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Windows Media Center Restricts Cable TV
PrescriptionWarning writes "With the latest Media Center Edition update from Microsoft, I and many others are finding that content available on television is now completely unwatchable from Media Center. The message states: 'Restricted Content: Restrictions set by the broadcaster and/or originator of the content prohibit playback of the program on this computer.' A simple search on the subject reveals that HBO programming and, in my case, Braveheart on AMC are among the many selections now restricted for playback or recording by Windows Media Center Edition. What's next, restricting every piece of programming on television?"
Does this only apply to Media Center? Maybe I'm wierd, but this actually makes me more interested in buying a cable-digital card for my computer and running MythTV or something. :)
Badgers, we don't need no stinking badgers! - UHF
Have you tried the MSNBC channel? ;)
...it's the user.
Why invite Microsoft into your living room when you can set up MythTV? DRM opponents have been telling you all for how long... and you people still buy Microsoft products and then complain when they behave as expected?
Pfft!
Ah, now I get it - that's where the Evil bit went! They can pry my MythTV boxes from my dead, cold fingers. Dr
A clever person solves a problem. A wise person avoids it. -- Einstein
Honestly, is anyone surprised? Why would you buy a microsoft product for something that just begs to be DRM'ed?
...they WANT us to download things off of P2P.
First google link: Published Monday, October 31, 2005 6:41 PM by astebner
Second google link: Posted February 14th, 2006
Third google link: Last Review : August 17, 2006
Fourth google link: Friday, January 28, 2005 1:00 AM PST
Fifth google link: June 2nd, 2006
You get the idea....
wot no sig
TV is an outdated concept... I hardly watch any television anymore myself, why would I want to watch something on a specified date and time? I'll watch it whenever I feel like it!
... I couldn't care less about them!
Record it from TV? Oh yea, I'm gonna wait until some station decides to air it and then record it with advertising...
There is nothing which interests me on television anyway which I can't find somewhere else. And the rest? Game shows, reality shows,
With these kind of restrictions it seems like television stations are going the **AA way... Desperately trying to hold on to an outdated concept, which has made them alot of money in the past. Too blind and stuck in their old patterns to find new ways of making money...
09 f9 11 02 9d 74 e3 5b d8 41 56 c5 63
Microsoft once again demonstrates who its customers are. It isn't the people who buy their products, but big busines. Hence the heavy-DRM tie-ins they've developed for Vista among other products in the past (such as Windows Media Player)
It's a good start by Microsoft. But I found that you can implement a more efficient DRM system by snapping off the rabbit-ear antennae on top of your TV. I did it eight months ago and I found that when I go to bed now my brain doesn't feel like it's been mushed to pulp by ads and boring drivel. Good luck you noble DRM!
>What's next, restricting every piece of programming on television?
Yes. Didn't you get the memo?
yes, www.dotcomforwardslash.com is my real URL.
Its sole purpose is to keep you from using the media you would otherwise have rightful access to in any way other than what the copyright holder explicitly wants.
In short, its sole purpose is, ultimately, to make you pay every time you make use of the media, and to control the flow of information.
DRM is how the media megacorporations intend to rein in the internet. For instance, you can't prove that the media broadcast a story when the story can't be recorded.
DRM is how the big corporations intend to remove your right to read.
This is just the first shot across the bow. It's going to get worse. A lot worse. Read all you can about "trusted computing" to see where this is going. All they have to do is to remove your ability to boot an unsigned bootloader, and the game is over (with you as the loser).
If you think this is paranoid ranting, well, so did people who thought habeus corpus would never be removed. That doesn't make what I say right, but since the same people are ultimately involved, you shouldn't dismiss the above as paranoid ranting on the basis of incredulity alone.
Use 'slashdot stuff' in the subject line in any email you send me if you want to get past the spam filter.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/913800
Cockup rather than conspiracy?
Like other safety concerns, it's better to have it and not need it, then to need it and not have it. With DRM, in order to be completly safe, sometimes content will recieve additional protections. But isn't that better than not enough protection, where one of your favorite movies might be viewed accidently?
Everyone votes pro-DRM or pro-FairUse with their dollars. So purchase services and electronics that reflect your values, and what you want to protect. As for the rest... Smash
I wouldn't take the summary at face value for this one - IIRC, there are some driver issues that cause this flag to pop up when it's really not supposed to. More info, including Microsoft's mostly-official response, at:
p x
http://thegreenbutton.com/forums/thread/176207.as
Plausible conjecture should not be misrepresented as proof positive.
I listened to you. But you kept using the words "M$" and "Windoze" and that caused me to ignore your message.
there's a downide.
Summation 2
There are those two neighbors, Joe Sixpack and Joe Sixbit. The first buys whatever the ads say and just brought home his new shiny Microsoft Media Center PC, the second enjoys spending some time learning how to build things and just installed Freevo or MythTV on a spare box.
For a while Joe Sixbit was laughed at by Joe Sixpack because while he was working on his ugly PC, Joe Sixpack's MSMCE-PC was already working and indeed looked more professional.
Then, after some time, Joe Sixpack started to face some problems: failed updates, unsupported codecs, and every time he had to call a number where someone gave the same not working answers. Joe Sixbit's system, instead, was working better and better: not only it supported every media it was thrown at, but it was also possible upgrading it to new media without waiting for a single software house approval. It could show weather forecasts and web pages, but also it run games, voip phonecalls, videoconferencing and other tasks it wasn't designed to thanks to an active community.
