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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
...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
...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TV is an outdated concept...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 Desperately trying to hold on to an outdated concept, which has made them alot of money in the past.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?
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.
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?
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
before that last update, I had no problem with MCE, other than the fact that it was MS. Because of this, however, I from here on refuse to use MCE and am using SnapStream until I can find the time to set up MythTV.
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]
"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
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.
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.
FWIW, I can see HBO HD on the firewire port of my Scientific Atlanta 8300 HD in NYC on Time Warner. I know very little about this but I plugged in my Macbook Pro, installed Apple's Firewire SDK and was able to record that content and play it back with no problems.
HBO is "copy once". HBO On-Demand is "copy never". So, nominally, you should be able to record your regular HBO shows on your computer, but not burn them to DVD or copy them elsewhere. In other words, your system is working as expected.
The problem here, from what I understand, is that a few regional US cable operators are improperly passing "copy never" down the line on stuff like A&E, in violation of FCC regulations. Or there's the Canadian case, where there's no rules about that stuff at all, but Media Center honors it anyways - so all the cable and sat operators just flag everything as "copy never", and screw the Canadian users.
Plausible conjecture should not be misrepresented as proof positive.
Sincerely,
Time Warner Support
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."
"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
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.
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