What to do about HDTV, before FCC cripples it?

nordstrodamusnordstrodamus
Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
FCC accepts broadcast flag scheme



As I understand it, by 2005 all HDTV receivers will be required to watch for a digital flag in the content, limiting the rights of the viewer to record the material. Current tuners (both set-top and PCI cards) are not yet crippled and will completely ignore the flag.



This is particularly troublesome to us mac users as I don't think there are any HDTV tuner cards available for the mac, but I sure as hell want to buy one before they are crippled by law.



So, a few questions-



1. Do you think non-crippled cards will still be available abroad?



2. Will efforts like software defined radio make it possible to implement a non-crippled card in software?



3. Has any company announced plans to release and HDTV tuner for the mac?

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 3
    stevesteve Posts: 523member
    Mandating this HDTV copy protection system from the Federal Government is a bad idea for the consumers the FCC is mandated to serve.



    1. NO copy protection is ever 100% secure for more than a VERY brief time. When this hardware-based protection is broken by criminals, what will consumers have to do? Buy ANOTHER piece of hardware with updated copy protection? Send their TV tuner in for a firmware update? This is not a practical idea.



    2. Why should consumers have to bear the cost of copy protection that will ultimately be ineffective? What about all the people that already bought HDTV who now have to spend MORE to get full broadcast quality on HDTV if this system is approved? Make the industry pushing for these ill-conceived provisions reimburse the working-class people their decision will affect (early adopters of HDTV whose system will be obsoleted) for the cost of these hardware upgrades!



    3. Analog broadcasts can still be recorded forever, and this hole will never be effectively plugged.



    4. Consumers right to record broadcasts has been firmly established in the Betamax case. This is a stealth attempt by the industry to regulate what can and cannot be recorded, and is unappreciated.



    5. How will this affect the emerging market for TiVo and similar devices. If a program is marked as "unrecordable" or "untransferrable", it would directly affect the functionality of these emerging devices that are the future of television viewing.



    6. The costs of a "fully secure" system (HDTV, Tuner, DVD, etc) will be so prohibitive that people simply will not buy, further slowing the HDTV rollout and mass-acceptance. Consumers want choice, flexibility, and convenience. This system takes that away under the guise of "protecting" the content providers. It is NOT in the best interests of anyone but the content providers and is actually anti-consumer, taking away rights that have been established for more than 25 years.



    7. Stronger enforcement of existing anti-piracy laws will do far more than anything the broadcast flag can do in the real world. Unfortunately, that shifts the burden of cost to the content providers and law-enforcement, who are more vocal about budget constraints than a largely unaware consumer population. However, if this is enacted, that consumer population will vote with their wallets and stall HDTV acceptance progress...again.
  • Reply 2 of 3
    ebbyebby Posts: 3,110member
    Unfortunately, this technology is already in use today. This FCC regulation just makes it mandatory. Even today, my GL1 will not record some news programs that send a copyright signal. People need to get together soon and stop this kind of crippling technology. I can legally record anything I see on TV to watch later. That is my right and the only thing I can think of to change this is a boatload of lawsuits from thousands of costomers. (Like the RIAA vs downloaders)
  • Reply 3 of 3
    aquaticaquatic Posts: 5,602member
    This law better not go through. This is so ridiculous, like everyone is saying it won't even make slow people down who want to record TV, we'll all found loopholes in a matter of weeks. It just annoys the crap out of regular customers. Same thing with the new draconian secure audio CDs. What the hell is wrong with the media industry!? Do they WANT to die? They are trying to plug there ears and say "uh uh uh uh I can't heeeear youooo" to TiVo, the iTunes Music Store, and the new medium for distributing content: the Internet. Idiots...
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