Pioneer GB Ltd warranty support statement re HDCP

P

Pioneer HD Team

Guest
The statement below is official and posted by the Pioneer HD Team on the morning of 21st July 2006.

UK customers owning a Pioneer Plasma TV, with a confirmed HDCP (High Bandwidth Digital Content Protection) Compatibility issue, following connection to a Sky HD Box, will be entitled to an FOC repair undertaken by a Pioneer Plasma Authorised Service Centre. The repair is regardless of model or whether the Plasma TV is in or out of warranty. Pioneer GB Limited or one of its Plasma Authorised Service Centres must confirm the HDCP Compatibility issue. For further information see the Q&A below.

In the interim, we advise UK customers to use component when connecting their Plasma TV to a Sky HD box rather than HDMI.

If you are a UK customer who has experienced the above issue please contact Pioneer Customer Relations on 01753 789500 during office hours, Mon-Fri only.

Customer satisfaction is of paramount importance to Pioneer. Therefore Pioneer offers the repair even though the source of this error has not yet been found, however this is a goodwill gesture and is made without any admission of liability on the part of Pioneer. Customers’ statutory rights are unaffected.

This statement is dated 20th July 2006 and may be subject to change pending the outcome of the investigation, the cause and the remedy.



Questions and Answers and a description of what we mean by HDCP Compatibility Issue

Q: How does the issue manifest itself?
A: You will have seen a message appear on your screen saying ‘This display does not support HDCP. Please disconnect your HDMI connection.’

Q: What does this mean?
A: HDCP means High Bandwidth Digital Content Protection. The message is saying that a copy protected High Definition signal, when connected to a Sky HD Box, could in some instances result in no picture or an error message as detailed above. Our understanding at present is that if you see this message it indicates limited functionality of the HDMI input within the plasma or its associated media receiver, but at this stage we are unaware of the cause or remedy.

Q: What do I do now?
A: Firstly switch off all the units (Plasma, Sky HD Box and others). Then please disconnect your HDMI cable and reconnect using component leads. You should continue to watch Sky using the component leads until such time as Pioneer notifies you otherwise.

Q: Component leads?
A: If you have recently had Sky HD installed, the Sky engineers should have used component leads. Earlier installations may have been connected by HDMI. If your screen is currently connected via HDMI you should reconnect via component. These cables or leads are simply phono leads. At this time, Pioneer or Sky can supply these if necessary.

Q: How long will this all go on for?
A: Pioneer and the other parties involved are investigating why this is happening and at the moment we don’t know how long this is going to take. Rest assured though all the parties concerned are doing their utmost to resolve this situation.

Q: What happens when the investigation is over?
A: Hopefully the root cause of the HDCP compatibility issue will be clear and we will know what the remedy is.

Q: What about my plasma TV, as you mentioned it may have been affected?
A: If your Pioneer Plasma TV has been confirmed by a Pioneer Plasma Authorised Service Centre with the aforementioned issue then Pioneer GB Limited will once the investigation is over, undertake to repair your plasma free of charge.

Q: My warranty has run out?
A: In this particular instance Pioneer GB Limited will repair any Pioneer Plasma TV experiencing this HDCP compatibility issue even if the unit is out of warranty.

Q: Can I connect my HDMI DVD player to the HDMI input of my Plasma?
A: Yes, we only recommend that the Sky HD Box is connected via component.

Q: I have no picture with my DVD player connected to the HDMI socket, what shall I do?
A: Please contact your nearest Pioneer Plasma Authorised Service Centre who will verify and repair FOC if necessary.

Q: How do I get audio when using the component connection?
A: You will need to connect your plasma or your media receiver with a SCART lead as well.


Technical summary of HDCP compatibility error message

The error message ("This display does not support HDCP") experienced by some customers using Sky HD Box with Pioneer plasma screens through the HDMI (High Definition Multimedia Interface) input, is caused by incompatibility of the HDCP data streams between the units. This issue is only apparent on protected channels that Sky is transmitting. Non-protected channels can be viewed without error message appearing for example channels 998 or 999.

It appears at the current time, there is a communication inconsistency through the HDMI connection between the two products authenticating the HDCP encryption. This inconsistency could result in the Sky HD box displaying the HDCP (High Bandwidth Digital Content Protection) incompatibility message on the screen.


For further information please contact our Customer Relations Dept, Mon-Fri, during office hours on 01753 789500, visit our blog at www.pioneerhdblog.com or email [email protected].
 
Good on ya, Pioneer :thumbsup:
 
Yeah, far more helpfull, informative and proactive than $ky.
 
"Written whilst doning my fire resistant jacket, bullet proof vest and climbing inside my protective kevlar bubble"

The thing is, to the average joe reading this, it seems ALMOST like a slight admission of guilt!!!

Otherwise why would pioneer offer to spend thousands of pounds fixing their products if it was not their problem to fix???

(and dont all you sky haters start saying that its coz their customer service is soooo much better etc, the world doesn't work like that - Companies don't fix things for free unless there is a good reason!!)
 
nick270881 said:
"Written whilst doning my fire resistant jacket, bullet proof vest and climbing inside my protective kevlar bubble"

The thing is, to the average joe reading this, it seems ALMOST like a slight admission of guilt!!!

Otherwise why would pioneer offer to spend thousands of pounds fixing their products if it was not their problem to fix???

(and dont all you sky haters start saying that its coz their customer service is soooo much better etc, the world doesn't work like that - Companies don't fix things for free unless there is a good reason!!)

