Why can’t I watch recordings on my USB drive?
Q I have an LG 43UJ701V smart TV, which developed a fault. As the set was under a service contract it went for repair and was returned working, having had a new motherboard. However, I find I can no longer play the recordings stored on a USB hard drive. I just get a message saying that the recordings were not made using this device. I have loads of recordings I can’t watch. Is there any thing that can be done? Alvin Webster
A We’re afraid not. In common with very many other smart TVS and domestic digital video recorders (DVRS), your LG set applies Intel’s High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection ( HDCP) to encrypt recordings.
Essentially, HDCP exists to placate television and film copyright holders, providing them with assurance that their TV shows and movies cannot be easily or freely copied.
So, while HDCP in this context lets you record shows, it also limits playback of those recordings to the device that made them.
Your repaired television might look and feel like the same set, but it’s had a replacement motherboard so, at the technical level, it’s a new device. The new motherboard will have its own, unique HDCP encryption key. This doesn’t match the key that’s been saved with your recordings, so they won’t play.
Unless you can somehow persuade LG to repair the old motherboard, we’re afraid there’s no solution. The company cannot transfer the old HDCP encryption key, as this would break the terms of Intel’s licence.
In LG’S defence this unpalatable fact is secreted in the Recordings section of your TV’S manual, at www.snipca. com/34900, but it doesn’t change the harsh truth that your recordings are now useless.