After some months Joe Sixbit still enjoys his self made media center and has learned a lot working on it, which pays he back of the time he spent, while Joe Sixpack only learned he has to reinstall the Windows MCE every now and then to make it work again after a software install screws the system, and still there are tasks he cannot perform and media he cannot play, which pays he back much less for the time and money he spent.
The moral is.. HECK! you still need a moral to stop using proprietary software after it's so clear how it's screwing you?
Ladies, sirs, things, This is exactly the kind of behaviour that chased me away from MS Windows, into an OS that is on my side. Bill, Steve: Please go on biting the hand that feeds you. When Microsoft starves to death, I will dance on its grave.
I guess the banned channels on cable transmit somekind of watermark signal along with normal TV signal? You can probably easly (with simple $20 device) strip the watermark with somekind of hardware filter on the cable. Am I right?
It is "Windows Media Center"... and Windows Media Center is what you get!
So don't complain if you're not fanboy enough.
If you read on like the poster suggested (and obviously the poster himself didn't read the articles) you'd find out that
1. This is an old problem
2. This was a driver issue that only affected people who had changed hardware components.
Makes sense, doesn't it? Only if there is a limited supply, something gets some value in our world. Think of precious metals, pieces of art, anything collectible. By itself, not really valuable. Gold is actually quite worthless, from an industrial point of view. Aside of a few applications where its physical and chemical properties (like being almost impossible to corrode and very resistant to acids) come to shine, it's quite useless or easily replaced by other metals. But it's rare. So it's precious. It has been since the dawn of humanity.
... how many times? Provided you're interested in that kinda movie, granted. Now imagine you couldn't see it anymore. For a long, long time. And then, for about 2 months, it is on sale again.
Pieces of art, paintings of old masters, are nice to look at, but by no means necessary for survival. Even more, it's something to look at, not something to consume. You can look at the Mona Lisa, take the experience with you and go on with your life. Still, it's invaluable. It's a one-of-a-kind.
And let's not even get to Magic the Gathering cards or rare stamps.
All those things have a high value because they're rare. Not because people need them. They are valuable because people want them and only a selected few can have them. That's what makes their price tag to up.
Content, now, is by its very definition not scarce. Reproducing content is easy and has been cheap from the beginning of the printing press. With computers and digitalized content, the cost for reproduction has been brought very close to zero. In other words, unrestricted content has no value in our world because it is anything but scarce. Everyone can have it.
DRM now imposes an artificial shortage onto something that is available in abundance, with the sole goal to make the value (or rather, the price) of information go up. Disney understood this concept from early on, making its movies only available every few years for a short time, so people don't even ponder twice before buying. Either you get it now or you can't get it for a long, long time. So they pay, any price.
DRM should now make the same possible for every kind of digital content. The content industry dictates when and at what terms you may get it. The goal is, amongst others, that by creating an artificial shortage of a movie, the movie becomes a hot seller again, no matter how old it is. Think of, say, Casablanca. A good movie, but we've all seen it for
People would buy more. They would buy it THEN, not put it back 'til they want to see it again, they will buy then because of the fear that you can't get it for a long time anymore afterwards.
And, of course, you won't be able to watch it forever. You will watch it for as long as the content industry lets you.
This also creates a nice way of restricting the access to movies that ain't so much in sync with political views anymore. When was the last time you saw Rambo III on a TV network? And how many copies that you can still buy contain the words "This movie is dedicated to the gallant people of Afghanistan" in the closing credits?
Could you see a few people who'd want this movie to disappear once and for all, as if it never existed? Or at least alter a few things?
It's not like movie altering isn't done already. But you can easily remove all existing copies of the "original" version with DRM. Movies have a best before date with it. Who could claim that Han shot first anymore without looking stupid to people who ain't old enough to remember?
Tastes a bit of Orwell, ain't it?
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Meanwhile, Joel Wiseman bought a Mac MINI and wonders why Sixbit and Sixpack spent all the time and money on systems dedicated to trying to grab content from a stream, when they could spend less of both just buying songs individually on demand.
He uses the extra time and money saved to read books.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Reduce, reuse, cycle
You know that you're only allowed to record the ads ! /rolls eyes/.
Religion is what happens when nature strikes and groupthink goes wrong.
MS is a big player in OS's not in video or music, so they must pander to the executives of those companies with stuff like DRM and what not. If it wasn't for the record industry the zune would let you play song unlimited times when you transfer it from a friend not just 3 like it does now. The people at MS realize this too, in a couple of year they may have the pull of apple, to have that they'd have to start buying every record label and movie studio, but then can you say monolopy, and the government would be on their asses again for something stupid. People aren't installing mythtv by the millions, but if MS put something out that didn't enable DRM, then people might be, and the studios would be after them too. People must realize that every thing MS does, must go trough a legal department just to make sure that MS doesn't have any more trouble with the justice department or the EU.
This is semi-related, but has anyone else noticed that Windows Media will not play some 'borrowed' MP3's but iTunes has no problem with the same file?
If the bug can string together a sentence like "Restrictions set by the broadcaster and/or originator of the content prohibit playback of the program on this computer" I'd suggest it's a sentient bug!!!
"..Gold is actually quite worthless, from an industrial point of view. Aside of a few applications where its physical and chemical properties (like being almost impossible to corrode and very resistant to acids) come to shine, it's quite useless or easily replaced by other metals...."
You are over-egging the pudding fantastically, to make a point.
Gold is actually quite valuable, from an industrial point of view. In spite of it's rarity it is pretty unmatched for corrosion resistance. Good conductor for electrical work. Very dense - better than lead and would be used for all lead's appplications if it didn't cost so much. And finally, it's the most malleable of all the metals - you can beat it out to a foil just a few atoms thick.
