I appreciate the reason why MythTV (and thus KnoppMyth) can not play encrypted DVDs due to DMCA, but why can Windows software do it and not Linux can't.

This is something I have been thinking about all day (I know doesn't say much for what is going on in my head), but it confuses me. I can install WinDVD, PowerDVD or something similar on my Windows box and I can watch an encrypted DVD. Put the same DVD into my Linux box and oh no I am breaking the law

Is there any wise person out there that can put my mind at ease as to why you on Windows, but can't on Linux (read KnoppMyth).

P.S. Sorry if I have posted this in the wrong area.

I think the software vendors for WinDVD and PowerDVD pay a licencing fee to the owner of the encryption algorithm. As I understand it, decrypting without paying this licence fee in the US violates the DMCA.

Well that would make sense, so Cyberlink (PowerDVD) must be paying out a fortune for all the software that they give away.

Anyone else got any ideas?

http://www.dvddemystified.com/dvdfaq.html#1.11

http://www.dvddemystified.com/dvdfaq.html#4.8

"Makers of equipment used to display DVD-Video (drives, decoder chips, decoder software, display adapters, etc.) must license CSS. There is an annual $15,000 fee for the CSS license, and qualification is a lengthy process... The license is extremely restrictive in an attempt to keep the CSS algorithm and keys secret"

$15K isn't really that much to a company... that's less than a full-page color ad in some magazines.

They're also a Taiwanese company and thus may get to ignore those pesky US laws...

They can't ignore laws they consider pesky if they intend to sell their products to the USA. I thought this decoding was done on your DVD drive also. That would make it seem redundant to have it also required in software.

From reading the links that ceenvee703 provided I found quite informative and interesting. Where do I get one of the t-shirts?

I bought one ages ago from ThinkGeek.com (or maybe copyleft.org?) but it doesn't look like they sell it anymore. The front says "I am a circumvention device" and includes the four lines of perl qrpff code.

Right, but the additional financial risk they incur when *signing* the agreements is substantially higher than $15K. The knoppmyth, mythtv and the majority of the software component developers are never going to incur such risks themselves for various reasons.

Back to the original post: I've seen answers to the implied question, but they cannot and will not be answered/discussed here for legal/DMCA related reasons.

-brendan

I wasn't implying anything in my original post, from this discussion I now fully understand why KnoppMyth can not support encrypted DVDs. I have seen plenty of posts on this and other forums that would allow me to play them if I so desire, I just could not understand the reasoning why Windows software could and Linux software couldn't. And now I know