Vaio Z internal display not HDCP compliant?

In my ongoing struggle with getting my new CableCARD tuner to work with my Vaio Z, I have learned that the internal display might not be HDCP compliant. If I use an HDCP-compliant external display through HDMI it works fine, but if I use the internal display by itself I get a "Display driver error: The video playback device does not support playback of protected content" error. I have tried every combination of onboard vs. dedicated GPU and official vs. latest driver versions among numerous other troubleshooting steps which I am detailing here: Silicondust :: View topic - "Display driver error" when using laptop internal

Basically, I am wondering if this is a common issue with notebooks in general, Sony notebooks, or notebooks with hybrid graphics like the Z. From what I understand, notebooks with Blu-Ray support are exempt from the HDCP requirement when using the internal display, but Microsoft's PlayReady/CableCARD DRM makes no such exemption.

Does anyone else have a CableCARD tuner they use with their notebook and can share their experiences?

 

switch to the nVidia GPU, and open it's control panel. It will have a section telling you whether the laptop's panel is HDCP compliant.

 

That section is only present when connecting to the external display through HDMI.

 

Does the HD Home Run Prime work with OnDemand services, like the free movies and or the PayPer View?

 

No, it is a one-way device. There are competing two-way standards in the works (tru2way and AllVid) but tru2way is currently limited to cableco's set-top boxes and AllVid is no more than a concept right now. CableCARD has been around for years though, but as far as PC support its only been in the last year that it's started to open up since the introduction of the Ceton InfiniTV. Before that was the ATI CableCARD tuner but it was never officially sold except with certain OEM computers.

 

Well I just confirmed the same behavior with an ATI TV Wonder Digital Cable Tuner so it's definitely nothing specific to the PRIME. Wish I had tried that earlier...

Must be something quirky about the Z's hybrid graphics configuration or I'm sure there would be more posts about this... the DCTs have been around for at least 4 years.

 

Have you tried the Bios hack and Static mode for graphics?

Insyde hacking - New Vaio Z - Advanced menu in BIOS
Latest VPC-Z1/330M Drivers for the BIOS Hack People

 

Yes, unfortunately it made no difference.

 

Can you try some other playback app/utility? This is most likely a Microsoft issue, that the display is failing the HDCP check. If you can play a BluRay movie or any other protected content, that should confirm it. Asking in their media center support forums (technet?) might help.

 

I have tried all the Blu-Ray validators and they say it passes the display tests (obviously it won't pass the entire test if I don't have a BD-ROM or playback software).

 

I started a thread on the Microsoft Windows Entertainment and Connected Home (a.k.a. The Green Button) forums: Windows Experts Community

 

Have you tried with the stock display drivers - the ones provided by Sony? While modding the inf we tend to ignore some of the display ID keys. Sometimes we even leave out the exact hardware IDs so that the inf will cater to more devices. Perhaps M$ media center has a database against which display IDs are checked and, if everything is not an exact match for an entry in the database, the validation will fail.

Worth checking out, IMHO.

 

Yup, that was probably the first thing I did as I had been running modded drivers for a long time. The next thing I did was to reformat and install all stock drivers... no change.

 

No other Z owners with a CableCARD tuner?

 

^I run 2 cetons at home, but nothing on my Z, sorry.

 

You can stop killing yourself trying to fix this. Hear it from the horse's mouth:

HDCP over DisplayPort is not validated in Windows 7 Media Center.

I told you it was probably a media center issue.

 

Thanks anytimer, repped. And to add the technical point of view here, the Z's LCD is hooked up through eDP (embedded DisplayPort).

 

Thanks for the rep, pyr0.

Blahman: There is a possible workaround that might work for you: instead of watching it live, set it to record, wait 10 seconds, and then start playback. If it works, you have a 10 seconds delayed feed.

 

Oh wow, that is horrible. Kinda knew in the back of my mind that this was somehow Microsoft's fault, not Sony's or CableLabs'.

I don't have enough disk space to actually record anything on my Z so I'll have to find an external drive to test this with. Thanks for the tip though!

 

Well I was able to record the end of a show but when I go to play it back it only plays for a couple of seconds before the same error message as usual. Oh well.

 

I suggest leaving feedback for Microsoft here regarding this issue if you ever want your Z to be able to playback protected content (other than Blu-Ray) on the internal display: Windows 7 Feedback

Doesn't need to be much, here's what I submitted:

 

Can you try a non Microsoft Media Center? I've never looked into it, but I believe even Sony has one.

 

Windows Media Center is the only software that can record and playback CableLabs/PlayReady DRM'd recordings.