"Discussion about hacking into the content of Personal Video Recorders (PVR's) including digital transfer of undecoded programming from the PVR's hard drive to another medium is prohibited.[/indent]The only supported way to copy content off of your hard drive is via the Audio/Video outputs - you can connect a DVD burner, PC video capture, even a VCR if you have one of those around.
The only supported use of the USB is to transfer programs to a PocketDish for portable playback. Nothing more."
Hey, JL, I'm not discussing how digital content might be transferred, but I am wondering what the legal situation is, and I'm sure many others on this site share my interest.
Here are the facts: I own my DVR and have paid Dish in full for the satellite broadcasts I've recorded to the HD. Apparently Dish has no problem if I want to transfer a decoded=degraded analog version of these recordings to the medium of my choice. Obviously my use of both the digital content and any analog copies is governed by copyright laws, i.e. I can't sell the content or charge others to view it etc.
I know full well that Dish doesn't "support" any means by which to transfer digital content to another storage medium. The proprietary DVRs haven't been designed to make this possible. The only hardware interface that is intended to work requires use of another piece of proprietary hardware, the PocketDish, and presumably there is no way to get digital content from the PD to another HD, DVD, etc., either (I don't own a PD but assume this is the case).
But, here's my question: if I own the personal use rights to the recorded content and own the physical DVR, what if any is Dish's residual legal interest or property right over that content? If Dish maintains that it has some sort of interest in either the content or the hardware, has this ever been tested in court? Because it seems to that while the artists and production companies that created the content have a residual interest in it under our federal copyright laws, Dish doesn't.
Also, I know that the digital code Dish uses is proprietary. A similar situation to computer code, e.g. Microsoft's Windows operating system code. However, the law allows me to make backup copies of my XP software and of documents created using MS Word, etc. MS does not forbid me from using DVDs, flash media, other HDs, etc. to store these backup copies. So what's the difference between this situation and Dish's stance on making digital backups of legally-recorded content, assuming this were technically possible?
Please elucidate, if you can, so we can all know what is and isn't legal!
Thanks --
CT in AK