[mythtv-users] Be vewy, vewy quiet! We'a huntin' pirates! hehehehehehe!

[Joseph Caputo]

On 6/21/07, Sam Varshavchik <mrsam at courier-mta.com> wrote:

[snip]

> I believe that it is possible to implement technical measures to prevent
> wholesale piracy of program guide data, yet allow legitimate usage by
> MythTV, with some minimal impact.

I don't recall "wholesale piracy" being the issue -- I don't think
anyone was *stealing* the guide data in its totality (just stealing
bits of it at a time...).  I may be wrong...

[snip]

> On the other hand, look at an individual MythTV subscriber? What does he/she
> "use"?
>
> As far as I can tell, you and me only "use" program details about stuff we
> record. You and me also need to do simple keyword searches, and perhaps get
> quick snapshots of abbreviated program titles for short blocks of time, to
> display the channel grid.
>
> That's the difference. We do not need to really know the details of all
> programs on every channel, 24x7. Just the stuff that we watch. That's the
> technical difference between us, legitimate subscribers, and whoever's
> stealing and reselling whole program data. That's the key difference that
> the technical solution can explot.  Here's how.

Have you used Myth's advanced scheduling features much?  How would you
be able to set up advanced rule-based schedules if you don't download
all of the data about every program in the schedule?  For instance, if
I want to record everything starring John Wayne, or anything
containing the phrase "World War II" in the description (which I can
do now with complete access to the DataDirect guide info), how would I
do that without *all* of the guide data available to query?

-JAC