I m also facing the same problem currently. My dad got a new plasma (old crt burned), when we hooked up the hdmi cable the screen went blank. Once the smartcard has been removed, the menu appears but still requires a smartcard. Then its back to square 1!

For discussion, how about using a component to hdmi cable? (Decoder's component port to tv's hdmi)

Will this combination work or will there be any difference in the 1st place?

Any1 know?