[Oman]

Like many others here I am suffering from the HD Guide / SD distribution issue with the DTV DVRs. I have already ordered the parts I need to get a component / Cat5e replacement system going in my house. It is expensive and I need to figure out one more run of cable. What frightens me though is that starting the weekend of Feb 4th I have had several instances of the analog ports being disabled due to content restrictions. Previously there have been explanations of "oops, our mistake." Now it seems like the answer is "yes, this is coming. We said that was only going to be super-premium events but since the content providers see we CAN do this all pay channels will be HDMI only soon."

That won't fly with me. I've seen some rumblings about it but I can't find anything specific other than for Dish Networks. Is there an official DTV position on this that anyone is aware of?

Thanks
Jon

 

[alnielsen]

This doesn't seem to be a CE issue. You will probably get more eyeballs posting this in the general area.

 

[Scott Kocourek]

I am going to move this to the HD Receiver forum.

 

[Shades228]

I would plan on this becoming the norm no matter what company you have. The content providers want it and the distributors aren't going to make a fuss over it as there is not a valid reason to them to not enable it.

 

[xmguy]

I have a HR21-700 I also have a Hava streamer connected to it over Component. I watched the Super Bowl just fine without being blocked or having the resolution dropped to SD.

 

[TomCat]

...I can't find anything specific other than for Dish Networks. Is there an official DTV position on this that anyone is aware of?

Thanks
Jon

What was DISH's position?

I don't think DBS, or cable for that matter, has much of a dog in this fight, other than they prefer happy customers. But I think they would be more than willing to suffer our ire if it was because the supplier considered not plugging the analog hole to be a deal breaker; no plug...no deal to carry our content. I think they would each cave pretty quickly, regardless of their stated political positions on the matter.

That said, the TV/movie industry need to learn the Napster/iTunes lesson, which is if you try to make stuff hard to get, we will get it in spite of you, and in the process make you, just like the music companies, irrelevant. We only choose to become pirates if you force us to become pirates. Adhering to that business model (full restriction) hurts them more than it hurts us in the long run, and the iTunes model of doing away with DRM and creating a reasonable platform to sell us content is, again in the long run, good for them and us alike.

 

[Shades228]

DISH supports the content providers ability to enable DCHP protection on HD signals. I haven't heard of any distributor telling a content provider no when it's enabled. This only impacts HD channels and it doesn't impact the ability to see it, unless you have an old TV that never supported it, so all it's doing is stopping the average person with a burner from making easy copies. There will always be ways around technology but if the average consumer can't do it they'll just buy it. It's like a lock on a house or a car. Locks keep honest people honest but a real criminal sees it and laughs.