Palindrome wrote:
] ] There are only seven months left before the FCC takes
] ] away your right to watch digital television on a device
] ] that isn't Hollywood-approved. Under the new "Broadcast
] ] Flag" regime, the FCC will mandate that every digital
] ] television device include the kind of technology that we
] ] see in cable PVRs (that erase your stored episodes of
] ] "Six Feet Under" after two weeks so that you'll be forced
] ] to pay-per-view your end-of-season marathon) and media
] ] center PCs (that won't let you burn "The Sopranos" to DVD
] ] because HBO has set a no-record flag in their cablecasts
] ] to force you to buy the DVD boxed sets).
]
] ] The tiny silver lining here is that if you can get an
] ] open, freedom-loving digital television tuner between now
] ] and the summer, you'll be able to go on doing practically
] ] anything you like with the digital television you receive
] ] over the air and with your unencrypted cable signal. If
] ] you choose to do this by plugging a DTV tuner into your
] ] computer, you'll be able to archive your shows on your
] ] hard-drive, manipulate them with your favorite editing
] ] software, and email clips to your friends.
]
] Thought some of you might be interested in this info. There's
] some specific info for mac users in the article.

It's a moot point anyways. No provider of digital cable or satellite provides digital outs for their content (whether NTSC or HD). And most tuners that pick up ATSC-HD also don't support digital outs, forcing you to use (at best) the component analog outs. Which just forces the public to use the 'analog hole' that hollywood is bitching about. What this really affects are devices that might be integrated, like the DirecTV satellite tuners with built in Tivo (that also record HD!). Those are fucked.

More proof positive that we'll stunt the industry's innovation and screw the consumer just to protect us from that which we don't understand the value of.