It wasn't just it's rarity which made it valuable. If that were tha case four-leafed clovers (some do exist, you know) would be immensely valuable. No, it was it's utility which gave it a value, and it's rarity which made that value high (though not in South America dutring some periods in history!)
sounds like someone needs an Apple TV. :D
It's stupid things like this that will eventually drive everyone away from MS.
I work for the Department of Redundancy Department.
(once you update). Now there's a sales slogan.
;)
Actually, The Tube music videos on broadcast HD haven't been viewable on my MythTV box here for some weeks even though my signal strength remains the same. I assume they did something but I haven't cared enough to look into it -- or see whether there is a MythTV "fix" on the web
At what point will the people who are selling these items find out that they have chased away their prospective customer base?
How long will it be before those customers have the confidence to buy from these vendors again?
Vista Retarded is hereSung by the V.C.P.s
[voiceover] The Vista Content Protection specification could very well constitute the longest suicide note in history.
Vista "Retarded", is here...
And content not playin' playin', not playin' playin',not playin' playin',not playin' playin', not
playin' playin', not playin' playin',not playin' playin',not playin' playin', not...
In this context,Vista disrespects, so when I click to play, the display disconnects.
We got find methods for us to reconnect to new codecs by the network effect.
Bout to lose your fair use. Microsoft's institution. Infect your computer with D.R.M. pollution.
Cause when we click on, the sound is gonna be down. You won't believe how we ow shout out.
Burn can't cause we locked out, Sample can't cause we locked out, act up from north,west, east south.
[Chorus:]
Everybody (ye-a!), everybody (ye-a!), let's get into it (Yea!).
Get stoopid (click on!).
Vista retarded (click on!), Vista retarded (click on!), get retarded.
Vista retarded (ha), Vista retarded is here.
Vista retarded (ha), Vista retarded is here.
Vista retarded (ha), Vista retarded is here.
Yeah.
Lose control, of privacy and goals.
Won't run too fast cause, bloat makes it slow.
Won't get away, your locked into it.
Y'all hear about it, Gutmann'll do it.
Get Vista, be stoopid.
Don't worry 'bout it, Ballmer'll walk you though it,
Step by step, you'll be restricted
Patch by patch with the new solution.
Transmit bits, with D.R.M. pollution
Claim the contents irresistible and that's how they move it.
[Chorus:]
Everybody (ye-a!), everybody (ye-a!), let's get into it (Yea!).
Get stoopid (click on!).
Vista retarded (click on!), Vista retarded (click on!), get retarded.
Vista retarded (ha), Vista retarded is here.
Vista retarded (ha), Vista retarded is here.
Vista retarded (ha), Vista retarded is here.
Yeah.
Playin' playin', not playin' playin',not playin' playin',not playin' playin', not...
C'mon y'all, let's get Do-do! (uh huh)
Let's get Do-do! (in here) - Right now get Do-do! (uh huh)
Let's get Do-do! (in here) - Right now get Do-do! (uh huh)
Let's get Do-do! (in here) Ow, ow, ow!
Ya, ya, ya, ya, ya, ya, ya, ya, ya, ya, ya, ya, ya, ya, ya, ya...
Let's get ill, that's the deal .
At the gate, Microsoft restricts your will. (Just)
Lose your mind this is the time,
Y'all test this will, Just and download still. (Just)
Rob the resolution, from your monitor or to your speakers.
Get pixel-ated and suck.
Yo' movies past slow-mo' in another head trip.(So)
Locked in now cannot correct it, so be ig'nant and left apoplectic
[Chorus:]
(yeah)Everybody, (yeah) everybody, (yeah) get locked into it.
(yeah) Get stupid.
(click on) Get retarded,(click on) get retarded (yeah), get retarded.
Vista retarded (ha), Vista retarded is here.
Vista retarded (ha), Vista retarded is here.
Vista retarded (ha), Vista retarded is here.
Vista retarded (ha), Vista retarded is here.
Whoaoa
Yeah.
You Cukoo! (A-ha!)
It's Po-Po! (is here) - Be a Fool! (A-ha!)
M.S. Tool! (be their) - Like Voodoo! (A-ha!)
You cukoo! (out here) -Ow, ow!
Ya, ya, ya, ya, ya, ya, ya, ya, ya, ya, ya, ya, ya, ya, ya, ya...
Playin' playin', not playin' playin',not playin' playin',not playin' playin'
[fade]
For those not in the know, it's an excellent linux-based media center:
http://www.mythtv.org/
Perfect compliment to cheap modded Xbox 1s.
TV control MAX!
I love Linux and friends as much as the next guy, and hate Windows as much as the next guy, but...
/David
As with so many other things on Linux compared to Windows, something is missing to make the experience "just as good" or "purely better" (just as is the case with drivers (faster and more available on Windows), responsivity (Linux with X always feels slower to me in everyday desktop work) etc. In this case, while MythTV is great and offer a lot of unique features, there is not match on linux for Windows technologies such as Avivo and PureVideo for HD playback for instance. FFMPEG filters and similar offerings on Linux are great, but not as good. And also, they are not hardware accelerated.
It's not that it isn't possible to have something equivalent or better on Linux. It's just not there yet. So switching from a Windows Media Center to Linux with MythTV is not exactly a no-brainer.
"He uses the extra time saved to read books he checked out of the library, because he ran out of cash trying to buy all the content he wanted to see off of iTMS."