I think whilst Pioneer are offering this as a good will gesture, I'm sure they will have knocked up some agreement with Sky and Thomson that if all this turns out to not be Pioneer's fault, the relevant party must reinburse Pioneer with all the free repairs they have carried out.
 
Quite frankly I don't care whose fault it is.

At least we now know that if the problem manifests whilst the panel is in or out of warranty it will be repaired FOC. This is a big weight off of my mind, and most likely quite a few other peoples minds.

The thing that does concern me though is what happens if Pioneer run out of media box pcb's? Considering they have moved away from external media boxes surely it is only a matter of time before this happens....
 
No I wouldnt agree. I bet sky just turned round and said something along the lines of "if you dont play ball we will issue a statement which says Pioneer screens arent compatible with Sky HD, now whos sales will be most affected ?"
 
Did anyone see the thing on the blog as Pioneer have said "it actually appears to us that the fault is not related to the Sky HD Box"

But that was on the 13th so they might have changed there mind since then





http://pioneerhdblog.com/?p=8
 
nick270881 said:
"Written whilst doning my fire resistant jacket, bullet proof vest and climbing inside my protective kevlar bubble"

The thing is, to the average joe reading this, it seems ALMOST like a slight admission of guilt!!!

Otherwise why would pioneer offer to spend thousands of pounds fixing their products if it was not their problem to fix???

(and dont all you sky haters start saying that its coz their customer service is soooo much better etc, the world doesn't work like that - Companies don't fix things for free unless there is a good reason!!)
Maybe because Pioneer have a much better reputation to uphold and think more of their customers than Sky have ever done. Good reputation = sales = profit :)

Having said that, the fact that Pioneer are having to fix something with their displays rather than Sky having to change their stbs suggests that the incompatibility is on Pioneers side, after all if there was nothing wrong at Pioneers end then they wouldn't have to do anything.
 
Having had a Pioneer Plasma for some 2.5years I have been able to use a variety of HDMI sources from different manufacturers with my tv without any problem like this which seems to suggest that there is somthing "different" about the output from the Sky/Thomson box.
Alan
 
mnoble_uk said:
No I wouldnt agree. I bet sky just turned round and said something along the lines of "if you dont play ball we will issue a statement which says Pioneer screens arent compatible with Sky HD, now whos sales will be most affected ?"

Why do we always have to have to apportion blame here ?

There was a problem - the two parties involved got together and have provided a free fix - why the need to apportion blame ?
 
Nick_UK said:
Why do we always have to have to apportion blame here ?

There was a problem - the two parties involved got together and have provided a free fix - why the need to apportion blame ?
:clap:
Pioneer have done the decent thing and said they will repair any product that has been damaged, regardless of warranty, etc. I'm sure that they will keep a record of all the repairs, then pass them onto Sky if it turns out that the STBs were the source of the problem.
 
Whilst I can appreciate the disappointment (and perhaps anger) that some owners of Pioneer plasma TV's have expressed over the HDCP issue, I can only envy the level of customer service you are getting from Pioneer.

Trying to get Philips to admit to anything at all about their malfunctioning 9830 series LCD TV's is like hitting your head against a wall. Over 100 people have reported on these forums that their 9830 suffers from random power resets (some go on to total failure) and many of them have contacted Philips about the problem. The result? Philips will not even acknowledge the problem, let alone offer to fix it.

Hats off to Pioneer.:clap:
 
Have to say that whilst JVC are not as quick in creating a Blog, to date I have been very happy with the fact that firstly they confirmed there has been an issue with HDMI compatibility between Sky HD and the JVC LT-37DS6B. Better still though I just got a call from them advising that the cause of the problem has been identified and that Sky will be downloading a fix to the HD box in mind August...

Fingers crossed it solves the issue.
 
suniil said:
Really a class of act!, though i'm not a pioneer owner.

Me neither, but since good after-sales service is high on my list of priorities, I could be a Pioneer owner in the future. Well done, Pioneer ! :thumbsup:
 
:clap:
Nice one Pioneer. Now how about a discount on that lovely 5000EXE with my reliable 433MXE as a part exchange ? :D

On a more serious note this is why it is worth buying the best you can afford when it comes to plasma's etc.
 
So what happens after a repair has been carried out? Will the problem re-occur and will Pioneer carry out further repairs as needed or does the repair include some kind of 'fix'?
 
kmitty said:
So what happens after a repair has been carried out? Will the problem re-occur and will Pioneer carry out further repairs as needed or does the repair include some kind of 'fix'?

No, I think the idea is you use component until advised otherwise.
 
GregMarst said:
No, I think the idea is you use component until advised otherwise.

I suggest you read post #1 !

The fix should be permanent, since it was obviously a design issue.
 
Nick_UK said:
I suggest you read post #1 !

The fix should be permanent, since it was obviously a design issue.

Unless I am missing something post #1 does seem to say that they still don't know exactly what is causing the problem and that once the hdmi port has been fixed you should continue to use component between pioneers and sky hd
 
Sorry, I misread. I thought a fix was already available.
 
My estimations of Pioneer have gone up, glad they are coming through for their customers. Sky of course are their selfish, unhelpful selves.
 
Good though Pioneer's gesture is, it still doesn't solve the problem.
You are still left with a display that you cannot use the HDMI socket to connect Sky. And given the time they have already been investigating it, it looks like no solution in the near terms

If a Pioneer customer is unhappy with this situation, are Pioneer also willing to instruct dealers to refund purchases?
 

The latest video from AVForums

TV Buying Guide - Which TV Is Best For You?
Subscribe to our YouTube channel
Back
Top Bottom