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Build Your Own TV Without Broadcast Flags

Posted by Zonk on from the conscientious-objector dept.

doom writes "An account of an event sponsored by the EFF, a "roll your own television" build-in. The San Francisco Bay Guardian has coverage in an article entitled Build Your TV!". From the article: "According to the FCC, the flag is going to ease the nation's transition from today's analog televisions to tomorrow's high-definition televisions. What exactly does it mean for a government agency to "ease" the transition from one kind of TV signal to another? In this case, it seems to mean making the entertainment industry feel very warm and fuzzy inside." The EFF's efforts against the flag have been covered before on Slashdot.

14 of 283 comments (clear)

  1. Bush won't let this happen by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Bush is a great president and he will not let this broadcast flag happen under his watch. I know liberal /. probably doesn't get this, but the Republicans are all about SMALLER gov't, people.

    This is going no where as long as Republicans are leading this great nation.

    1. Re:Bush won't let this happen by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      In republican America , Broadcast Flags you

    2. Re:Bush won't let this happen by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      What, you think he's going to let some liberal hippy types to burn the broadcast flag? No way!

    3. Re:Bush won't let this happen by edremy · · Score: 5, Informative

      Bush is a great president and he will not let this broadcast flag happen under his watch. I know liberal /. probably doesn't get this, but the Republicans are all about SMALLER gov't, people.

      You've got to be joking. (At least, I hope you're being sarcastic) Check the second chart down. Bush has increased nondefense discretionary spending faster than Clinton by a large margin, and that's *with* a Republican dominated congress. Of course, that's not even including the *huge* growth in defense and homeland security related spending, most of it stuffed into little-reviewed supplemental appropriation bills. ("Yeah, we need another $90 billion for Iraq. Don't count it against the deficit figures, please.") Just look at the absurd Medicare prescription drug coverage bill- any true conservative would have run from this screaming.

      The Republicans today are all about huge, intrusive government. They want to make sure you're a good little consumer, worship the proper god and avoid the gay. Oh yeah, and don't worry about running up the deficit to 3rd world levels- we'll never have to pay that back...

      Just sign me "Disgusted ex-Republican".

      --
      "Seven Deadly Sins? I thought it was a to-do list!"
  2. surely this is unnecessary? by dhbiker · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I thought that judges told the broadcast regulator that the flag was unlawful? http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4290315.stm

    Hence rolling your own tv would be entirely redundant?

    1. Re:surely this is unnecessary? by cpt+kangarooski · · Score: 5, Interesting

      They didn't say that. Slashdot managed to misreport what happened several times.

      What happened was that the lawyer challenging the FCC went before the panel of judges, and they asked questions attacking his position. Then his time was up, and the FCC lawyer went before the panel, and the judges askwed questions attacking the FCC's position.

      Judges do this all the time. It forces the lawyer in front of them to respond to questions he wishes no one was asking. If he has a good argument, he can provide good answers to the hard questions. It's just a technique to elicit information. It doesn't indicate anything about the judge's actual position.

      Plus the court won't issue their ruling on the matter for several months still.

      So the big hubbub was over nothing.

      --
      -- This and all my posts are in the public domain. I am a lawyer. I am not your lawyer, and this is not legal advice.
  3. Wha? by wang33 · · Score: 5, Informative

    I thought the courts slowed/stopped the fcc from mandating anything like this? References in reverse chronological order

    Like here /. Story One: Broadcast Flag in Trouble
    Or Here /. Story 2: Court Says FCC Out-of-Bounds With Digital TV
    So why are we worried?
    Wang33

    --
    PAGERANK++ Robsell.com
  4. Kit TVs by necrodeep · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Seems to me that this could be the begining of a Kit TV era. Kits that would include a broadcast flag 'chip' that could be mistakenly left out by the user. At least that would be one way to skirt the system - albiet legal ramifications would likely exist with this model - I'm sure others will be fourthcomming.

  5. We've seen this before... by Kimos · · Score: 5, Insightful

    This flag is going to be like any copy protection that we've seen to date. Those who want to steal will just get around it, and those who don't steal will be extremely inconvenienced.

  6. Any Canadians know... by grub · · Score: 5, Interesting

    ... if we can buy non-BF ready TVs in .ca after they become illegal in the US? It's ~10% the size of the US market but it'd be nice to have HTDV for watching DVDs etc.

    --
    Trolling is a art,
  7. Because they won't give up. by jimbro2k · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Just like software patents in Europe, the forces behind this (well-funded forces) will not give up until they succeed in implementing the lockdown of all media. A court ruling is just a minor speedbump in the process.
    In Europe, even after near-unanamous votes against software patents, they are still about to become reality.
    The court merely ruled that the FCC did not have the implicit authority to order the flag. All that is needed is a lay giving the FCC the explicit authority. That kind of law is easy to purchase.

    --
    There is not nearly enough love in the world, but there is far too much trust.
  8. Sarah by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    'ALL I WANT is to make a high-definition copy of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, save it on a DVD, and loan it to my friend," says Sarah Brydon, looking up from a long table covered with half-built computers.

    Err... what's wrong with this picture? Women don't look up from tables covered with half-built computers... do they?!

  9. Bending Unit 22 by B3ryllium · · Score: 5, Funny
    Bah, screw you guys. I'm going to build my own TV, with hookers ... and blackjack.

    In fact, forget the TV ...





    And the blackjack.

  10. Re:I hope that's all it means by shotfeel · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Except neither one of us should be required to spend time and money to bypass something that shouldn't be there anyway. We all know the flag will do nothing to slow down "piracy", its only purpose is to give the industry more control.

    For example, take the DVD player. The other day I wanted to show something to one of my kids quick as we were on our way out to return the DVD's we had rented. Put in the DVD and the usual junk starts up, so I...

    Hit fast foreware : Operation not permitted.
    Hit the "Next Chapter" button : Operation not permitted.

    We were out of time, my wife was hollering at us to get going...

    Hit the Stop button : Operation not permitted.

    ??? You mean I'm not even allowed to Stop playing, I have to watch it???

    Fortunately the MPAA can't yet override the power button on the front of the player.

    Yes, I have the hardware and software that would allow me to rip a DVD, strip it of all the crap, and burn a "perfect" copy to a blank DVD-R disk. But I shouldn't have to do that just to enjoy a movie the way I want to.