Pvr-500 and commercial broadcast flag question

[rich_l]

I know that congress is going to require all pvrs to have the commercial broadcast flag pretty soon. Does the pvr-500 have this or did they manage to complete it before the congress bill.

Also, what does the broadcast flag really mean for us? Is it something to really be concerned with or just another annoyance? Is it primarily for set top pvr boxes or is it going to hit the htpc people as well?

Thanks

[PGPfan]

Not to worry, Rich. The PVR-500 and any other ANALOG capture card can't 'see' and therefor can't recongnize "broadcast flags". We will be able to use them just fine.

-PGPfan

[rich_l]

thanks....parents will be happy since it is for them..

[bluenote]

is there hardware that we *should* be purchasing now, though, to avoid the broadcast flag later? I understand you are saying "analog is ignored for this purpose" so what's left? QAM cable co. PVR's ? OTA HDTV? OTA QAM?

I really want direct digital cable (not HD) PVR functionality, but I want to be able to move the content around as opposed to keeping a limited amount on my STB (thats the reason I bought a haup 350 in the first place...). thoughts? Im willing to buy a card now even if I wouldnt be using it yet just so I can get around that broadcast flag later -- I don't trust the cableco's and all this DRM stuff that's going on making it harder for honest people to do what's reasonable with content they pay for.

thanks

Cory

[PGPfan]

Hi Cory,

The thing to keep in mind is what the signal is like as it LEAVES your STB. If it's analog, there is no way that the broadcast flag can be seen/recognized and thereby enforced. As of right now, nobody makes a cable/sat tuner card for the PC that can be used in the US so there aren't really any options there.

As for HDTV, you can get the various OTA cards, but IMO it's such a limited market that you wont see support in Sage very soon, not to mention that as more and more options for HD become available via sat/cable it will be even less popular. The 'dream' capture card is one that can capture the HD "analog" out signal from a HD cable/sat box. Right now, nobody makes one that is reasonably priced. (generally about $800.00 on up) and still not supported via Sage. Time will tell, however.....


-PGPfan

[Crazedz]

More than likely the whole broadcast flag fiasco will have been scrapped or shot down by then so it may not even be an issue.
Remember that this whole fight depends on wheather or not we the consumers will buy into drm or hd at all regaurdless of wheather it's mandated by the goverment or not. If few buy into hd then it will end up as a niche market with little profit and in order to grow they will have to change to attract the customer base. Which will usuealy (note not always because we do from time to time (only from time to time??? Yeah right) make complete fools of ourselves) go the route of least restiction. So the chances that DRM and this will succede in the long run are small. Back when player piano music scrolls came out their was a big fight over that till the goverment stepped in and decided that a small fraction to the cost of the music sheets would goto the music producers, when radio came out they were mainly pirate broadcasts with the music industry fighting over that till the goverment again stepped in to make the music industry accept it with some benifits. When vcr's came out the goverment again eventually decided on the side of the consumers much to the entertainment industries hate and frustration, Though they did end up making much more money off of each of thoughs than they would have if they had not had to be dragged kicking and screaming to the money trough. Makes you wonder what madness and or short sightedness is it that predominates these fools in charge of giving us our entertainment anyway. Next came drm and many were afraid to at the start fight this but after a time the battle has come and continues to be waged at the cost of how many millions that could have gone into the pockets of artists and writers and producers? All for what? To put even more money into the pockets of modern day equvilents of ambulance chasers.

But don't qoute me on that because i have been wrong before from time to time. But with the win loose win loose battle going on over drm and broadcast flaging as well as lawsuits resulting from them the battle is far from over and i think the main deciding factor is wheather we the consumers buy into the entertainment industries(motion picture asociation's/riaa's/lawyers) version of their ideal future or not.

Without us though they are nothing in this modern economy. And if you want to see how music and entertainment really started out watch some shows about tribal africa, Nobody was getting paid and it was about bonding the tribe and preserving/inproving members emotional well being. Not about making a buck or as many bucks as you can.

Oh quick show of hands who remembers the eppisode of the screensavers where leo and patrick anounced that the big 5 in the music industry got caught by the fcc for engaging in price fixing? It was around the time that the riaa was suing napster. They had 5 years earlier agreed not to compete so they could raise the price of music cd's by $5 a disc for 5 years till they got caught and the fcc made them pay a finae and have to be overseen by the fcc for 20 years to keep them from doing the same thing.
Boy if that wasn't the pot calling the cettle black.

Big buisness is always trying to get away with something but they don't always get away with it for long and and sometimes (note not always but sometimes) it costs them more in the long run than if they just worked with us as apposed to against us.

Well anyway we'll just have to see what happens in the next few years and wheather or not it holds up for any lenght of time. And remember were almost 1 year away from the date that broadcasters are supposed to or were supposed to ideally stop broadcasting regular over the air tv signals and have completed or be well on the way to completing the switch to hd tv. How amny homes now acctually have or will have hdtv sets by then or even by the new deadline?

Boy sorry about this im kinda drunk so chalk this up to the rantings of a drunken fool surfing without half a brain on the eave of a holiday without much inhadition left to keep himself from spewing whatever pops into his head, Or not it's up to you.

Anyway happy turkey or toufuurky day as the case maybe.