No, actually he's able to afford the books because he spent less on a Mac MINI plus the purchase of shows he really wanted to watch, rather than an expensive cable subscription.
ITMS delivers quality equal to most cable feeds, and with no annoying ads or shifts is resolution (for HD feeds) to contend with. I tried recording Heros using OTA HD the other day (I have an OTA HD receiver as well that I can also use as a DVR on my Mac), and lost half a conversation thanks to a weather alert obscuring on screen subtitling. Back to ITMS where it all - Just Works.
Not to monetion I don't even pay any money until I'm ready to watch something - taking a month off from TV means no expenses.
OTA is OK for News, and perhaps sports - but really nothing else.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Instead of saying "Restricted Content" maybe it should say "Rights Content"? Or if we're not using "DRM" anymore, "Digitally-Enabled Content"?
True, calling stuff you can't do "enabled" is a little too Orwellian even for the "content industry"...
My turnips listen for the soft cry of your love
Yes.
Oh....??
Umm....
Well, what could I have said that would have been more interesting?
Here are some options:
a) Use Linux and your computer won't crash
b) Use Linux and your computer will be cheaper
c) Use Linux and your computer will be your own
d) Use Linux and you get a dinky little penguin on every page....
of course there were downsides - these would have been:
a) Use Linux and your computer won't exchange documents with office or school
b) Use Linux and there won't be any help from shops
c) Use Linux and you can't use Canon printers
d) Use Linux and you won't be able to play games....
I remember Hilf in here in his interview, talking about how Vista was totally going to reinvent what people do with computers.
Guess this is what he meant: riding bikes, gardening, not-computing...
My turnips listen for the soft cry of your love
That is not just with Media Center.
Oh, by 'unwatchable' you mean that it gets blocked?
I find it utterly shocking that members of the general public are so ignorant as to speak against any aspect of DRM. After all, If not for strong DRM, people could easily violate copyright restrictions. The average citizen can't be expected to act responsibly; technology must compel that conduct.
I wouldn't be surprised to see these same people posting equally absurd demands that new cars be manufactured without SOM (Speed Obedience Management). Could you imagine a society where GM, Honda or BMW sold cars that could be driven above the posted speed limit? That will never happen.
Oh look, DRM is bad...
I'm shocked and surprised!
What is the point of Googling something if you are not even going to read through the search results? The 5th link down,
Ed Bott's Media Central HBO stops working with Media Center contains an explanation of the problem, the cause and the fix.
I'm guessing you mean 3-4 OTA HD channels, because in my case every "analog" channel (OTA or cable) is encoded and sent out of the firewire port, which you could use to setup a DVR system without buying a tuner card (you can change channels via firewire too). However, none of the digital cable channels are sent out of the firewire port and your guestimate for HD channels is probably about accurate, but most of the HD programming I watch is on those channels anyhow.
Take our IP !!!!!!
How droll that the ultimate right wing libertarian fantasy movie, Braveheart is restricted.
Some people just don't get it. It's far enough that we let Microsoft so into our lives as they are now, why on earth would I let them have any kind of control over other aspects of my life, e.g. watching tv ? Why would I tolerate a piece of software that, after I pay money for it, makes my life more restricted instead of easing my life ? Am I stupid enough to believe that this way of life is what I've been waiting and working towards during the last decades ? Hell no. Any software and service I pay for I expect to improve the quality of my life on whichever scale and aspect not make it worse. Before some would ask "then why have you payed for it?" I didn't and I won't. And if the answer is that there's nothing to do, this is the only way from now on, then I'd rather stick to the pathetic miserable level I am at now then to willingly contribute into making our lives suck more.
I am putting myself to the fullest possible use, which is all I can think that any conscious entity can ever hope to do.
... why not just use the DVR service your cable-or-sat provider offers? Then you can record any damn show you want.
I'm serious. Why fart around with a full-blown PC media center of any flavor, when a dedicated digital receiver/DVR box works just fine? (does for me, anyway...)
sig has been sent away for a few small repairs...
"What's next, restricting every piece of programming on television?""
Well, of course. Isn't this being mandated by the FCC and adopted by the media? Why act so surprised, this wasnt a secret.
---- Booth was a patriot ----
And then, Bob the actual smart guy, just went out and bought a Tivo and got on with his life!
and tell them that Microsoft made them NOT-WORKS.
:-D
it'll get fixed
if this is supposed to be a new economy, how come they still want my old fashioned money?
I can't stand to watch anything that isn't something I downloaded.
I don't even have cable; despite being offered digital cable for $2 a month for a year (which shocked the people selling it when I turned it down).
For TV shows there are just too many god damn commercials. Sorry guys, if I'm paying for cable I don't want to watch them. I have an alternative, so screw you broadcasting companies.
For movies I absolutely cannot stand the "user prohibited actions" like being able to skip previews, the FBI warnings and the "you wouldn't steal a car, would you?" bullshit. Once again, I have an alternative, so screw you MPAA.
Funny how I only have to see that on DVDs I legitimately purchased, not on downloaded stuff that I didn't. If I buy DVDs, I get treated like a criminal. If I download movies I get treated like a customer. Funny how that works.
Lastly, I play games from my computer or on my XBMC'ed XBox or 360 than I really watch TV anyway.
Question everything
today's Calvin and Hobbes :
1 /
http://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/2007/05/2
I don't need HDtv and have a Directv connected to my Knoppmyth system and can record anything i want. True that myth is not perfect but is free and won't restrict you at all. Knoppmyth is very easy to set up and use pretty average hardware (happauge cards are pretty average), so i don't see the problem, i hated Microsoft always and don't use it for anything (my wife has to for work), i don't see a reason to purchase this kind of software that restricts you and cost so much.
