Record HDTV To A FireWire DV Deck

no_such_user writes: "This is a kit to modify your DTC-100 HDTV receiver, adding firewire ports to it, and letting you record to most firewire recording devices (including miniDV/D8 camcorders/decks, your computer, etc). Playback is through the DTC-100 only (until some crafty hacker-type decides to decode the stream for PC playback). Unfortunately, I see "patent pending" on their site. I hope they're referring to the hardware design used, and not the idea of protocol converter, 'cuz I think that's been done before. For reference, a broadcast HD stream is max 20mb/s, and miniDV records at 25mb/s. How long before we see HDminiDV?"

Comments

Danger, Will Robinson!

[Raetsel]

Something about this site bothers me. I can't put my finger on it exactly, but there are the tell-tales of something not quite right.

• Elementary web design (not that it's a crime.)
• Website hosted through an ISP account
  • Owner of the account is listed as (finger hdtv@oro.net)
    Login: hdtv
    Name: Richard Adams
    Directory: /home/hdtv
    Shell: /bin/bash
    Last login Sun Feb 4 12:36 (PST) on pts/5 from DX2-66.happypcs.oro.net
    No mail.
    No Plan.
    

Domain referred to (169time.com) brings an 'Unable to locate server' error, though it is registered to one Ambir Adams

• Domain registration lists an address of
  • 
    11969 Mathis Way
    Grass Valley, CA 95949
    
  
  
• But mail orders are going to
  • 
    12001 Mathis Way
    Grass Valley, CA 95949
    

Online orders only through PayPal?

No pictures of the device. Damn, this is a cool idea. I really wish this were true... but it screams " HOAX!! " even harder than the Seti@Home accelerator we saw a while back.

I pity the person who's going to have to pay the ISP bill when their website over-runs their allowed transfers for the month...

Re:Danger, Will Robinson!

[K8Fan]

Damn, this is a cool idea. I really wish this were true... but it screams " HOAX!!"

Understandable, but in this case the beta units have been in the hands of several of the most respected members of the AV Sciences Forum discussion group. This is a very high signal:noise group of home theater enthusiasts. They help each other out, party at trade shows, write excellent open-source software for video and other stuff. I'd have doubts too if these folks hadn't assured me that it is real, and works.

It's a hack, and a dammed clever one. Hopefully someone else will figure out how to interface the FireWire port this will add to the DTC-100 (and potentially any other HD reciever) to a FireWire card on a PC.

Re:I want...

[K8Fan]

Doesn't look like it is from one of the big manufacters, i.e. sony.

No, it's from a tiny group of engineers, hacking hardware. Brilliant idea...we've been discussing it over at the AV Sciences Forum web site for the past month or two.

this I think is going to be the start of a trend, people that make devices that intrest the "hacker" comunity due to some "hackability".

Agreed. I want this. They plan to make this technology available for other devices as well.

With things like the DMCA our only hope is going to be the guy in the garage that can get a blueprint to a manufacter in Asia making things like this that can be quikly altered. I bet you won't see sony making a HDTV recorder that uses any open standord connector i.e firewire

So pathetically true. The worst thing to ever happen to Sony was their purchase of Columbia/CBS. The vital Disney/Universal vs. Sony "Betamax" trial would have never happened if Sony had been in the movie business before. They are comprimised now. Panasonic made their DVHS recorder with a copy protection system, but the MPAA and it's thug Jack Valente pressured Panasonic to pull it from the market with the threat that MPAA member companies (all the big studios) would no longer buy Panasonic broadcast equipment.

They keep claiming this is about "copyright", but that is a lie. The 5C system the Panasonic DVHS had covered that perfectly well. This is about their desire to control what programs you can tape, how many time you can watch the tape, preventing you from fast-forwarding through the commercials (like the compulsary crap on DVDs) and preventing your from making copies.

Also, this is probably why Lucas is not releasing the Star Wars films on DVD. He wants to release it on this new DVHS system with horrible limitations, and per-viewing charges. Screw him and his greed.

This is DIVX all over again. Hollywood will not be happy until the "play" button is a "pay" button.

Re:Violating Content Providers' Rights

[Stealth Dave]

>Why must the Slashdot crowd constantly think of ways to get around protections put in place
>to allow content providers to exercise their rights to control their works?

Perhaps it's because the content providers give up that right when the program is broadcast. At least that's what the Supreme Court told us when they made the Beta-max decision all those years ago.

The Beta-max decision was the proverbial genie in the bottle. The courts let that genie out, and ever since then people have been using VCRs to record their favorite shows at 8pm so that they can watch them when they get home from their daughter's dance recital at 10pm. But content providers want you to watch their programs when they want you to for various reasons, among them getting you to watch the commercials rather than fast-forward through them and also for demographic control. Different people watch television at different times, and content programmers use that information to sell commercials demographically.

But now with fundamentally new media technology beginning to come out, media groups such as the MPAA, RIAA, broadcasters and cable providers (sorry, I don't know their acronyms) have learned from their past mistakes about letting things get too far along, and are fighting tooth and nail to keep the VCR genie's big brother, Digital Video, from escaping his bottle. The tools they use are encryption, proprietary formats that require strict licensing agreements (DVD-CCA), and a very big stick called the DMCA.

Of course they don't want to lose control again! Controlling information can make you a lot of money, and big corporations have to make money or they won't be big corporations for very long. But just because they want absolute control over media (and have the tools to enforce it), doesn't mean that they have the right to absolute control.

So when someone figures out how at least some consumers (in this case the tech-savvy crowd) can get back those rights, it's reason enough for a small cheer. Do they have the right to make money with their products? Of course they do. Big studio movies and network television programs wouldn't be made if they couldn't make a profit at it. Do they have the right to control when and where that content gets viewed? Within limits. When you go to see a movie, you're not allowed to take a camcorder in so you can watch it later. But if they beam it into your house or sell it to you on a tape or a disc, they give up some of their control. They can't tell you when, where or how you can watch it; they gave up those rights when the program was broadcast over public airwaves.

So here's to the geeks. Thanks for giving me back my TV. Because it's still my TV, even if it's got an HD in front of it.

Stick a fork in me. I'm done.
- Stealth Dave

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