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Xsecrets

How is this bad for linux htpcs?

I agree with Greg, I don't believe this will effect Linux in the slightiest, as currently people can get HD into there systems from Cable boxes and the likes, and MythTV can handle this now.

Just something else MS has got there money and hands in.

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Girkers

I found more about my question in the comments on this slashdot article:
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/1 ... 09&tid=188

But being from Australia, and not really knowing anything about the cable TV market in the US, I'm not sure I fully understand the implications.

Yes I understand people can do it now I myself use my comcast firewire connection to record hdtv, however once this becomes standard and the cable companies see that there is a solution for the consumers out there you can be assured they will encrypt and lock everything up so that only the microsoft solution works. Of course there will always be the OTA, but without a good rooftop antena (not an option for me in an apartment) it is just not all that reliable. I have no doubt that once the cablecard becomes the accepted way to deliver media then the cable companies will pay someone at the FCC enough to let them lock everything else out.

this is all of course long term, as the microsoft product won't even be out till end of 2006 and we all know how microsofts time tables work, so we have a few years, but we've all also seen what the MPAA and the likes are pushing for.

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Xsecrets

I think that MS and CableLabs may be a little optimistic of their chances of success.

The bottom line is that encryption is pretty useless when the person you are trying to protect yourself from is also the person you want to view (decrypt) the data.

The problem they are trying to solve is the same as the one with DVDs. The most that can be done technically is to create a minor inconvenience. It does nothing to stop the "bad guy" from copying and selling content. I does make a lot of honest customers unhappy though.

Things will get interesting when the lawsuits start. The media industry is already getting a bad name for suing parents and grandparents because their children discovered how to download a movie. I wonder how far they will get trying to sue someone who has paid for the service, but is using Linux box the same way other customers are using MS boxes?

We'll have to wait and see how this plays out. I don't think we'll see the end of HD on Linux.

Allen

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ASUS AT3N7A-I (Atom 330)
TBS 8922 PCI (DVB-S2)

well yes most of the protection schemes thus far have been rather severely flawed, and quickly broken, but they are learning from each one. It is quite possible to write a copy protection mechanism that could take a very long time to crack. At the very least you'll have to find a way to get your hands on one of the cablecard cards, which I'm sure will be difficult to come by unless you're some large manufacturer of stb's or an MS media centre affiliate. Then once you have your hands on the card you or someone else has to reverse engineer a dirver for it. once that's done or more likely in the process somwhere you have to crack the drm. This will give MS someting that Linux will not be able to do for a good 2 years (after it's released to mass market) minimum. I understand many people here are saying it's not the only way to hd content, maybe not the best, but I'm saying that all the other avenues other than OTA will dissapear quickly.

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Xsecrets

Still over a year away. They'll have to pry Knopp(MythTV) out of my cold dead hands. Support the EFF.

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cesman

When the source is open, the possibilities are endless!

Actually, I think they are finally starting to realise that if it can be viewed, it can be copied. The media industry has a big problem. They are panicking and starting to do stupid things. What Sony did recently was unbelievable.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/16/technology/16sony.html

Copyright protection is important. Unfortunatly, no one knows how to make it work in a digital world. I support the EFF to maintain reason in the panic.

I think we're going to see more stories like Sony's. Their spectacular failures are going to make entertaining reading.

Unfortunately, I expect the end result will be something that takes (as already mentioned) 1-2 years for customers to get tools on linux to view what they are legally entitled to view. I can wait. In the mean time, they will have lost a customer.

Allen

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ASUS AT3N7A-I (Atom 330)
TBS 8922 PCI (DVB-S2)

Actually, I think they are finally starting to realise that if it can be viewed, it can be copied. The media industry has a big problem. They are panicking and starting to do stupid things. What Sony did recently was unbelievable.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/16/technology/16sony.html

Copyright protection is important. Unfortunatly, no one knows how to make it work in a digital world. I support the EFF to maintain reason in the panic.

I think we're going to see more stories like Sony's. Their spectacular failures are going to make entertaining reading.

Unfortunately, I expect the end result will be something that takes (as already mentioned) 1-2 years for customers to get tools on linux to view what they are legally entitled to view. I can wait. In the mean time, they will have lost a customer.

Allen

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ASUS AT3N7A-I (Atom 330)
TBS 8922 PCI (DVB-S2)

I don't really want to get off topic even in an off topic post, but that whole sony rootkit thing you linked is just so wrong on so many levels, and to top it all off they were using gpl code in the whole mess in violation of the liscense.

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Xsecrets

True, but the big problem with more "secure" schemes is that they are invariably harder to use. These folks are having lots of fun trying to balance ease of use with security. If it's not easy to use, their support costs go up. If it's not secure, their legal costs go up. Rock and a hard place, if you ask me... But in the end, as usual, they're missing the real issues and focusing on those that they think are easier to fix.

This:



and this:



are the KEY points in this fight. Well said alien.