[mythtv-users] cablecard

[Joe Votour]

--- "Joseph A. Caputo" <jcaputo1 at comcast.net> wrote:
> On Wednesday 06 April 2005 17:04, dean collins
> wrote:
> > I don't think it will be that restrictive to get
> access to the video
> > stream, lets face it they are going to allow tv
> set manufacturers get
> > access to it etc.
> >
>
http://www.cablelabs.com/news/pr/2005/05_pr_ocap_010605.html
> 
> 
> Um, but a TV can't store protected content or share
> it over the 
> Internet.  Are you familiar with the details of the
> FCC broadcast flag 
> requirement and the 5C consortium's protected
> content requirements?  I 
> suggest you read up on them.
> 
> -JAC
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(As an addendum to your post, Joseph...)

Not to mention that OCAP itself is a bit of a pain.

I haven't read up too much on it since I don't deal
with it, but it's very bloated, very proprietary, and
very expensive.

I have no doubt that CableLabs has set things up with
some sort of public/private keypair that allows OCAP
to interact with the CableCard, thus allowing for the
decoding/manipulation of the data.  How secure that
will be (CableLabs and security don't necessarily go
hand in hand) is another story.

All in all, my experiences with CableLabs have lead me
to not trust them, and to doubt everything that they
do.  They claim that they're all about
interoperability, but in reality, they just follow
what the big boys say.

Basic CableCard functionality is sufficient for a TV
that just needs to decode a stream while playing it,
but anything more than that (PVRs especially) will get
more scrutiny, and will require more than just a
CableCard hardware interface, if they are to do
anything with the data.

Myself, I see Microsoft as the defining factor here. 
I figure that in order to integrate things as well as
they currently do (i.e. an On Screen Display), they're
going to need to decrypt that data somehow.  The PC
architecture is too open to allow that to happen.  So,
I think that based on Microsoft's lead is where things
will go.  If they get full access to the data from the
CableCard, then MythTV, with sufficient work can also
do so (even if it means completely reverse engineering
things).  Otherwise, I have to wonder if Microsoft
will just promote another XBox-like device that
performs the full Media Center functionality (by
XBox-like device, I mean a device that is closed in
nature, as opposed to a Media Center PC).

-- Joe


		
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