer some nice warranties so that should something fail, you are not out on a limb. 

Therefore, short of doing a complete DIY build, the solution that AMP is offering is a great way to get cablecard at an affordable price and is a great alternative IMO.

I doubt it would be shut down.  If you read some of the SLIC hacking you would see that BIOS emulation on Windows Vista is huge and in use right now.  It hasn't been shut down at all.

What if you own a cable card system and you decide you want to upgrade the motherboard to a new technology or you just want to upgrade in general to something different.  You now have to choose another PC that has to be CableCard certified. 

I think this is very feasible and would be a solution that others would use.

I am not doubting the usefulness at all.  I know that having a DIY OCUR solution would be very popular and would benefit the community.

However, I think there is a difference on BIOS emulation to do an OEM activation and DIY OCUR enablement.  The System Integrators along with MS are putting serious money on the line to ensure that the systems are operating in a known, secure environment.  They have to state as much to Cablelabs in an official letter in order to participate.

The reasoning as I understand it, is:

The studios are requiring that the content must be protected and cablelabs implementation of that is OCUR through MS and the system integrators.  They feel the only way they can ensure the content is protected is to ensure the final solution is protected (ie at the integrator level) because that is something that can be validated.

By opening this to the DIY market, they are losing control over the protected environment and therefore can no longer gurantee that the content is protected.

The fear is that premium content will be illegally copied and distributed taking money away from the studios, etc.

Whether the community likes it or not, I find it hard to believe it cablelabs would leave this hole and not shut it down. 

It is really a whole systems approach to the certification process.  I suspect that if a work around is developed, it won't be long before Cablelabs or MS steps in to stop it.

As I recall, there is a million dollar fine per instance (for every copy made illegally) of protected studio content.  I don't know if this would go back to the SI that signed the agreement or MS, but there are serious $$ consequences for not securing a system. 

Don't get me wrong, I think a DIY solution would be great, I just don't expect one anytime soon.

Therefore, working with an SI that is making whole solutions availalbe at a reasonable price is a decent way around it.

 

 

With all due respect, the people at CableLabs making these decisions are utter and complete morons, ignorant of how the PC industry works.

There is no "protected content path" when one can easily go to bittorrent, through any number of websites and download the latest "content" in full HD glory within hours of release or broadcast. In fact, this easy availability, coupled with high cable fees is causing many people to seriously examine their need for cable in the first place. If we can't get what we want easily, for a reasonable price, then many will investigate getting it entirely for free! Its already readily available..there is nothing to "protect" in the first place!

SIs like Aspen are to be commended for their competitive pricing. However, in a case typical to many hobbyists, I already have the CPU, memory and drives from a previous project. Why would I wish to buy these again? To satisfy some ridiculous bureaucratic paranoia about "protecting" their content that is already readily available to anyone with access to Google and bittorrent?

I am not suggesting that Cablelabs approach is the right one.  I am just stating that is how it works.

I agree, there is a wealth of content out there and not just through BT either.  In my latest blog I list over 75 different sites where you can get full length episodes of content.  Some are HD, some are SD, some are subscritption services, but it is all out there to be had.

I think if the cable companies and cable labs don't figure out a cost effective solution, they will see a part of their consumers cancel services.

I have recently done that myself.  I cancelled dish network and get all my content over the air and online.  It is saving me over $100 a month.  Sure, I am missing some content that I can't get online, but I there is so much content, that there is not enough time in the day to watch everything out there.  So it is not as if I am left twiddling my thumbs.  It may not be quite as convienent as hitting a single button on a remote, but it is not all that hard to do either.

Just because we figure out a way to emulate the BIOS does not mean that we have broken any encryption.  Shows that are recorded are still going to be fully encrypted until someone figures out MS encryption scheme.  If this happens does this mean that every CableCard PC will get shut down??  I dought this will happen. 

Nothing is being broken in the protected content chain by emulating the bios to think that it's an OEM PC.

Once you have emulated the BIOS you would still have to come up with a digital cable PID and be able to break the encryption (which has never been done) before you can even think about uploading it to the web.

I think if most people would rather just get the HD-PVR and bypass all encryption :)

With the current progression of IPTV solutions; Cable cards and local tv providers will become a moot point for most enthusiasts.  The bottom line is, restricting cable cards to OEM's only decreases overall sales.  

As with most DRM,the content is mine solutions, the only people that are losing out is the average consumer(where the real money is).

Who is the customer?  I’m not sure why, but most people don’t know who that is anymore. 
 

 

I think as soon as someone wraps a good 10' interface around all the online content that exists, cable will have a hard time justify their business model.

Sure they have a lot of this content in HD, but more and more stations are making their content available in near HD level resolutions. 

Now, cable has already started to cap bandwidth and will try to force you to pay to download the online content, but then you have FIOS and DSL options for broadband making it a little more challenging for cable to keep their customers.

None of this means that cable is going away, I just think that they need to adjust their business model to better support their customers.

I certainly don't miss Dish all that much since I cancelled it.  This recession is likely to drive other consumers to re-think their content strategy.  Now, this may be a drop in the bucket to the cable/sat providers, but leave a leaky faucet untreated and pretty soon the bucket will fill up.

So I thought it was time for an update on this.  I've been doing even more research and I have come up with some good stuff.

1.) Pretty much all OSFR tables are exactly the same.  The only thing that differs is the manufacture name and model number.  Vista looks for the same signature in each BIOS.  That signature is:

3D136FB45F2334469F03B1C01C54785B

This is also the same exact signature that Doug Knox tool looks for so I'm assuming it's the same one that vista looks for.

2.) I found a motherboard that already has the OSFR tables in it and is populated.

http://global.msi.com.tw/index.php?func=proddesc&prod_no=1654&maincat_no=134

There are two BIOS files for download on their website and both have OSFR tables populated.

The oldest file has magic signature in the file 3 times and it also says "intel dp35dp" which I thought was sort of weird.  Maybe this motherboard is based off that design but that is sort of weird because the MSI board supports AMD chips not Intel

The newest one changes the OSFR table but still has the signature 3 times.  Instead of saying intel it now says MSFT.

I've also been able to create BIOS files for the Asus P5K and P5Q that are OCUR compliant.  Since these two motherboards both have OSFR tables in the BIOS all I had to do was populate them.  You can read more about that here.

Still looking at getting a tool written that emulates the OSFR tables.  If this could be accomplished then it would open it up to any hardware.  If you have any experience or would like to contribute then PM me. Thanks