[mythtv-users] cablecard

[Jay R. Ashworth]

On Wed, Apr 06, 2005 at 04:21:15PM -0700, Brad Templeton wrote:
> I would be curious what you have heard?   Everything I have heard indicates
> that you don't get a licence to work with cablecard unless you promise to
> be a good boy and not let the video out.    Similar to DVD CCA, stronger even.
> 
> If you can see a way that they would grant a licence to MythTV or any other
> open source project, that would be fabulous.   Of course TV set manufacturers
> and locked PVR vendors will get cablecard access -- that's the whole point
> of the cablecard mandate.
> 
> The problem is that they are taking cablecard beyond what it was intended
> for -- isolating the decryption hardware in a small unit.   There are two
> purposes for the encryption.   One is to assure you can'tt watch HBO unless
> you pay for it.   However, the secondary one is to assure you don't do
> anything not-approved with your HBO even when you have paid for it.
> 
> Not approved means, in particular, allowing the unencrypted video stream out
> where it can be copied.  For example writing it to a hard disk.   Pretty hard
> for Mythtv to get a licence agreeing not to do that.

Just to be clear: the best we're likely to get would be QAM compatible
*tuner cards* with cablecard slots on them.  Don't expect mezzanine
cable support to support more than one tuner card with one cable card,
either, but since they're supposed to be reasonably inexpensive.

Whether we'll get tuner cards that support cablecard, for the reason
Brad enumerates, is an open question.  I would say that anyone who
knows personally anyone at Hauppauge ought to open a quiet dialogue
with them on this issue.

Given the tenuous lease on life that the Broadcast Flag seems to have
at the moment, the odds are perhaps a bit better than they used to
be...

Cheers,
-- jra
-- 
Jay R. Ashworth                                                jra at baylink.com
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