Preparing for the Broadcast Flag? 735
Couch Potato asks: "I'm worried that, come next July, the FCC mandated broadcast flag will soon take away all sorts of fair use rights I have long enjoyed. Given that there are only a few months left to make purchasing decisions, how best can one prepare for the advent of the broadcast flag?"
"I'm somewhat aware of projects like Myth TV, but it's not all that I want. Specifically, I want to make sure that I can record DVDs or similar files of any program I want off of cable, sattelite or broadcast TV, flag or not and without any other encumbering restrictions (such as the Macrovision DRM for DVDs) and without worry that someday they'll change something so that my old drivers and hardware are suddenly obsolete and useless when faced with updates to the formats. Note that this makes closed-source-only drivers an issue, because assuming the hardware can still be adapted to whatever they change on us, open-sources drivers can be modified and closed-source ones probably won't be, whether for legal or practical considerations. So then, what can someone with a modest budget do to make sure that their constitutional fair use rights don't succumb to planned obsolecense, like the VCR has?"
pcHDTV 3000 is a Great option! (Score:5, Informative)
I am using an AMD 1700+ CPU with 1 GB memory, an nVidia GeForce FX 5700 128MB board. I only have 80+GB space on the system right now (enough for around 5 hrs recording time ) but I will probably upgrade it later this year.
I bought this card because it does not have the broadcast bit and since it was made before July it will not be encumbered with all those restrictions.
I do not, however, plan on abusing that flexibility by sharing my recordings and thus ripping off the content owners. It is the thieves that feel it is thier right to steal from people just because they can that have brought this onerrous situation upon us.
Buy an HD TV tuner card (Score:4, Informative)
The EFF is fighting the broadcast flag (Score:5, Informative)
Unfortunately they're fighting it on a technicality - that Congress did not give the FCC explicit power to create the broadcast flag, and thusly they have no authority themselves to create it.
wait and see what the courts decide? (Score:5, Informative)
I have no idea what you can do to try to sway the judicial system, as it's only 2 of 3 so far.
I guess you could contribute to the folks trying to take the FCC to court over this.
Good news for Mac Owners (Score:5, Informative)
"EyeTV 500 does not support the broadcast flag. Units bought before July 2005 will never support the broadcast flag. We will not update EyeTV 500 units bought before then to support the flag.
Thus, your EyeTV 500 will never support the broadcast flag. It will ignore flags, and not use DRM for any content. That means you'll have the maximum freedom possible with its recordings."
It's a little pricey, but it does the compression on the box. I don't have digital cable yet, but I may buy this come May/June just for the fuck of it since pre-July box prices will probably go up dramatically come July 2 (on the black market, of course, since the law bans all inter-state trade of these devices).
Re:The EFF is fighting the broadcast flag (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Similar question... (Score:5, Informative)
Hope it never shorts out, and they never update the driver or software.... and you don't need your todays AGP card to work in tommorows PCI-E mobo.....
p.s. buy two
Re:pcHDTV 3000 is a Great option! (Score:3, Informative)
There is a distribution [mysettopbox.tv] that is being worked on that could help people along.
Re:Broadcast flag preparation... (Score:1, Informative)
Re:Similar question... (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Buy offshore (Score:3, Informative)
Write Letters? Lot of good that will do (Score:4, Informative)
Re:What "fair use" rights do you want!? (Score:2, Informative)
Not exactly... the broadcast flag will allow the control of recording, including the possibility of *not* being recordable at all. It's a possibility that you won't be able to timeshift some shows, and some won't be DVD writeable (which is how I store some shows for long term storage).
Re:Hmm.. (Score:5, Informative)
Avoid any COFDM devices as that is the European standard and would not work here in the states unless it also did 8VSB.
Re:And let's not forget about OS X (Score:5, Informative)
Intro to HD PVRs [eff.org]
Broadcast flag info and list of HDTV cards [eff.org]
And BTW, the Elgato eyetv 500 [elgato.com] is the answer to your question.
Just for information... (Score:5, Informative)
I'm not saying the parent is speaking to this specifically, but this is just a point of information for others who will no doubt ignorantly vomit out the opposite in this thread.
