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NBC Activates Broadcast Flag
I Don't Believe in Imaginary Property writes "NBC activated the 'broadcast flag' on a number of shows this week, ranging from American Gladiator to Medium, which prevented compliant programs like Windows Media Center from recording them. The matter is being 'looked into,' but that doesn't tell us whether it was an accident or a ploy to see how outraged viewers would be at being stripped of the time-shifting rights they've enjoyed ever since Sony v. Universal. Just in case it's the latter, it wouldn't hurt to let them know what you think."
Not the XP drivers or TiVo. Microsoft should be answering this.
http://thegreenbutton.com/forums/45/262419/ShowThread.aspx
If you keep throwing chairs, one day you'll break windows....
German Broadcaster Pro7 'accidently' and because of 'technical problems' switched on the copy protection flag twice in the past few months.
See this german article for example:
http://www.digitalfernsehen.de/news/news_295076.html
Fred Rogers would shake his head and shed a tear. (from wikipedia) During the controversy surrounding the introduction of the household VCR, Rogers was involved in supporting the manufacturers of VCRs in court. His 1979 testimony in the case Sony Corp. of America v. Universal City Studios, Inc. noted that he did not object to home recording of his television programs, for instance, by families in order to watch together at a later time. This testimony contrasted with the views of others in the television industry who objected to home recording or believed that devices to facilitate it should be taxed or regulated.
meh
Yup and it did not affect Windows XP running Mediaportal (something far better than MCE), GBPVR, or Mythtv.
I asked 6 friends that did have those Media Centers and all of them were able to record it just fine.
Sounds like it only affects the DRM special from microsoft.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
Just watch the video. It would make a great gift. http://www.mythpvr.com/mythtv/distribution/mythdora/4/install-1.html
The same thing happened in Germany last week. Pro7Sat1 did send an anti recording signal and many users of DVR could not see a thing.
According to company which runs the satellite signal, it was just an technical error.
could someone remind me again what this "NBC" thing is, and why I should care?
It's this place where people watch programs interrupted by commercials at the time least convenient to them, and have to wait a whole week between episodes; instead of downloading them one season at a time and watching them whenever you want...
Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
I work in media, and I can tell you, NBC and similar companies are the absolute pawns of their advertisers. DRM is getting a big push from the ad guys because of commercial skipping. But (since the whole DRM/Broadcast Flag thing is a fiasco in the first place) they're not all subtle in their thinking, and if they hear a big fuss, they'll back off, and tell NBC to do the same.
This is something activists have to learn: go after advertisers.
They use it to conduct psyops against the populace, and whip up support for whatever military operation GE might be selling weapons systems for next.
Also comes in handy for whitewashing their union-busting and environmental crimes, as well.
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You can waste an awful lot of time reading contracts and discovering that you've agreed to obnoxious things... and that there's not an awful lot you can do about it because all the competitors have similar contracts... and that, surprise, surprise, the employee behind the car rental counter is not interested in striking out clauses and negotiating contracts with an individual customer with a line behind him.
The interesting thing here is that contract law in most places already makes allowances for this sort of thing. There's even a legal term — contract of adhesion — describing standard contracts where there wasn't equal power for each party to negotiate on the details. Also, contracts generally require a meeting of minds, with both sides understanding what they are agreeing to; where this is not the case, courts can (and do) hold that unreasonable conditions are unenforceable.
In other words, it shouldn't be necessary to change the law to achieve what you want. If a contract of adhesion includes deceptive provisions that a typical person would be unlikely to agree to if they understood the implications, then it's already the case that courts might strike those provisions. You just need someone to bring the case.
If you disagree, post your argument. (-1, Overrated) isn't your personal censorship tool for views you don't like.
B.S. Mythtv is dead simple to install using a Mythbuntu live CD. If one takes a little care with their choice of hardware, the only possible problem areas I could think of would be lirc configuration for some remotes (at least it's a bit of a pain with the POS Packard Bell serial IR receiver I have).
No. I use MythTV (albeit through the analog hole); my computer tells the set-top box what channel to tune in, and converts whatever comes into the s-video jack to MPEG4.
There are digital capture cards that predate the broadcast flag, as well. They're just hard to find.
*ahem*
Remember Macrovision eliminators?
No they are not!
http://www.pchdtv.com/
(if you run Linux!)
Umm. I thought the FCC tried to make it illegal, but was struck down by a court who said they overstepped their bounds. I believe they are still trying to make this a requirement, but I'm pretty sure it's not illegal to make a DVR that ignores the flag...yet. But some people are trying to prevent them.
Xesdeeni