Hello me hearties,
3rd time i'm posting this one, so if you're bored of my ranting look
the other way.

Beware folks, turns out pioneer is booby trapping their products these
days. You get the top cover off, you see a "case open switch" which
opens once the top's off. If you now power up the set, with the switch
open, your unit gets "locked". Both standby and power on l.e.d.s glow
together and this state is listed in the service manual as "trap switch

operation" under the LED-lighting patterns/error codes section. A
little googling led me to this post.....
http://www.freelists.org/archives/tv.../msg00000.html
"When servicing Pioneer products such as Plasma and Projection units.
Be sure the set is unplugged before removing the back cover. There is a

trap switch that will open and if the unit is powered up. The set will
go into copyright protection mode. Nothing will work again until a
unlocking process is done. Each unit has a different
process to follow to restore operation. Beware!"
The service manual explains it so......
For video data transmission from the Media Receiver to the PDP-434HD
and PDP-504HD-series Plasma Displays, digital signals are used.
Therefore, this unit adopts the HDCP (High-bandwidth Digital Content
Protection) system for copyright protection. This unit is also provided
with a detection switch (TRAP switch) that will prohibit the unit from
being turned on again "if the
upper plate of the unit is accidentally opened," in order to prevent
the panel technology from being leaked out.
The TRAP switch is disabled while the unit is turned off. When
performing internal diagnosis of the PDP, fix the switch to the OFF
position using adhesive tape before turning on the unit. After
servicing, be sure to remove the adhesive tape.


Well you've probably guessed what my next question is......How do i
unlock this receiver?. I'm told that it's simply a matter of keying in
3 buttons of the remote in a defined sequence. I have the service
manual but it doesn't say much about unlocking.
Imploringly yours,
Jango

JVC does this as well, and I don't understand the rationale behind it.
They are afraid someone is going to hack into this (why I have no
idea), but the hacker won't be able to disable the interlock???????

If enough consumers get porked from this (one of my customers cleaned
his JVC projo and lost the DVI input function), a class action lawsuit
may stop this practice. Perhaps a letter sent from your lawyer to
Pioneer might elicit a response from them.

John

BTW, why DID you open your plasma?

On 10 Mar 2006 15:51:32 -0800, "John-Del" wrote:

JVC does this as well, and I don't understand the rationale behind it.
They are afraid someone is going to hack into this (why I have no
idea), but the hacker won't be able to disable the interlock???????

If enough consumers get porked from this (one of my customers cleaned
his JVC projo and lost the DVI input function), a class action lawsuit
may stop this practice. Perhaps a letter sent from your lawyer to
Pioneer might elicit a response from them.

John

BTW, why DID you open your plasma?


This type of thing make me really mad. Someone has to stop Hollywood!
I can see a future where it will be impossible to repair any
electronics due to security reasons. You already can't buy certain
ICs that are used for HDMI. You have to replace the entire board if
the HDMI receiver IC gets zapped. I'm surprised schematics are still
available because someone could use them to reverse engineer the HDMI
board.

I hope HD-DVD and BLU-RAY are miserable failures. That might teach
Hollywood and the electronics companies a lesson.
Andy Cuffe