Re:pcHDTV 3000 is a Great option! (Score:2, Informative)
http://mysettopbox.tv/ [mysettopbox.tv]
also there are Air2PC cards that can also be used for HDTV like pcHDTV3000, but you will have to wait until April to get one.
http://mythic.tv/product_info.php?products_id=33 [mythic.tv]
Re:The 4-step "Who cares, TV sucks" program (Score:3, Informative)
It's being challenged in court (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Write Some Letters (Score:3, Informative)
That's a nice lie you used to prove your point. Too bad the truth [opensecrets.org] proves the opposite.
Re:I think you are incorrect (Score:2, Informative)
I doubt it (IANAL). Since the case that broke the interstate commerce clause involved a farmer growing grain on his farm which happened to extend across state lines. The farmer was feeding said grain to his animals in part of his farm that was in the other state. It was argued that since he was growing the corn instead of purchasing corn, he was affecting commerce. Since corn could potentially be brought in from another state and sold to said farmer, he was affecting sales in the interstate grain trade. Thus, his actions were subject to Federal jurisdiction. From that point on, anything which "exerts a substantial economic effect on interstate commerce" has fallen under the aegis of the Commerce Clause. I think the same would apply if I built PVR's and sold them. TiVo's sales would be affected, (people who bought my system wouldn't likely buy the TiVo system), and I would thus be required to abide by the Federal Laws.
For more info see this article [everything2.com]
Here are good options (Score:5, Informative)
pcHDTV 3000 from here [pchdtv.com]
Air2PC from here [mythic.tv] or here [cyberestore.com]
2. When you're ready, build a computer for MythTV. Use this guide [wilsonet.com], look here [miami.edu] for HDTV tips, and ask questions on this mailing list [mythtv.org]. You can also search for answers on the mailing list archive [gossamer-threads.com].
3. You say that Myth isn't all you want. I think you're wrong. Here's what it can do:
It can record analog content from cable, satellite, and over-the-air broadcasts.
It can record digital content from over-the-air broadcasts, including HDTV.
It can record unencrypted digital content over firewire from some digital cable boxes.
Using free tools that come with MythTV, you can cut commercials and export any recording from MythTV to a number of different formats, including Divx, Xvid, VCD, SVCD, and DVD.
4. Here's what it can't do:
Myth can't record encrypted digital content from digital cable or digital satellite. Keep in mind that no PC-based solution can do this. The only possible ways to do record content from these sources in digital format are to use a black-box solution (usually) provided by the cable or satellite company or to put on your black hacker hat and crack the encryption. If you choose the former, odds are slim and none that you will be able to export the recordings.
Re:pcHDTV 3000 is a Great option! (Score:5, Informative)
It is the thieves that feel it is thier right to steal from people just because they can that have brought this onerrous situation upon us.
I applaud you decision to respect the copyright laws, and not support piracy. On the other hand, I think you are very wrong to think DRM controls have anything to do with piracy. They don't stop anyone from copying a disk, and they are a mere speed bump for anyone who wants to rip content. DRM related laws are not aimed at the lawless, they are useless for stopping piracy. DRM is all about content control for people who obey the laws. Their purpose is to prevent you from moving your already purchased content to a newer format, or displaying it in multiple locations. They are about price fixing in different regions. I'm sorry you have been fooled into believe the smokescreen about piracy. Content producers are not stupid enough to believe that DRM will stop piracy, it is just an excuse.
To make a second point, while I do not violate copyright laws, I think the dirty hands of the content publishers give them little right to complain about copyright violations. Copyright was a two-sided deal, and they have welshed on their half. If copyrights do not enter the public domain and copy-written works are not available for sale at a reasonable price, then the original agreement has been broken and their is no reason why they should have exclusive rights to publish a work. Just because they bribed politicians with the money they made with their government sponsored monopoly, does not make it ethical to fail to fulfill their half of the deal. Of course, corporations are rarely ethical, and generally will do whatever the law allows them to, including change those laws to make more profit. If someone wants to violate these unfair copyright laws, hack content publishers bank accounts, or steal all their staplers, I say "enjoy and good luck."
