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Methods for Bypassing Faulty VChips?
corporal_clegg asks: "I bought a Sharp 27" TV a year or so ago to serve as a second TV and PS2 gaming platform. When I recently attempted to play a DVD through the game console, the VChip kicked in and presented a beautifully rendered black rectangle on the screen. No amount of menu manipulation on either the game console or the TV can remove the VChip blocking; both system menus report the VChip as disabled, yet it continues to block all programming: golf, kids shows, everything. This occurs if the game console is attached and operating or completely removed. Of course the operating manuals provide no help on addressing these issues, and the manufacturers' web sites are likewise useless. So the question is: does anyone out there in slash-land know how to identify and remove, bypass or hardware reset the VChip/ blocking technology? I am very comfortable working at the board level and would much rather crack my case and fix this problem myself than take an 80lb TV to a repair shop only to be charged it's replacement cost to address the problem."
If the TV is over a year old, it's likely that the warranty is already expired.
Jesus was all right but his disciples were thick and ordinary. -John Lennon
Right, and why bother upgrading to XP on your existing computer when you should just buy one freshly pre-installed from Dell? Why replace the cracked screen on your PDA when it isn't nearly as fast or as colorful as the latest and greatest? Your car is five years old: It will break down any minute. You should chuck it and buy a new one. Why go through the hassle?
You don't know how technology works anyway. Even if you did, you wouldn't know how this one would work, so don't bother trying. It's safer and easier to throw it out and get a new replacement than it is to diagnose a problem and improvise a solution. There is a reason electronics ship in black boxes, right?
(You did buy the extended warranty didn't you?)
This comment shouldn't be modded "insightful." It should be modded "sad."
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I am usually a vigorous defender of ask slashdot, but christ-on-a-crutch is this ever dumb.
You've got text mode captioning on, man. Turn it off and watch the amazing pictures flashing in the magic box again.
*everything* is Orwellian to cats.
Turn on a TV that doesn't have a V-chip and notice that you can see the image. Ergo, there is no "technological measure that effectively limits access" to the work.
Why would they bother to make it hard to by-pass the V-chip? This isn't some DRM technology designed to enslave the masses, it's just a parenting tool. If your child is tech saavy enough to open the case, and flip so much as a dip switch, he is probably mature enough to watch Jenna Jameson dipping somebody else's switch. This is most likely to prevent 5 year olds from watching mom n' dads late night subscription to PBTV or getting violent bad mouthing ideas from HBO.