Broadcast flag

[philly_phenom]

I assume many of you have seen this.

Were any GBPVR users affected by this? I don't watch AG, so I don't know, but it's scary none the less.

I know GBPVR itself wouldn't give a rats arse about the broadcast flag, but I wasn't sure if whatever Windows components it depends on would - If it does, would staying on XP SP2 prevent issues?

[whurlston]

I doubt it. Canadian users have been plagued by that same problem with WMC for years and their protests have been ignored. It's the reason most of them switched to any other PVR software. WMC is the only one that "honors" the copy flags.

I might run over to tgb to see the fallout though.

[philly_phenom]

I doubt it. Canadian users have been plagued by that same problem with WMC for years and their protests have been ignored. It's the reason most of them switched to any other PVR software. WMC is the only one that "honors" the copy flags.

I might run over to tgb to see the fallout though.

tgb?

[mvallevand]

thegreenbutton There was a related thread on this here not too long ago

http://forums.nextpvr.com/showthread.php...light=flag

Martin

[whurlston]

Man, every news article makes it sound like it only happened with the HDHomeRun. It would have happened with any ATSC tuner and at least one HVR-1600 owner confirmed it.

[philly_phenom]

Man, every news article makes it sound like it only happened with the HDHomeRun. It would have happened with any ATSC tuner and at least one HVR-1600 owner confirmed it.

That's what didn't make any sense to me - it looked to be a Microsoft issue, not any particular tuner. I was mainly curious to see if it was WMC only or if the DRM that MS so proudly embraces would affect users of other PVR solutions.

[whurlston]

I didn't try to record that show but I'm pretty sure it's WMC only.

[mvallevand]

What I have never really understood is how that impacts us here in Canada because there is so little clear QAM and I don't how this broadcast flag is even making it into the analog broadcasts that we do have available.

I do see why there is a link with the HDHR though. MCE/VMC don't really support clear-QAM so Silicon Dust almost created a market for themselves and so they stand to lose the most too.

Martin

[whurlston]

The analog issue is technically not the "broadcast flag" that is part of ATSC. It is the CGMS-A flag which is a US only implementation (from the FCC). Canada does not have CGMS-A or any laws regarding it but the Canadian cable providers figured out that MCE was honoring it so they began inserted it into the stream. Then they could say, "If you want to record, you need to rent a PVR box from us."

[philly_phenom]

Then they could say, "If you want to record, you need to rent a PVR box from us."

Sounds about right - stuff like that burns me up (especially with rumblings on the horizon about closing the analog hole).

I'd be able to live with it (through gritted teeth) if the DVR's they provided 1) allowed for multi-room viewing and 2) actually had a bit of storage capacity to them.

I have a Motorola DCH3416 from Comcast & I can barely fit 15-20 hours of HD content on it. A couple ballgames & I'm over 60% already. If I'm gone for a week, I'd miss shows that get deleted when the box fills up after 5 days...

At least I can get my locals now & can get some of the Phillies games on my PC - can't wait for my HD-PVR to get here so I can record Comcast Sportsnet HD w/ GBPVR.