"MIT betrayed all of its basic principles."
6 months later Joe Wiseman has to rebuy his OSX because Apple came out with new software
Why? There are still people using versions of OS X many years old at this point - and Apple still releases updates for them. It's not like the MCE person would be any better off, or the MythTV person as those have updates as well - what you don't spend in money you will spend in time.
then has to go buy a new Mac because he finds out that it will not run the new OS softare do to Apple not supporting that older(6months old) hardware anymore
Now you're just being an idiot, as I have people I help with Macs using the latest OS X on computers produced almost eight years ago now.
While Joe Sixbit throughs in a new CPU and is up in running in 5 secs, and can run most any OS out in the free world.
5 seconds, then five days while he wanders through forums and IRQ trying to figure out why everything works but he still gets jittery video.
Not saying MythTV is not a great thing and I enjoy seeing progress made on it, just saying the Mac solution is much simpler and a better choice for many more people. Unlike you I am not a system bigot.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Song? Eh..you're not getting the point are you.
Although I did accidentally write "songs" instead of TV, all the other posters seemed to have figured things out. What's wrong with you?
What about the free movies, the free TV shows from bit torrent? What about the active community that keeps adding functionality to the media center that he has built, and all free of charge.
You mean the free movies and TV from BitTorrent I can still use on my mac MINI? You are only a codec update away from Divx or whatever else you like to use.
That sound, it was the sound of your point deflating.
Methinks Joel Wiseman may actually be Joel ThickieMan,
You really should stick with making lame points, you're much better at it than coming up with fake names.
But hey its ok, as long as poor Joel thinks he's making a lifestyle choice
You mean the lifestyle where I watch video instead of working on a system to watch video?
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
I admire Bob, he truly has a system that works seamlessly.
What keeps me from being Bob is the desire to end as many recurring payments in my life as possible - payments for cable and Tivo? No thanks. Even the integrated Tivo systems some providers offer still usually incur an extra charge.
And fundamentally, it's still a stupid system based on pulling content from a moving stream instead of simply downloading what you want, when you want it. Even Tivo gets the start and end of a show wrong on occasion.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
I hadn't set up any sort of system that the MAF-IAA would oppose of. I was just using my TW cable box attached to a single TV in my apartment, without even so much as a VCR hooked up. Sometime last September, my cable signal would randomly turn to snow for several minutes, then go back. By the end of October and several tech visits later, Time Warner still didn't have a clue what was wrong.
I called them and asked to have two months refunded since I hadn't been able to watch. They refused. So I asked them to cancel my subscription. They didn't even TRY to keep me as a customer.
And since then, I haven't felt a day of regret. TV is overrated.
I must be doing something wrong then, because on my up-to-date MCE box, I recorded a movie off HBO yesterday then watched it last night when I was home. I am 100% up-to-date, and had no issues...
Erutangis ym si siht.
With conventional economic models, if you pay more, you can overcome an artificial shortage. If I want to spend $1200 on my PS3/Wii/Xbox, I will probably get one. DRM isn't like that. If I want to pay $1200 for a copy of StarWars that I can use easily, then I can't do it. However, if I steal a copy of StarWars by "illegally" ripping the DVD, or downloading it off of BitTorrent, then I have the unprotected content.
DRM encourages people to get protected content by paying less for it. Artificial shortages are supposed to increase unit selling price. DRM actually reduces the average selling price. This is the fundamental problem with the RIAA/MPAA marketing strategies.
pcHDTV.
Meanwhile, Joel Wiseman bought a Mac MINI and wonders why Sixbit and Sixpack spent all the time and money on systems dedicated to trying to grab content from a stream, when they could spend less of both just buying songs individually on demand.
Maybe Sixbit and Sixpack don't want to buy songs but want to watch TV. Suppose their 2 favorite TV shows are _The Office_ on NBC and _The Simpsons_ on Fox. Um, where exactly can they buy them? (Sound of crickets chirping in the background...) There are very good reasons why people want to "grab content from a stream" than your apples to oranges comparison allows for.
Honestly, is anyone surprised?
No, but that won't keep M$ from lying about it. The first lie is by omission. That one and more active lies will be easy to confront now.
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.
I love upgrades that take away functionality. We should all be happy that Microsoft is out there protecting HBO's profits for us.
wait for the hackers.
since everyone else is too much of a coward to sue microsoft and HBO.
especially since our congress are industry whores.
They're using their grammar skills there.
UT2K4? civ?
09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0
XXX#######
You should have known better than to buy an audio video consumer electronics device from a company that makes typewriter software.
What the fuck does Microsoft know about music or movies or TV?
Suppose their 2 favorite TV shows are _The Office_ on NBC and _The Simpsons_ on Fox. Um, where exactly can they buy them?
You are kidding right?
Apple, at every event almost since the dawn of time, has promoted how you can buy "The Office" from ITMS. In fact they have done it so often that MadTV did a parody of jobs that including noting that consumers could watch "The Office" on some Apple device the show was parodying.
If your power goes off in the middle of recording The Office, what are your options then? Basically just to duy it, or download it, just like I can already. Only my version comes with no commercials, no drops in quality due to flaky networks, and no annoying station overlays.
