But you can't ! That's the whole point. I cannot use HDMI without HDCP. The licensing agreements of HDMI forbid it. To make a set which won't recognize the DRM garbage or work around it would violation DMCA, as well as place you in violation of the license to make HDMI connectors and use that standard.
The evil bastards are brilliant if nothing else. They all agree to analog sunset. They all agree to HDMI and the evil succubus, HDCP. (the reason HDMI is crap is because it's cheap to make. Professional Video folks don't go near it, using coax cables like they always have, and should have for the HDMI standard).
Features like turning off analog outputs and intentionally destroying resolution (Token) are installed, but NOT USED until the market gets a critical mass. Unless a TV station "by accident" turns on a Broadcast Flag (and do you really believe it was an accident, or was it a "let us see what happens if" situation ?)
You want to set up your own TV company ? Sure, but it won't play the Blu-Ray disc. Ask the Linux user about this.
No, the evil bastards saw one golden opportunity to "put right" the problems of the internet, digitalization of content, and the cracking of CSS. Revocable devices for HD Disc players, HDMI, analog sunset. Brilliant ! And with DMCA to back up anyone who challenges the "new status quo".
TV and computers had to stay apart, per the mindset of the old media barons. While they miss the olden days of having the only high speed pipe to the home, with zero user input, they did see far enough to try to build a wall.
Now, realistically, we are probably ten years out from easily busting HDCP. Recall that the CD was let out unencrypted becasue no one ever thought that you could make them at home. de-CSS required computers that didn't really exist when the DVD standard was written. This regime too will fall, but the industry probably thinks that it's 15 years of safety against the geek and permanent for the non geek, or the other 99.98%. You know, the guy who buys a new computer when the old one becomes inoperable due to too much malware.
I have a sony HDD-250, probably the only off air HDTV recorder with no "contract" or "mother ship" to dial home to. They stopped making them, and no one, interestingly, has jumped into the fore. It would appear that no one wants you to have the ability to record on a device you own, even if, as the sony, the drive is encrypted and the disc drives are somehow matched to the mother board, unlike a TivO, and you cannot change drives yourself or expand them.
The only thing which the media barons can't control is the fact that most kids spend more time on youtube and IM than TV. Most kids would rather lose TV than the computer........
I once appeared for a credible motorist organization, speaking against the use of unreliable hand held breath tests, or "instant probable cause" as they were set to register any alcohol use, not intoxication.
I called MADD a prohibitionist organization, which made sure I never got on network TV as a talking head again.
Thank them for the universal 21 age, which causes young people to learn to hide drinking, unlike when I went to college, where you could have a beer in the student union like an adult.
The blood borders were a real issue, but a 19 drinking age would have fixed that problem without making an entire generation into lawbreakers.
Driving drunk is stupid, and deadly, but the social policies MADD has pushed have resulted in many unintended consequences.
In my state, we have a lot of rather convoluted DWI law (IMAL) and I explain that it was all MADD lobbying. still makes no sense.
once you get the set. I'm using an old school antenna for my HD. Comes in perfectly. SD for $45 per month via satellite takes care of the "cable channels".
To do the same by Cablevision....$85 per month, or by satellite, also $85 per month plus taxes. So, in one year, I would have $400, which is a lot more than my $90 of Radio shack antenna and some coax cable. (btw, as a Ham, I say avoid rat shack coax at all opportunities-Belden, Winegard, etc are much much better).
You can spend a lot more for the same thing. Dishnet looks OK for the more popular channels, where compression is less, but for kid TV, you can see every artifact.
You don't need to be anal-retentive about the design and the wires. Since you are not transmitting, close enough is good enough, and if it does not work, you won't break anything. Chances are, if you are even close, it will work, and well.
Possibly the most pointless flame war on the internet, right after the hams with "morse code vs. no code", is this HD DVD vs. Blu Ray. Both will play a HD disc. Both are locked down with DRM. Both solidify the current system of "we distribute, you bu¥, and no copying", just like 1979. HDMI-HDCP are far from a great idea...technically....but tech is not the idea...locking in the distribution system is.
Why do you think each side fought for the monopoly ? Just this reason...the ability to dictate price, and for the endless residuals for the IP in the player.
A standard DVD, on my 50 inch 1080 set, still looks good enough that I don't feel the need to run out and buy the HD disc. Also, has anyone noticed the raft of second tier films the studios are slowly releasing to get maximum bounce out of the old catalog to desperate buyers ?
Really...people care about this ??
