SOC the slippery slope begins or here goes the HD-PVR.

[joematt]

FCC Allows Blocking of Set-Top Box Outputs

"Federal regulators are endorsing Hollywood's efforts to let cable and satellite TV companies turn off output connections on the back of set-top boxes to prevent illegal copying of movies. ... In its decision Friday, the agency stressed that its waiver includes several important conditions, including limits on how long studios can use the blocking technology. The FCC said the technology cannot be used on a particular movie once it is out on DVD or Blu-Ray, or after 90 days from the time it is first used on that movie, whichever comes first."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100507/...vie_recordings

http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_publi...A-10-795A1.pdf

[freedml]

So does this mean that we'd need an HDMI equivalent of the HD-PVR to get around this?

[robk]

I don't see how that would affect HD PVR's at all. The movies presently being offered are either PPV which are released on DVD and/or BlueRay, or older movies on the Premium channels like HBO, Cinemax, etc.
Looks like the only change would be not having the ability to view movies released to theaters and within a very short period of time, available as a PPV (probably at double the regular PPV price!)

Or am I reading it wrong? Hope not cause I bought a HD PVR 2 weeks ago....

Rob

[korben_dallas]

The FCC said the technology cannot be used on a particular movie once it is out on DVD or Blu-Ray, or after 90 days from the time it is first used on that movie, whichever comes first.

I would be very surprised if movie channels like HBO Showtime Cmax etc. would be allowed to play movies *non-ppv* prior to disc release. The whole point of early release to home viewers is to generate extra revenue tied to the cinema release "weekend" of a movie, since that is when the advertising blitz and audience word-of-mouth buzz is happening. The only way to generate additional revenue is PPV.

So in practicality, this doesn't affect too many HTPC'ers. However, I do not like the potential slippery slope of giving up functionality of personally-owned in-the-home equipment to outside influences.

[PiX64]

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2363556,00.asp

i dont' like it!

[nettech_gt]

I know this has been disused before....but now its looking more official...

http://www.businessweek.com/news/201...nt-piracy.html

* merged *

[srothwell]

Originally Posted by nettech_gt

I know this has been disused before....but now its looking more official...

http://www.businessweek.com/news/201...nt-piracy.html

Realizing that sometimes these things are just the beginning..... there's not a lot that's changing......

It only says that they can do it on movies on demand and not for regualr HDTV. and that as soon as the movie is available on DVD, they have to turn the analog outputs back on.

[Clift]

They will find a way to "screw it up" like the Firewire 5C encryption or the fact that some markets still encrypt OTA HDTV. The problem is that once it's screwed up, good luck getting it fixed. If it's only the minority of people complaining, where and who are they complaining to? If that complaint is to the FCC, how quickly until they resolve the issue? Will they just send an open letter to the offending CablCo and wait for them to respond? What if the offense is only regional or spotty? You see where I am going with this? And I am not just arbitrarily speaking here either. I used to record from Firewire till I moved 45 minutes north of where I lived prior. My new home was a takeover of Comcast from Adelphia Cable. The Firewire implementation was a mess. Nobody knew where or how to get a cable box with Firewire and worse yet, ALL channels were encrypted coming out of the Firewire port, even though they were available in ClearQAM. Complaints to the FCC went nowhere, very slowly.

And remember, it only takes one slip up to ruin a lot of peoples day. Imagine someone enabling SoC on Superbowl Sunday "by mistake." Granted, it would hurt them more due to lost revenue, but don't think the same couldn't happen for [your favorite Pay Per View sporting event]. All by mistake, of course.

[srothwell]

Very valid point

[stanger89]

Originally Posted by Clift

They will find a way to "screw it up" like the Firewire 5C encryption or the fact that some markets still encrypt OTA HDTV.

But remember, a screw up with SOC will hit a lot more people than encrypted QAM or 5C flag issues. It will hit everyone who has their cable boxes hooked up with Component, so we're not talking about just a few crazies running PC DVRs, we're talking about the majority of customers are susceptible to a SOC screw up.

