Anyone with DirecTV: HBO, "The Dish" and No Record/Copy (1 Viewer)

[Scooter]

I just saw this on usenet and I found it to be somewhat alarming.

Quote (from a usenet poster):

"This evening, both HBO and BHO-west showed "The Dish". The banner carried the legend "Can't copy". The one touch record system was disables for both D-VHS and (S)-VHS controls. The scheduler refused to

accept record instructions and the DirecTV receiver turned on both AGC and ColorStripe Macrovision.

So much for "nothing to worry about" with encrypted DVI with analog degradation. HBO basically co-opted the fair use clause of the copyright laws and flaunted the meaning and spirit of the Supreme Court ruling in

Disney vs Sony.

Even if this instance was only a test, it's clear that broadcast copy protection is in our future.

I'm off to the HBO website to file a complaint (for all the good it will do).

Matthew"

Anyone else experience this?

This came from the usnet group alt.tv.tech.hdtv

 

[Gary Kellerman]

There is a social aspect here should any broadcast services from terresterial, satellite or cable introduce any form of an anti-copying scheme. I am sure that many people cannot just sit down at an appointed time to watch a particular show. Even if you tried to sit down at a specific time to watch something, your phone might ring and now you are in a conversation missing the show. For myself, perscription drugs effect me in such a way that I might doze off regardless how good the show is. With home recording devices, one personally can controll the time they have to sit down and watch their show of choice. If the phone rings or if you doze off, its still on the recording machine for one to play back at one's convenience. If there is no ability to record with the new technology that will be coming in the near or far future where people control the time they want to watch a particular presentation, this may very well affect the sales of the new technologies.

 

[Bob_J_M]

Scooter,

Both you and your friend are missing the point when you vilify DVI. Your friend was not using DVI, let alone DVI w/HDCP. As this experience shows, effective copy protection can be implemented without DVI/HDCP.

I assume your friend has the DirectTV reciever connected to his D-VHS deck via firewire. If so, the copy protection system that caused your friend's D-VHS deck to prohibit recording is called DTCP or 5C or DTVLink. The DirecTV receiver activated this protection on the firewire output. It's unclear whether this was HBO's decision or DirecTV's decision.

I find your friend's report disturbing. Clearly, the program was encoded 'copy never'. By my reading of the DTCP license, HBO should not qualify as a source of 'copy never' material. (That's reserved for PPV and the like.) I wonder if this was a mistake or a test? Or maybe DirecTV and/or HBO do not respect the rules of DTCP? (If so, huge, huge mistake!!!)

Your friend misinterprets the spirit of the law and the Supreme Court ruling when he says "HBO basically co-opted the fair use clause of the copyright laws and flaunted the meaning and spirit of the Supreme Court ruling in Disney vs Sony" In this case, you probably do have the right to make a copy for personal use, but the courts have never suggested that a copyright holder should be obliged to provide the ability.

Pre-recorded DVDs and VHS tapes also do not permit copying, no matter how honorable your intentions may be. With DVDs, however, you can time-shift by popping the DVD in the player any time you want. It's a huge mistake not to allow time-shifting of all broadcast material, even PPV.

At the present time, the industry only plans to allow PPV time-shifting with PVRs - and the PVR can't offload the program. In fact, there are time restrictions on how long the program can be stored. In my opinion, they've miscalculated and PPV is going to be a bust unless everyone has STBs with built-in PVRs.

Needless to say, there's going to be hell to pay if they make HBO 'copy never'

 

[MickeS]

I don't see what HBO has to gain by making something "copy never". It's not like they have advertisers breathing down their necks to stop people from skipping commercials. Why would they do this?

 

[Scooter]

This guy is not my pal..simply saw his post on that newsgroup. What I found double disturbing in what he said is that they were preventing analog taping..

"...D-VHS and (S)-VHS controls. The scheduler refused to

accept record instructions and the DirecTV receiver turned on both AGC (automatic gain control (my addition) ) and ColorStripe Macrovision."

As for his interpretation of laws..rulings..etc. I felt obligated to quote him in full.

 

[Rachael B]

Micke, like, maybe the MPAA told them they couldn't have movies anymore if they didn't, maybe? The digital war is heating up on all fronts me thinks. Best wishes!

 

[Glenn Overholt]

I don't believe that they've done that, and if it keeps up, I'm going to remove HBO from my lineup, and make sure that DTV knows why.

Glenn