As for the Simpons, it's true you cannot download that yet from ITMS (not sure why, since they carry Fox shows and other stuff like South Park and Family Guy and even American Dad). If you must have access to that though you can get that OTA from a simple Elgato TV receiver you can attach to the Mac - and get free Tivo like functionality, even for OTA HD or QCAM content. But basically recording off broadcast is so annoying I just rent Simpsons DVD's after a season is over, even though I can record them off the air.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Microsoft's doing us a favor by not letting us watch TV on our PCs. 4-8 hours a day of watching video will make any of us stupid.
_ Death/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amusing_Ourselves_to
... this really isn't a joking matter. Yes, this is the desired behaviour and the desired outcome from all involved, save the consumer/customer. I really don't understand the value of Windows MCE if all you're going to get is a strange patchwork of rights. It works fairly well, but what a bizarre hassle. No wonder Apple doesn't over-promise and is content to sell programmes outright and leave the PVR market to third-party manufacturers and let Microsoft take the heat for releasing crippleware. Technology should make my life easier / simpler - should work FOR me - otherwise why the devil would I ever want to use an open platform like a PC to record television? I can do the same thing with a DVD recorder and organise everything in the real world on my bookshelf.
They have pretty complete codec packs now for the Intel Mac mini, that work with Quicktime so you have a pretty stable player (though VLC works very well at the moment also). 256 MB is too small for OS X, I have more like 1.5GB in my media Mini (though frankly I think that is overkill).
I don't see anything wrong with people buying it just for the hardware and then hacking something else on it to get more advanced features, as people are now doing with the Apple TV. However I still think all this work around capturing streamed data makes little sense in a world where everything can and should be made available at some point in time, and available forever after whenever you choose to get it.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Macrovision invented a special system with copyright bits and epiry dates.3 10234
n slation
http://ask.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/02/22/1
They have already been in the news a lot:
http://daringfireball.net/2007/02/macrovision_tra
"I was in love with a beautiful blonde once, dear. She drove me to drink. It's the one thing I am indebted to her for."
Get a TiVo Series 3 and move on with more important things. TiVo can do anything that MCE, has already addressed cable card issues and is more stable then Myth/FreeVo. The only thing that you will be challenged with is playing stolen movies from BitTorrent in DiVX format. What can you do: Record standard, digital and HDTV content Stream MP3s from your PC View Photos from your PC Download rental and purchased movies from Amazon Unbox Upload home movies, using One True Media Purchase movie tickets from Fandango Stream music from Live365 Yahoo Photos, Traffic and Weather What you can't do: TiVo ToGo (download movies from S3 to your PC), only works for Series 2, this is in order to maintain legality with Cable Labs/Cable Card "Easily" upload movies/other content from torrents...no native DivX, you must go through the One True Media challel. Time consuming but it does work Play PC games - the included TiVo games are pretty stale, but for this I have a real PC and I really don't care.
He uses the extra time and money saved to read books.
Oh, so you save money by buying stuff? I'm not entirely clear on how that is going to work...
-- Language is a virus from outer space.
There was an upside?!
"With the latest Media Center Edition update from Microsoft, I and many others are finding that content available on television is now completely unwatchable from Media Center. The message states: 'Restricted Content: Restrictions set by the broadcaster and/or originator of the content prohibit playback of the program on this computer.'
This has been a "feature" of Media Center for quite a long time. Discovered this with programming from the satellite that I pay the bill for every month.
On the other hand...for those who do not want to go thru the hassles of MythTV & Linux...you can download & use a free replacement for Media Center. The program is called GB-PVR. No issues with the BS restrictions of Media Center & other commercial software...since it is developed outside the US. Will run on Windows 2000+ and have not run into a flagging issue in the two years I have run it. Not only that...you can download & install user supported plugins to do anything Media Center would even think of doing.
Unlike Media Center...GB-PVR will record in MPEG-2 format & not the proprietary BS that Microsoft uses. This means you don't need a dvr software converter & the files are usable with any software which can read & use the MPEG-2 format.
NOTE: I am not the programmer of this software & am not paid to advertise it. Just been using it successfully for at least the past 2 years. With this software...you don't need to spend the extra $$$ for commercial & crippled "feature-laiden" PVR software like Media Center.
Don't worry about the world coming to an end today. It's already tomorrow in Australia. - Charles M. Schulz
You're completely correct wrt Cablecard. It has lots of downsides and so far no upsides that I can find. One way cablecards with Vista don't concern me - the computer software can be updated. The Tivo S3 on the other hand is apparently going to be tougher to update due to some hardware decisions apparently made. I guess if the 2way CC ever gets created we'll sweat it then.
:-(
As for Myth, I had issues with things other than the tuner. I bought a Hauppauge dual input tuner. I had bigger issues with the video card, an Nvidia card of all things. Then there's getting a remote to work. Setting up the guide subscription, and renewing it every few months (I'm told), and on and on. Lots of fiddly things. Certainly people who get Myth running well can beat their chests with pride, but for how long will it work before something somewhere needs tweaking? Don't get me wrong, I like to tweak and play and I do that with my computer all the time. However my computer is just that *my* computer. It's not shared by all other members of the household! Break your computer and kick yourself, break the computer that provides entertainment for the rest of the family and they all come after you! Tell them it'll be just a few more minutes while you recompile the kernel for a new feature or that they need to hang on while the SQL database cleans itself and see how far that flies before they start knotting rope and looking for a tall tree. XBMC from an ease of use standpoint stomps this. It's also less complex and doesn't require much more than FTP to install. Sadly it cannot record but it does an awesome job of playing content downloaded from a Torrent onto a networked NAS.
aTV, you're right it doesn't record - yet. $300 isn't bad though and a USB HDTV tuner hooked into it would give it that recording capability. It's got a small footprint, HDMI, optical output, wireless(?), and decent CPU horsepower. Best of all, IMO, it's not got a zillion things that can be swapped around in it to make support difficult. Pick a GOOD USB tuner or three for the community and go nutz developing on it and XBMC will be history. Fat chance that it will happen though
Build it, Drive it, Improve it! Hybridz.org
Oh, so you save money by buying stuff? I'm not entirely clear on how that is going to work...
