i always pop them open and look them over,,95 percent of the time they are low grade but i have found 1 or 2 that had real nice green boards with ic chips and gold traces on them...the ones i have found with good boards are usually not connected to the main board with solder like the others i generally come across, they usually plug into the main board with one or two plugs, the pins on the ones ive found that were good were also gold plated..



i am not sure but if i am remembering correctly the good ones i have found were in tivo's or dvr machines....all the ones i find that are brown or green and brown, i just throw into shred