<br><div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;"><div><div>Yes that is how cablecard was designed to be used. But TimeWarnerCable (and other cable companies) have decided to lock the cablecard to one device (based on the device serial number?).
</div></div></blockquote><div><br>Umm, no, that's not at all how it was designed to be used. It has always been in the CableCard spec that the card and design are authenticated as a pair. That way, they can ensure the card isn't used in "undesirable" hardware... like, say, a Linux box with hacked drivers. This is just another part of their attempt to control the content path.
<br></div><br>See the Arstechnica article on CableCard, here, where they discuss these issues:<br><br><a href="http://arstechnica.com/guides/other/cablecard.ars">http://arstechnica.com/guides/other/cablecard.ars</a><br><br>
To quote:<br><br>'Both the CableCARD and the "host" device (TV, TiVo, PC, STB, etc.) have
their own unique keys that are recorded by the technician, who then
calls this information back to the main office, where it is entered
into the computers at the "headend" of the cable line. These unique
keys provide more security for the cable company but less freedom for
the consumer, since encrypted channels can only be decoded by a
registered CableCARD/host combination.'<br><br>Brett.</div>