It's quite simple - rather than give someone money every month for programming I may not ever watch, instead I give Apple and TV producers a little money whenever I want to watch a particular thing. If I don't watch TV in a given month, I pay nothing.
I could of course save even more by simply downloading everything for free (and sometimes I do that when I cannot purchase), but I prefer to give TV producers something to show my support and there's not even the same level of quandry about the MPAA getting a large share of a TV show purchase to fuss over.
People who watch no TV at all can save even more, but most people cannot do without some video entertainment, and I am one of them - why ignore a whole field of art?
If you don't think pay as you go can be cheaper, remember that most series are on at most four times per month. So far any given series you like to watch you only pay $8 per month, which gives you room for regular subscription to a number of series for less than most cable or satellite subscriptions. And as I said, when I'm not watching shows (say when they go on break like Battlestar Galactica) I'm not paying anything waiting for the stream to float down something interesting again.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
This is what DRM is all about.
Because MythTV does NOT work with DirecTv. If it did, I'd be using it. And if anyone wants to come back and say it does, show me detailed instructions on how to get it to work with DirecTv.
well, it's they broadcaster's right to block all those options, so why bitch? You can still watch the content can't you?
O paragon of consumers, you got what you deserved.
...then direct your letter-writing campaigns at your cable company and support their resistance to having to do these things at the behest of the content originators. Direct them against the movie production companies and distributors like HBO, etc. Tell them to turn off the flagging. And above all, organize for the legal democratic overturn of the DMCA. Or sit here whining and getting nothing done while you imagine that any of this is going to make a difference in some sort of noble massive peaceful noncompliance Ghandi-esque way.
I worked in cable for a long while and still read the trades. They DO NOT want all this DRM but they have to follow the laws and the ridiculous contractual demands. There can be no resistance since the satellite companies will backstab and sellout the cable companies and vice versa. Only the massive outcry of the cable and satellite tv bill paying customers will make a difference. Every time you pay, DO NOT pay online. Pay by check and write on a check-sized piece of paper (not your actual check) "STOP DEPLOYING DRM, WE WANT OUR DIGITAL TELEVISION FUTURE WITHOUT UNFAIR CONTROLS" and SIGN IT. Write it BY HAND, EVERY TIME, and put it in the envelope with your payment.
Let them know. If you sit here doing the usual mental masturbation, you are only screwing yourself and the next generation.
If my grammar and spelling are off, I am [distracted/tired/careless] (take your pick)
Get off of the couch. You have no idea how much fuller my life is, now that I have given up 90% of my TV time and actually do something else. TV is a huge waste of time, and for what? Mindless entertainment, and something to BS about around the water cooler at work? I'd rather be outside.
-- If we don't stand up for our rights, now, there will be no right to stand up for them later.
Well, what if you want to remix the stream
Remixing a stream, as broadcast TV is today, inherently makes little sense. You can jump from stream to stream, or interrupt flow, or annotate a stream - but you have much less flexibility than you do with media you download and can manipulate directly however you wish. There is nothing you can do with a stream you cannot do with stored media, only you have further options with stored media that are not as easy to pull off with a stream.
Just to be clear, by stream I am really referring to the broadcast model, not media stored on a remote server that can be streamed on demand anytime you like. That is still stored media, it's just that you are not storing it - TV is more transient in that once something is broadcast, if you miss a portion you cannot recover that data.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
My other post was saying the same thing you were, essentially - my position could perhaps be better phrased as "why are you doing all this work ACCESSING streams instead of stored media". I think it's laudable to be able to store and have full access to media. I just don't think a lot of effort around getting said media out of time dependent streams is worthwhile when that mode of media access is so obviously vegistal. I want to be able to download the 10:00 news anytime after 10:00, not have to either be there at 10:00 or hope my scheduler is not off. It makes no sense when the media could be put up to be streamed or otherwise accessed directly.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
I'm having the same issue when trying to record content from certain movies (like Braveheart) from certain channels (like AMC & TNT-HD - I can record from regular TNT just fine). The message states something like "Source content protected."
Pretty soon there will be two kinds of Media Centres:
a. The Microsoft Media Center displaying a permanent black screen with a red warning and
b. The Linux Media Centre where everything just works.
Excuse me, but please get off my Pennisetum Clandestinum, eh!
sounds like someone needs an Apple TV.
yes, you're right Apple's TV thingy doesn't put DRM onto shows it records... BECAUSE IT CAN'T RECORD.
Jeez.
Da Blog
It's apparently just MS finally adding in Macrovision DRM to its MCE version of XP, did anyone bother trying to rollback the update? Usually, most updates come with uninstallers you know, although ones like Genuine Advantage and whatnot have the uninstallers hidden.
@Mindless Drivel: 100% of Twitter posts ever Tweeted.
It's actually the law that there has to be an HD box option that includes Firewire.
I'm just amazed there's a law requiring the technology and yet Apple can't manage to sell it out of obscurity (outside of DV, of course).
My God, it's Full of Source!
OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
For those history and biography shows, Netflix may actually be better since you can get most of them on DVD... but I know people like the convienience of TV, it's hard to give that up if you watch it a lot (as I used to do).
