I have been reading with interest the Tivo vs. Oceanic Cable's DVR. The Tivo and other hard drive based devices like it offer consumers with a lot of flexibility to schedule, time shift and share programs with others. Sounds fine and dandy.
There looms a barrier to total digital flexibility come July 2005. A new technology known as the Digital Broadcast Flag will be required on all consumer TVs for sale after July 2005 and digital recorders too. The reason this technology is being mandated by the government is because the movie and TV studios want to prevent consumers from allowing "me to send shows to friends over the Internet, get shows from them, and download all sorts of content from third-parties. So far, the sky remains the limit," says PZ on the Tivo thread.
Well not for too long.
The broadcast flag is being put into place to prevent this kind of thing for happening in the HDTV format. Want to continue trading and stuff with your present Tivo? You may have to jury rig the thing if you buy a newer digital TV set that will prevent the Tivo from working as presently constituted.
I don't know about other current digital devices.
The broadcast flag will also prevent new DVD recorders from reproducing some (if not all) high def digital content. And whatever content you CAN record will not work on the DVD players you have today.
Will the DVD discs we all own today work on new DVD players built for HDTV? I hope so. I cannot fathom to think about buying the same movies all over again for a 3rd time, nor re-buying several hundred dollars worth of Babylon 5 episodes all over again because my present set will cease to work in some upcoming future device.
Some people are already urging consumers to stock up on some of the digital equipment that are currently offered now, because so far none have the digital broadcast flag technology.
The EFF has already started a campaign to help consumers fight the broadcast flag by purchasing certain types of equipment (including PC video capture cards) and setting them up so that users can continue to time shift and share programs as they do today.
Bottom line is that the broadcast flag much like upcoming copy protected compact discs are a draconian way to punish consumers for what is perfectly legal to do today.
Any thoughts????
There looms a barrier to total digital flexibility come July 2005. A new technology known as the Digital Broadcast Flag will be required on all consumer TVs for sale after July 2005 and digital recorders too. The reason this technology is being mandated by the government is because the movie and TV studios want to prevent consumers from allowing "me to send shows to friends over the Internet, get shows from them, and download all sorts of content from third-parties. So far, the sky remains the limit," says PZ on the Tivo thread.
Well not for too long.
The broadcast flag is being put into place to prevent this kind of thing for happening in the HDTV format. Want to continue trading and stuff with your present Tivo? You may have to jury rig the thing if you buy a newer digital TV set that will prevent the Tivo from working as presently constituted.
I don't know about other current digital devices.
The broadcast flag will also prevent new DVD recorders from reproducing some (if not all) high def digital content. And whatever content you CAN record will not work on the DVD players you have today.
Will the DVD discs we all own today work on new DVD players built for HDTV? I hope so. I cannot fathom to think about buying the same movies all over again for a 3rd time, nor re-buying several hundred dollars worth of Babylon 5 episodes all over again because my present set will cease to work in some upcoming future device.
Some people are already urging consumers to stock up on some of the digital equipment that are currently offered now, because so far none have the digital broadcast flag technology.
The EFF has already started a campaign to help consumers fight the broadcast flag by purchasing certain types of equipment (including PC video capture cards) and setting them up so that users can continue to time shift and share programs as they do today.
Bottom line is that the broadcast flag much like upcoming copy protected compact discs are a draconian way to punish consumers for what is perfectly legal to do today.
Any thoughts????
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