Re:Write Some Letters (Score:4, Informative)
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20050221-4
JON
Re:Write Some Letters (Score:1, Informative)
No worries mate!
Re:Broadcast Flag (Score:3, Informative)
That's illegal, according to these guys. DMCA and all that. Defeating their encryption scheme is against the law.
Re:Packet sniffer/transformer (Score:3, Informative)
Now to write up this explanation for a third time in less than a year... maybe I should save it.
A digital television transport stream is a stream of binary data divided up into 188 byte packets (the ATSC standard at least). Each packet has a PID stamped on it, and the broadcast flag is carried on a packet with a specific PID (sorry, but I don't have time to drag out the ATSC specs (A/65B in this case I believe)... it would be possible to detect an Redistribution Control Descriptor (RC)(the official name) and restamp the PID of the packet carrying it to be a null packet (0x1FFF).
The problem with this approach is that it is not easy. For over the air signals (or cable for that matter), you would need a tuner and demodulator which turns the RF signals into usable binary data, which in turn would be fed into some sort of processor (FPGA's are good for this) which does the detection and restamping work, and then spits out the altered stream to a modulator which would turn the binary data back into RF signals.
Complicated eh? Worse yet, you could only do it for one channel at a time without spending a fortune on multiple tuners and multiplexers. You could in theory have such a device tied into your receiver box, and start it out at the same channel as your receiver and pick up on the channel change requests from your remote in order to keep it restamping the channel you are looking at... not that this is much simpler.
Such a hack (the simple version) would run around $75-$100 a piece for parts alone. You are far better to attempt to beat it in software, which depending on the API's provided by the card maker, you could do this on your own... in theory.
Re:It's being challenged in court (Score:3, Informative)
In the Lexmark case they only apparently filed amicus briefs. In the DVD-CCA one they funded and coordinated the defense. In the last one they filed a complaint against the company that was threatening JibJab.
There's plenty more listed on the EFF's own web site [eff.org] if you had bothered to look it up.
Shall I continue?
M-I-C-K-E-Y... (Score:4, Informative)
"The CTEA [Copyright Term Extension Act]extended the term of protection by 20 years for works copyrighted after January 1, 1923. Works copyrighted by individuals since 1978 got "life plus 70" rather than the existing "life plus 50". Works made by or for corporations (referred to as "works made for hire") got 95 years. Works copyrighted before 1978 were shielded for 95 years, regardless of how they were produced."
And thus, the reason why I cannot sell my bootleg Mickey shirts for another few decades. :)
--Teechur007
Re:Just for information... (Score:4, Informative)
Yes, and the DMCA passed Congress without a single no vote. The Senate passed it 99-0, and the House passed it on a voice vote (which generally means that there wasn't any real opposition).
I don't know if the parent was attempting to point out that Democrats are solely to blame for things like the DMCA and the Broadcast flag or if he was trying to point out that both parties are to blame. It seems clear to me from the record that you can't blame things on just one party. People shouldn't get the impression that the Republicans have somehow been the guardians of our fair use rights against attacks conducted solely by the Democrats.
Re:pcHDTV 3000 is a Great option! (Score:3, Informative)
The last statistics I saw indicated that less than 20% of Americans don't have cable or satellite. This means that the BF will affect only that small minority who watches digital TV and receives it over the air. It doesn't affect cable viewers, and it doesn't affect satellite viewers.
As far as I know, HBO generally does not go over the air. That's because it's illegal to encrypt OTA TV. The BF is supposed to require equipment to sort of pretend that certain signals are encrypted and treat them as if they are protected. So maybe HBO could eventually use OTA broadcasts, if the BF is successful. But at this time, the BF is irrelevant to HBO.
I don't happen to live in a metropolitan area that has HDTV broadcasters. There are only a couple of TV stations even within reach of my small town, so pretty much everybody here has cable. The BF has no effect on me, and the pcHDTV card would be useless for me. Only a small percentage of people are affected.