OK, so we should all get rid of the ability to use free wifi everywhere, and subscribe to an expensive system.
From the same people who charge more for text than speech. Who want to lock you into a proprietary system.
uh-huh
Next bong hit, please.
A family member needed a new laptop. Dell (business side) with XP filled the bill. Since I could not get them to go 0$X, this was the next best thing. The bonus is that a dual core machine with a GB of memory will fly on XP. My tech support will be less.
I had Windows Me once, so I see where this is going. As my MS machines die, Apple will get more sales.
Without getting into the technical issues...
Where's the righteous geek who will release all these emails ? Lost, sure (hack cough right). Someone has a real copy. And, that copy is for blackmail purposes....
Somewhere, someone has to do the right thing and release this stuff.
When I went to school, back in the Vinyl Age, we did quite well with a cassette deck (HOME TAPING KILLS MUSIC) and some sneakers. Now, you can just swap hard drives instead of lovingly recording each bit as we did, but anyone with a whit of sense and ability, like most college kids, can take the hard drive down the hall, and plug it in. OK, not as easy as a d/l, but give you something to do while drinking beer. (although I hear that has to be hidden nowadays too)
This system will work decently. Spread spectrum radio is common today in your cell phone, your wireless house phone, and every wifi card everywhere.
the concept of a defined frequency for a defined service is on the way out. Much like DC electricity, it was used for a lot of reasons, but as time goes on, a smart radio system will become common.
The six megahertz needed for an analog signal is today like using a steam engine for commuter rail. You can do it, and it works, but it's not a clean or simple solution.
With the advent of microchips and strict time sequences, cognitive radio is an easy deal. It also solves the problems of too many users for a limited amount of discrete frequencies.
the idea of frequency allocation is because up until now, you could only be one per frequency. The prime real estate was given to TV way, way back when. It is no longer 1940.
TV has some interference issues when the band opens, but you are dealing with megawatt transmitters in prime locations...I can get Philly when conditions are right here in NYC, but that's not "the market".
Leaving the white spaces unused is like deciding that Ohio can't grow corn because Wisconsin is.
HDMI is part of a whole. The idea is to cease analog outputs. No HD will be allowed without HDCP. Note any upscaling DVD players only upscale via HDMI, analog outputs are limited to 480.
HDCP is not a requirement of HDMI, but having a license for HDMI means that if I make some sort of HDCP stripper, the agency that licenses HDMI can come after me for violation of their license. It is true that HDMI does NOT require HDCP, but HDMI is not an "open" format or standard, like an RCA jack.
So, the industry is not totally stupid. Knowing most consumer electronics lasts 2-8 years, we gently introduce HDMI, allow the analog equipment to mostly wear out, and once the analog ports disappear by industry agreement, you will see the image constraint token used.
Think of this like Macrovision. It's a pain in the behind to the casual user, but trivial to the pirate.
As the older stuff dies, the new stuff will just happen to have ICT, and HDMI only for any HD output. Anyone who thinks that the voluntary ICT hold back is permanent is deluded.
The lockdown is proceeding apace. The only fly in the ointment is the lack of interest in Vista and the new HD disc formats.
Formats come and go so quickly. I was backing up some data to my terabyte drive, and some USB thumb drives. I came across a set of zip discs that had fallen behind the desk a while back. The date stamp of 2001 was not that long ago.
I have a nice widescreen, full 1080p. DVD's look good, to the point you can critique the transfer. Still, in an A/B comparison with Star Wars, (ABC ran it, I tossed in the DVD for a quick a/b) the HD signal is better. We also get channel 13 and 13-1 here, and sometimes they show the same show, letterboxed on the SD channel and full screen on the -1 channel.
There is a clear difference. Of course, if you don't have a big screen, you would not tell, so there goes 99 % of the market.
Wanna buy a zip drive ?
The only response the eyeball owners can have is to try to wrest control of the TV. Now, we can do that with DVD's, netflix,and the internet, where what YOU want is the only thing that matters, and you are Ad-free (mostly).
You can get a DVR, and cull the TV wheat from the AD chaff, and you are again Ad-free.
Both circumstances are totally against the idea of the mass media networks. They still live in 1967, where we own the transmitter, you own the receivers, and you watch what we put on when we put it on, no input from you, thanks.
In 2008, I slept through Letterman yesterday, saw the monologue On-Line, using a series of tubes, and it was when *I* was ready. We very rarely watch any primetime TV "live", and let the DVR catch it, for later watching and zapping at our convenience.
If you don't rent it from a Cable or Satellite Company, a standalone DVR is very hard to find. Out of production Sony or LG is all you can get, if you don't want to do a full MythTV setup. Even then, it's not easy.
You'd think there would be a market for off the air DVR's, since HDTV is free and uncompressed if you can get it old school with an antenna. I would think that the mass media would scream "free hd" from the same rooftops which would sprout antennae.
Yet there is no market for them......one might think that the RIAA, in conjunction with a few big companies, are trying to stifle any sort of "possession" of digital media, even if it is totally locked down and encrypted like my Sony HDD-250. If the Sat/Cable company owns the box, then the 30 second skip can be disabled, and they can limit what/how long you archive, fair use be damned. A standalone recorder you own can't be controlled in this way.
You have two warring disc formats, either of which "works" for 99% of the target market, but that's also "on hold". The big boys managed to saddle HDMI, a good idea, with HDCP, which is just a way to keep us in their world of 1967, with them controlling all the media.
Sorry boys, the internet wins. My kids don't buy CD's, it's all on a player of some sort. They don't care about 'albums ', and carry around entire collections in their pockets. They IM friends and check out "you tube" videos, not wait for "american bandstand".
Still, the mass media nets have one ace, they are producing the only new HD content, and still in a limited way, are in 1967 there....and then they piss off the writers and that one bit of HDTV is cut-off. (repeats are repeats even in 1080i).
I have a degree in old style broadcasting and film and my knowledge is now a quaint set of "old ways". While those who run the industry still try to cling to the old ways, and have some limited success limiting audience options, the tidal wave that is the internet has pulled out....way out, and ask the Tsunami victims what one should do when the tide pulls out a half mile.
Big media is running toward the ocean, thinking they will get free fish, not running for the hills.
Yea Noam !
DVR is the cure. All the drama, wasted time, and theta waves without the corporate hard sell. Use the pause button to pee and it'a all set !
Since Child porn requires child abuse of the worst sort, the sort of person who has this stuff is just a guilty as the sicko who made it. Have fun in the joint !
Wow. I guess the first few airplanes that didn't work, the subs which sank, killing all (frequently), and the first attempts at radio communication which also did'nt work are all bad ideas.
What next....a safe trip up Everest ?
Get a grip...this is cutting edge, learning to work in space. If we don't get off this planet, we will become extinct here, either due to drowning in our own pollutants or a nuclear temper tantrum.
Stop subsidizing oil companies and Archer Daniel Midland, and spend the money for things like space...and maybe education or health care.
While the Brooklyn bench has its issues, the RIAA, etc have no "home court advantage" in NYC, nor do they impress the Court system on any level. Unlike a smaller burg this will cut no ice in NYC.
RIAA, welcome to an unimpressed, hot Bench. Bout time.
As an attorney who occasionally handles drug cases, I can tell you that in most cases, the biggest harm will come from the legal system, not the substance. Even the coke-heads who probably should back off get into more trouble from legal problems than the drug.
Any kid nowadays (unlike when I was a kid (the early 80's) has way more to fear from a "bust" than the "stuff". You can now get a DWI with a.02 in NY State...one beer...if you are under 21. In NJ, you get mandatory drug therapy for a minor pot bust. All sorts of ancillary penalties are in place, driver's license suspensions, student loan losses, etc, for minor drug use.
This is because the "antis" think that the only way to kill the fly is with a bigger sledgehammer. Meanwhile, I live in an area where all the pot-heads I know have six figure incomes, positions of responsibility in their companies, and coach kid's soccer on the weekends.
After a day of watching the war on drugs in court, all I can say is.... BULLSHIT !
BMW is not the best quality, but it is close. The problem with BMW is the Rolex syndrome. Many owners have them because of the status symbol, when they could be driving Kias as well. The fact that it's a great drive, stable, and fast are qualities not exploited by many of the buyers. That BMW has not "gone lexus" is a good thing. You can be a real car geek but look like a tool because of Buffy and Biff.
Come Rally some time......
The evil forces have thought of this. It's called analog sunset. No component outputs, just HDMI...where it's evil twin, HDCP comes around. Toss in a few restrictive licensing agreements and "voila" any device which hooks to HDMI and allows you to remove content is ILLEGAL and prosecutable. It's in the plan, it's in action, and just wait till those component inputs disappear.
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But you can't ! That's the whole point. I cannot use HDMI without HDCP. The licensing agreements of HDMI forbid it. To make a set which won't recognize the DRM garbage or work around it would violation DMCA, as well as place you in violation of the license to make HDMI connectors and use that standard. The evil bastards are brilliant if nothing else. They all agree to analog sunset. They all agree to HDMI and the evil succubus, HDCP. (the reason HDMI is crap is because it's cheap to make. Professional Video folks don't go near it, using coax cables like they always have, and should have for the HDMI standard). Features like turning off analog outputs and intentionally destroying resolution (Token) are installed, but NOT USED until the market gets a critical mass. Unless a TV station "by accident" turns on a Broadcast Flag (and do you really believe it was an accident, or was it a "let us see what happens if" situation ?) You want to set up your own TV company ? Sure, but it won't play the Blu-Ray disc. Ask the Linux user about this. No, the evil bastards saw one golden opportunity to "put right" the problems of the internet, digitalization of content, and the cracking of CSS. Revocable devices for HD Disc players, HDMI, analog sunset. Brilliant ! And with DMCA to back up anyone who challenges the "new status quo". TV and computers had to stay apart, per the mindset of the old media barons. While they miss the olden days of having the only high speed pipe to the home, with zero user input, they did see far enough to try to build a wall. Now, realistically, we are probably ten years out from easily busting HDCP. Recall that the CD was let out unencrypted becasue no one ever thought that you could make them at home. de-CSS required computers that didn't really exist when the DVD standard was written. This regime too will fall, but the industry probably thinks that it's 15 years of safety against the geek and permanent for the non geek, or the other 99.98%. You know, the guy who buys a new computer when the old one becomes inoperable due to too much malware. I have a sony HDD-250, probably the only off air HDTV recorder with no "contract" or "mother ship" to dial home to. They stopped making them, and no one, interestingly, has jumped into the fore. It would appear that no one wants you to have the ability to record on a device you own, even if, as the sony, the drive is encrypted and the disc drives are somehow matched to the mother board, unlike a TivO, and you cannot change drives yourself or expand them. The only thing which the media barons can't control is the fact that most kids spend more time on youtube and IM than TV. Most kids would rather lose TV than the computer........
I once appeared for a credible motorist organization, speaking against the use of unreliable hand held breath tests, or "instant probable cause" as they were set to register any alcohol use, not intoxication. I called MADD a prohibitionist organization, which made sure I never got on network TV as a talking head again. Thank them for the universal 21 age, which causes young people to learn to hide drinking, unlike when I went to college, where you could have a beer in the student union like an adult. The blood borders were a real issue, but a 19 drinking age would have fixed that problem without making an entire generation into lawbreakers. Driving drunk is stupid, and deadly, but the social policies MADD has pushed have resulted in many unintended consequences. In my state, we have a lot of rather convoluted DWI law (IMAL) and I explain that it was all MADD lobbying. still makes no sense.
I made sure that a relative bought an XP machine. She was NOT a linux candidate or willing to pay for osx. one less
Windows Vista made me a Mac Owner !!!
once you get the set. I'm using an old school antenna for my HD. Comes in perfectly. SD for $45 per month via satellite takes care of the "cable channels". To do the same by Cablevision....$85 per month, or by satellite, also $85 per month plus taxes. So, in one year, I would have $400, which is a lot more than my $90 of Radio shack antenna and some coax cable. (btw, as a Ham, I say avoid rat shack coax at all opportunities-Belden, Winegard, etc are much much better). You can spend a lot more for the same thing. Dishnet looks OK for the more popular channels, where compression is less, but for kid TV, you can see every artifact. You don't need to be anal-retentive about the design and the wires. Since you are not transmitting, close enough is good enough, and if it does not work, you won't break anything. Chances are, if you are even close, it will work, and well.
I have never D/l any music. I have a cd collection and some iTunes. I can honestly say I've never shared online. Why do I have to pay ?
Possibly the most pointless flame war on the internet, right after the hams with "morse code vs. no code", is this HD DVD vs. Blu Ray. Both will play a HD disc. Both are locked down with DRM. Both solidify the current system of "we distribute, you bu¥, and no copying", just like 1979. HDMI-HDCP are far from a great idea...technically....but tech is not the idea...locking in the distribution system is. Why do you think each side fought for the monopoly ? Just this reason...the ability to dictate price, and for the endless residuals for the IP in the player. A standard DVD, on my 50 inch 1080 set, still looks good enough that I don't feel the need to run out and buy the HD disc. Also, has anyone noticed the raft of second tier films the studios are slowly releasing to get maximum bounce out of the old catalog to desperate buyers ? Really...people care about this ??
OK, so we should all get rid of the ability to use free wifi everywhere, and subscribe to an expensive system. From the same people who charge more for text than speech. Who want to lock you into a proprietary system. uh-huh Next bong hit, please.
A family member needed a new laptop. Dell (business side) with XP filled the bill. Since I could not get them to go 0$X, this was the next best thing. The bonus is that a dual core machine with a GB of memory will fly on XP. My tech support will be less. I had Windows Me once, so I see where this is going. As my MS machines die, Apple will get more sales.
Without getting into the technical issues ...
Where's the righteous geek who will release all these emails ? Lost, sure (hack cough right). Someone has a real copy. And, that copy is for blackmail purposes....
Somewhere, someone has to do the right thing and release this stuff.
This one will trigger Last Measure....don't click !!!
When I went to school, back in the Vinyl Age, we did quite well with a cassette deck (HOME TAPING KILLS MUSIC) and some sneakers. Now, you can just swap hard drives instead of lovingly recording each bit as we did, but anyone with a whit of sense and ability, like most college kids, can take the hard drive down the hall, and plug it in. OK, not as easy as a d/l, but give you something to do while drinking beer. (although I hear that has to be hidden nowadays too)
Is anyone here surprised...I mean, anybody ???
This system will work decently. Spread spectrum radio is common today in your cell phone, your wireless house phone, and every wifi card everywhere. the concept of a defined frequency for a defined service is on the way out. Much like DC electricity, it was used for a lot of reasons, but as time goes on, a smart radio system will become common. The six megahertz needed for an analog signal is today like using a steam engine for commuter rail. You can do it, and it works, but it's not a clean or simple solution. With the advent of microchips and strict time sequences, cognitive radio is an easy deal. It also solves the problems of too many users for a limited amount of discrete frequencies. the idea of frequency allocation is because up until now, you could only be one per frequency. The prime real estate was given to TV way, way back when. It is no longer 1940. TV has some interference issues when the band opens, but you are dealing with megawatt transmitters in prime locations...I can get Philly when conditions are right here in NYC, but that's not "the market". Leaving the white spaces unused is like deciding that Ohio can't grow corn because Wisconsin is.
HDMI is part of a whole. The idea is to cease analog outputs. No HD will be allowed without HDCP. Note any upscaling DVD players only upscale via HDMI, analog outputs are limited to 480. HDCP is not a requirement of HDMI, but having a license for HDMI means that if I make some sort of HDCP stripper, the agency that licenses HDMI can come after me for violation of their license. It is true that HDMI does NOT require HDCP, but HDMI is not an "open" format or standard, like an RCA jack. So, the industry is not totally stupid. Knowing most consumer electronics lasts 2-8 years, we gently introduce HDMI, allow the analog equipment to mostly wear out, and once the analog ports disappear by industry agreement, you will see the image constraint token used. Think of this like Macrovision. It's a pain in the behind to the casual user, but trivial to the pirate. As the older stuff dies, the new stuff will just happen to have ICT, and HDMI only for any HD output. Anyone who thinks that the voluntary ICT hold back is permanent is deluded. The lockdown is proceeding apace. The only fly in the ointment is the lack of interest in Vista and the new HD disc formats.
Formats come and go so quickly. I was backing up some data to my terabyte drive, and some USB thumb drives. I came across a set of zip discs that had fallen behind the desk a while back. The date stamp of 2001 was not that long ago. I have a nice widescreen, full 1080p. DVD's look good, to the point you can critique the transfer. Still, in an A/B comparison with Star Wars, (ABC ran it, I tossed in the DVD for a quick a/b) the HD signal is better. We also get channel 13 and 13-1 here, and sometimes they show the same show, letterboxed on the SD channel and full screen on the -1 channel. There is a clear difference. Of course, if you don't have a big screen, you would not tell, so there goes 99 % of the market. Wanna buy a zip drive ?
The only response the eyeball owners can have is to try to wrest control of the TV. Now, we can do that with DVD's, netflix,and the internet, where what YOU want is the only thing that matters, and you are Ad-free (mostly). You can get a DVR, and cull the TV wheat from the AD chaff, and you are again Ad-free. Both circumstances are totally against the idea of the mass media networks. They still live in 1967, where we own the transmitter, you own the receivers, and you watch what we put on when we put it on, no input from you, thanks. In 2008, I slept through Letterman yesterday, saw the monologue On-Line, using a series of tubes, and it was when *I* was ready. We very rarely watch any primetime TV "live", and let the DVR catch it, for later watching and zapping at our convenience. If you don't rent it from a Cable or Satellite Company, a standalone DVR is very hard to find. Out of production Sony or LG is all you can get, if you don't want to do a full MythTV setup. Even then, it's not easy. You'd think there would be a market for off the air DVR's, since HDTV is free and uncompressed if you can get it old school with an antenna. I would think that the mass media would scream "free hd" from the same rooftops which would sprout antennae. Yet there is no market for them......one might think that the RIAA, in conjunction with a few big companies, are trying to stifle any sort of "possession" of digital media, even if it is totally locked down and encrypted like my Sony HDD-250. If the Sat/Cable company owns the box, then the 30 second skip can be disabled, and they can limit what/how long you archive, fair use be damned. A standalone recorder you own can't be controlled in this way. You have two warring disc formats, either of which "works" for 99% of the target market, but that's also "on hold". The big boys managed to saddle HDMI, a good idea, with HDCP, which is just a way to keep us in their world of 1967, with them controlling all the media. Sorry boys, the internet wins. My kids don't buy CD's, it's all on a player of some sort. They don't care about 'albums ', and carry around entire collections in their pockets. They IM friends and check out "you tube" videos, not wait for "american bandstand". Still, the mass media nets have one ace, they are producing the only new HD content, and still in a limited way, are in 1967 there....and then they piss off the writers and that one bit of HDTV is cut-off. (repeats are repeats even in 1080i). I have a degree in old style broadcasting and film and my knowledge is now a quaint set of "old ways". While those who run the industry still try to cling to the old ways, and have some limited success limiting audience options, the tidal wave that is the internet has pulled out....way out, and ask the Tsunami victims what one should do when the tide pulls out a half mile. Big media is running toward the ocean, thinking they will get free fish, not running for the hills.
Yea Noam ! DVR is the cure. All the drama, wasted time, and theta waves without the corporate hard sell. Use the pause button to pee and it'a all set !
Since Child porn requires child abuse of the worst sort, the sort of person who has this stuff is just a guilty as the sicko who made it. Have fun in the joint !
Wow. I guess the first few airplanes that didn't work, the subs which sank, killing all (frequently), and the first attempts at radio communication which also did'nt work are all bad ideas. What next....a safe trip up Everest ? Get a grip...this is cutting edge, learning to work in space. If we don't get off this planet, we will become extinct here, either due to drowning in our own pollutants or a nuclear temper tantrum. Stop subsidizing oil companies and Archer Daniel Midland, and spend the money for things like space...and maybe education or health care.
While the Brooklyn bench has its issues, the RIAA, etc have no "home court advantage" in NYC, nor do they impress the Court system on any level. Unlike a smaller burg this will cut no ice in NYC. RIAA, welcome to an unimpressed, hot Bench. Bout time.
As an attorney who occasionally handles drug cases, I can tell you that in most cases, the biggest harm will come from the legal system, not the substance. Even the coke-heads who probably should back off get into more trouble from legal problems than the drug. Any kid nowadays (unlike when I was a kid (the early 80's) has way more to fear from a "bust" than the "stuff". You can now get a DWI with a .02 in NY State...one beer...if you are under 21. In NJ, you get mandatory drug therapy for a minor pot bust. All sorts of ancillary penalties are in place, driver's license suspensions, student loan losses, etc, for minor drug use.
This is because the "antis" think that the only way to kill the fly is with a bigger sledgehammer. Meanwhile, I live in an area where all the pot-heads I know have six figure incomes, positions of responsibility in their companies, and coach kid's soccer on the weekends.
After a day of watching the war on drugs in court, all I can say is .... BULLSHIT !
when and if the analog shut off takes place in 09, then all tv will be HDTV, and only unlockable at their whim. need we say more ?
BMW is not the best quality, but it is close. The problem with BMW is the Rolex syndrome. Many owners have them because of the status symbol, when they could be driving Kias as well. The fact that it's a great drive, stable, and fast are qualities not exploited by many of the buyers. That BMW has not "gone lexus" is a good thing. You can be a real car geek but look like a tool because of Buffy and Biff. Come Rally some time......
The evil forces have thought of this. It's called analog sunset. No component outputs, just HDMI...where it's evil twin, HDCP comes around. Toss in a few restrictive licensing agreements and "voila" any device which hooks to HDMI and allows you to remove content is ILLEGAL and prosecutable. It's in the plan, it's in action, and just wait till those component inputs disappear.