[panteragstk]

I read this article today. I was under the impression that this decision was for future blu-ray players. The article seems to indicate that it will effect TV as well.

* merged *

[Fuzzy]

Originally Posted by panteragstk

I read this article today. I was under the impression that this decision was for future blu-ray players. The article seems to indicate that it will effect TV as well.

* merged *

It CAN affect STB component outputs, but only in the realm of early release PPV (meaning movies available on PPV prior to the DVD release). Once the DVD is released, they can't lock the outputs.

[sutcliff]

I read online:

"After almost two years of deliberation, the Federal Communications Commission has granted Hollywood and cable companies permission to shut down analog streams to HDTV equipped home theaters."

What does that mean to people like me that use an hvr-1600 and svideo to capture video from a STB?

Does that kill my sage experiance?


* merged *

[tvmaster2]

Originally Posted by sutcliff

I read online:

"After almost two years of deliberation, the Federal Communications Commission has granted Hollywood and cable companies permission to shut down analog streams to HDTV equipped home theaters."

What does that mean to people like me that use an hvr-1600 and svideo to capture video from a STB?

Does that kill my sage experiance?


* merged *

Yes - I'd like to know this as well. Is there a better, more recent thread for this story, as it seems to pretty much kill things like Sage, Media Center and HD-PVR, especially is cable companies get greedy with the "oops, we turned what off? Now how do we turn that back on again - call us in a month. click"
know what I mean?
This month Cox Communications is ending Usenet service, because, as they put it: "nobody uses Usenet". Really? I don't remember them asking me.

[tvmaster2]

Found this on another forum thread, regarding the recent decision by the FCC to allow cable companies and content providers to turn-off the analog outputs of cable or satellite boxes:

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2363556,00.asp

Here's a snipit: "Studios will be limited to a 90-day schedule, in that they'll only have a maximum of 90 days to enable the blocking technology for any given release. Following that, or the release of a film onto a prerecorded format like DVD or Blu-Ray, the blocking technology will immediately expire--whichever situation happens first."

so, does that mean that a regular HBO, Starz, etc release (not PPV) will be restricted for 90 days? Hell, when HBO releases something like Star Trek for example, it rarely PLAYS for 90 days.

Can someone with a law degree figure out just what the FCC is up to? I was just about to buy another HD-PVR, but until this is made clearer, it seems to me that it's "advantage cable co.'s"

* merged with thread where info came from *

[ke6guj]

Originally Posted by tvmaster2

Here's a snipit: "Studios will be limited to a 90-day schedule, in that they'll only have a maximum of 90 days to enable the blocking technology for any given release. Following that, or the release of a film onto a prerecorded format like DVD or Blu-Ray, the blocking technology will immediately expire--whichever situation happens first."

it was covered in that other thread, but the underlined portion is the important part. HBO, Showtime, etc normally do not show movied like Star Trek before they have been released on DVD.

This law is dealing with the PPV market and the rumored intent of the movie studios to get closer to 0-day PPV sales. By putting a 90-day lock on the analog outlet, they are trying to prevent people from recording that brand new movie.

[mistergq]

This is not bad news, and at least for me a non-issue. We don't watch VOD/PPV through the HD PVR as Sage can't control those menus. All the regular channels that we do watch are fine.

[tvmaster2]

Originally Posted by ke6guj

it was covered in that other thread, but the underlined portion is the important part. HBO, Showtime, etc normally do not show movied like Star Trek before they have been released on DVD.

This law is dealing with the PPV market and the rumored intent of the movie studios to get closer to 0-day PPV sales. By putting a 90-day lock on the analog outlet, they are trying to prevent people from recording that brand new movie.

So the flag is on the movie, as opposed to the "output"? The way I read one interpretation, the 90 days was on the "film", as opposed to just a PPV film. If it is indeed JUST PPV, then we initially have no worries. Still, I find it interesting that HD-PVR's are on sale at the moment, just about everywhere you look, and seemed to go on sale just a few weeks ago. Wonder why that is?
PS - I put this in the "hardware" thread because of my concern over how it effects "hardware"
Why did someone move it?
thanks