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
So at $8 a month per series you are over the cost of basic cable at 3 series.
Come on, who ever realy has "basic" cable. "Basic" cable also implies an analog signal which all ITMS content is signifincatly better than - I know because I also tried that route.
Realiztic cable bills for real people range from $60 (low end digital) to over $100 (if you want to even think about HBO or Showtime).
What if you live in a household with two parents and two kids? Each who have their own selection of programs they like to watch? If they each watched 3 series a month assuming 4 episodes of each thats $96 a month in ITMS fees.
Then cable is cheaper, but I would say that for most people some of those series would be combined - and the convenience along with lack of ads still provides some extra value. If you think about it, content you download provides all of the convinience of a TIVO with no monthly fee. And during the summer, when many shows end, you have no fees which lowers the average cost.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Should have known better.
If Google really cared they would fix Android Chrome to reflow text, instead of discriminating
I am SOOO tired of Macrovision. The WORST idea ever made, IMHO. I usually watch DVD's I HAVE PAID FOR on my video projector. Because of how Macrovision works (artificially weakened sync puls) I CANNOT play ANY of my legally purchased media without my screen going up and down in brightness level. This is insanely annoying to me.
I have paid for this media. Why am I being punished by Macrovision and the distribiter for *maybe* being a pirate?
The only way I can play media is using VLC to play my files, which eliminates Macrovision. This essentially leads me to rip everything I rent or buy and play that. I CANNOT play store-purchased media properly. Unbelievable. From now on I will NOT purchase or rent ANY macrovision encoded products. I will pirate my media until that changes. I do not care about "ripping" off anyone anymore because they have ripped me off for 20 years.
was planning to buy a new Media Center when the cablecard boxes start shipping . why would anyone pay a premium for a crippled product? I bought a DVD Recorder the other day. It's got an IrDA blaster and I can record SD shows straight to DVD (and if I care enough rip 'em to PC later) - no EPG... well Comcast publish it and I can work a remote. My old MCE works fairly well, but I'll probably use it run to run Joost when they work out how to let me use a remote control...
And Joe Wiseman ends up with an expensive propriety Apple system, while while it may work a bit better than the expensive propriety Micsosoft system, it still only works at the whims of the media cartels and Apple Inc.
Not at all, for on the Mac mini I can if I choose use a number of media managers, and many different types of media (from ITMS or from BitTorrrent or from other sources, depending on what I prefer). I can easily add a tuner for HD video capture, in fact the tuner I own is grandfathered in from having to obey any kind of broadcast restriction flag.
I am in no way under any obligation to any cartel. And if someday Apple did something to the core OS I did not like, and if indeed an upgrade was required (though it has not been in the past) I simply load Linux on it and proceed that way. In the meantime thugh I have saved time and money over other solutions - and my sanity.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
I'd suggest trying MythTV on Ubuntu 7.04. It takes 15-30 min. to install Ubuntu, and about 15 min. to get MythTV up and running, if you follow the nifty guide on the Ubuntu Wiki @ https://help.ubuntu.com/community/MythTV/
It's literally just a cut'n'pastes (or clicks if you prefer) to install MythTV, and a few cut'n'pastes to get the tuner card drivers working, assuming it isn't automatically detected.
I have a backend installed on a computer that's tucked away. On all the other computers in the house, I just "sudo aptitude install ubuntu-mythtv-frontend", and a few seconds later, they are all ready to go.
If you haven't tried MythTV in the last year or so, I'd seriously check it out. When I first installed it on Ubuntu 5.10, it took me a while to get things working right. 6.06 was a little better, but there were still some small issues. 6.10 was a breeze, and 7.04 was just a few clicks. Even on that guide to get MythTV working on Fedora it suggests MythDora as an easy alternative.
While MythTV might still have some shortcomings, I don't believe installation is one of them anymore.
To The Submitter
You are trying to watch/record Braveheart...on AMC? Are you kidding me?
AMC?
The channel that runs trailers and teasers for movies in letterbox and then runs the actual movies in edited-for-just-about-everything Pan and Scan with commercials?
You are a danger to yourself. Someone should take your remote away.
[UID-HeinzIntel]
Because those are options but the core experience of TV on Macs is pretty nice with Front Row and ITMS feeding you content. You can even expand on that if you want more seemless experience with otehr options, but again the core is very easy and nice as is....
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
You want your entertainment to be controlled completely by others, "legislating through the backdoor" about your rights? (you do have the rights to make copies and to time shift, did you know that?)
Well, then you have made the correct choice.
Some of us are willing to put a bit of effort to do do what in the long term is more beneficial for us, and the rest of society.
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
Now everybody and his dog is in MySpace, YouTube, Flickr, 2nd life or many other myriads of websites in which you get in touch with other people.
This very often leads to meet people with similar interests in meatspace.
A society that needs the TV in order to keep family values and family socialization going I think should stop and look at itself carefuly since something may have gone amiss in the last few decades since the introduction of TV.
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
You lose, game over.
But by an idiot like you losing the argument, I have no pleasure in declare myself the winner.
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
Windows Media Center Restricts Cable TV
Posted by kdawson on Monday May 21, @05:37AM
from the no-HBO-for-you dept.
stupid muffafukka for buying windoze shite in the 1st place
That never was a problem, since I can leave anytime I like. I can always transcode videos, or simply download them as I might have done in the first place.
In fact the most ethical path is to buy the TV shows on ITMS, then discard the files and download higher quality versions from BitTorrent.
You are never trapped in anything if you are technically ept.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley