[mythtv-users] Any new updates/version of MythTV in sight?

[Richard Freeman]

Reza Naima wrote:
> 
> I'm trying to help by finding a developer to write FPGA code to encrypt
> HD video on the fly to mpeg2/mpeg4 so we can build our own HD video
> capture system... but it seems a bit obsurd that I have to go to such
> extremes to do what tivo does now...
> 

This isn't an easy problem to solve.  Most realtime-HD encoding hardware
costs a fortune.  However, I think that it will be comercially available
reasonably soon.  I'm not sure it will be practical using an FPGA
anytime soon - an FPGA will always be a lot more costly than a chip
built using the usual methods.  You really need something analogous to a
DSP.

One problem with all of this is that HDTV processing is pretty
hardware-intensive.  You need hardware to encode HD on the fly.  You
need blessed hardware to talk HDCP (or you need to crack it) if you want
to be future-proof.  That means that all the MPAA/Comcast/whatever needs
to do is convince a judge that your custom-made board is an infringement
tool and now you won't be able to make them on any scale to make it
profitable.  Once general-purpose CPUs can process HD on the fly then
you can just post your code on TPB and nobody can really do anything
about it.  You could also try to get it to work on consumer-accessible
hardware with multiple uses (general purpose FPGA boards if they work,
GPUs, etc).  The key is that you need to put the controversial stuff in
software which is easier to distribute.

And for the record I do not advocate the violation of DMCA/etc...