I see today on slashdot that windows media centre honours broadcasters requests not to allow shows to be recorded. in the us this just happened with the final episode of medium and an episode of american gladiator. both from NBC.

http://news.com/8301-10784_3-9946780-7.html

http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/05/19/0237257

No doubt if a patch/crack to stop this behavior isn't already out it will be soon.

And they wonder why people resort to downloading TV episodes illegally? Fortunately they changed the laws in Australia to allow the recording of TV shows for personal use.

That doesn't mean that vista won't block it, timeshifting is legal in america yet vista would not record either of these shows for you because the broadcaster wanted them to not be recorded, so their rights trump your rights and the use of your own equipment.

Its not new, its primary purpose is prevent pay per view from being recorded.

Actually, no, Broadcast flags exist and are used for more than just PPV. The majority of prime time viewing has a 5C setting of at least "Copy once"

This means that your DVR/Tivo/HTPC will record it. But that's where the line ends. Of course, the HTPC is an uncontained medium...you can f*** with the file afterwards. The other devices won't let you pass through the encrypted signal to an external device.

I used to be able to rip the MPEG-2 HD streams from my DVR bit-for-bit and burn them onto DVDs (after removing the ads). Can't anymore, since the networks got wise..

It would appear that there's a "new" flag in between "Copy Once" and "Copy Never" that only happens on Vista HTPCs...

I still own a VCR. Checkmate motherf***ers!

Until it breaks, and you can't get a replacement. :)

I wonder if this effects MS MCE 2005 =/

i tried to burn a tv show (name witheld cause it was for the missus) and it wouldnt allow it too.

And they wonder why people resort to downloading TV episodes illegally? Fortunately they changed the laws in Australia to allow the recording of TV shows for personal use.

agreed... again, the missus wanted latest greys anotomy... couldnt buy it on dvd, couldnt pay for the download of HBO cause they only allow US customers, so we got it on a torrent. Saved myself £40 i guess. suckers.

last edited by mooby at 18:21:18 20/May/08

I still own a VCR. Checkmate motherf***ers!

Uh, yeah... the joke's on us...

This means that your DVR/Tivo/HTPC will record it. But that's where the line ends. Of course, the HTPC is an uncontained medium...you can f*** with the file afterwards. The other devices won't let you pass through the encrypted signal to an external device.

Creepy, I dont get this, do you mean that it has changed or it never could? When I had Tivo, back in the good ol'days, Tivo provided software (d'load from their site) that allowed you to transfer any recorded shows to your computer.

Creepy, I dont get this, do you mean that it has changed or it never could? When I had Tivo, back in the good ol'days, Tivo provided software (d'load from their site) that allowed you to transfer any recorded shows to your computer.

I read this comment earlier on Slashdot today - it implies you can still record to Tivo stuff w/ this flag, but you then can't copy it to your PC..?

ok, I see now on Tivo Site that you can still transfer but not when it is a copy protection program.

That sucks dogs ballz... dont see how they can allow recording but not by a particular system and then not allowing the recording to be able to be screened on your choice of viewing platform.

The 5C encryption flag has three settings:

- Copy Always
- Copy Once
- Copy Never

Basically, Copy Always does as implied - you can record the programme, and then pass on that copy (copy of a copy) to another device unencrypted.

Copy Once permits recording to the device, but the idea is that the copy living on the PVR/DVR is encrypted and cannot be passed onward or duplicated in an unencrypted form.

Copy Never essentially forbids any recording. This is (or was?) rarely used. Some PPV content used this. Only a handful of devices would ignore this setting.


Now, what's happening, is that a lot of stuff is now being flagged as "Copy Once". In theory, this will permit all authorised television recording devices (like Tivo) to give people Time-Shifting ability...which is what the famous SonyVsUniversal court case was all about, with the advent of VCRs way back in the day.

However, TV tuner cards work in such a way that they pretty much disregard the rules of 5C, and will write a decrypted stream to the hard disk drive. This stream is then capable of being tampered with - cut out the ads, convert to XviD or H.264 and distribute freely on the interwebs.

So what has happened here, is that:

1. NBC tested transmission of "Copy Never" material
2. Microsoft engineered Vista MCE to comply with 5C's "Copy Never" flag

The thing is, the US Govt basically has said that the FCC does NOT have the power to enforce manufacturers to comply with 5C encryption. It's very grey area that gets rolled in the "Fair Use Policy" that American consumers live and die by.

I believe the reason this happened in the first place - Microsoft and NBC have a well-known relationship (see: MSNBC) and hence, are looking to protect their content.

Of course, millions of PCs with chingchongchinaman TV cards do not give two s***s about 5C. :)