Losing Control of Your TV

sp00 writes "The MPAA is now trying to prevent high quality copies made from TV broadcasts. The latest anti-piracy move will prevent you from making high-quality copies of broadcast TV programs. And the new "broadcast flag" technology enables all manner of other restrictions. In the future, the Motion Picture Association of America will control your television set."

If they want control.....

[gillrock]

Then I want control over the price....

If I don't own the TV set outright, I shouldn't have to pay $3000 for a plasma TV. I think I should only have to pay $3.

broadcast flag?

[Anonymous Coward]

how about an evil flag, so when the latest fox reality show is on, my signal quality is automagically reduced to nil.

Who'da thunk it?

[Anonymous Coward]

Who'da thunk the MPAA would be the ones to institute the ominous Evil Bit [slashdot.org]?

Re:What about low-quality copies?

[SoupGuru]

Low quality? You mean there's something better than VHS out there?

Something about this confuses me

[Anonymous Coward]

High quality? TV broadcasts? This does not compute.

It's the show

[AtariAmarok]

Come to think of it, it is impossible to make a "high quality" anything if the TV show concerned is "Dharma and Greg". I think the entire UPN network will be exempt from these restrictions too. (I'd mention the ABC network, but I didn't think it was around anymore)

hmm...

[Anonymous Coward]

I don't know about you but I use a "Remote Control" to control my TV I don't call someone over to do it for me

Would be nice every now and then I guess when I don't have the "Remote Control" on hand or it's lost.

There will be a hack to fix this problem if/when it comes around.

Re:What about low-quality copies?

[pilgrim23]

Indeed. Seems to me that if this only applies to High Quality TV then, given the current status of the art, there is nothing to block. I stopped watching TV over a decade ago. Only High Quality on TV any more is the drug ads.

Dunno about your TV

[jefdiesel]

Dunno about your tv.. but mine has all kinds of cool moving pictures. They dance, and laugh, and shoot each other, and on Cop Rock, they even SING! [jumptheshark.com]

We control the vertical!

[mckeowbc]

It's Outer Limits for real this time!

Re:Time to drag out this old chestnut, It might ap

[AtariAmarok]

First they came for the ooffshore pirate DVD factories,
and I didn't speak up,
because I wasn't an offshore DVD pirate.
Then they came for the Kazaa users,
and I didn't speak up,
because I didn't use Kazaa.
Then they came for the VHS copiers,
and I didn't speak up,
because I still used Betemax.
Then they came for me,
and I turned off the set.

Re:Obligatory Comment

[ktulu1115]

In Soviet Russia, your television set will control the Motion Picture Association of America!

How can we get that technology over here?? :)

Re:But...

[happyfrogcow]

Longhorn has been released? What, did I miss the years 2004 and 2005? I thought Longhorn was slated for 2006 release? Or are you talking about some beta or developers version?

I don't think they need to worry.

[Java Pimp]

Who is actually recording television anymore? With what [go.com] they [nbc.com] consider [cbs.com] quality [nbc.com] television [nbc.com], I'm surprized more people aren't doing more interesting things like taking a Craftsman cordless drill to the soles of their feet or jamming needles in their armpits.

Re:Time to drag out this old chestnut, It might ap

[Anonymous Coward]

Too bad they never went after the douchebags who post irrelevant quotes.

The revolution will be televised...

[Omega]

The revolution will be televised...

Please check with the MPAA to acquire a license to view the revolution.

Re:All they are doing

[screwballicus]

Creating a market for tv's imported from countries that don't have the restrictions and a black market for chipping sets.

Right. Next step: region-encoded AV input-output standards compliance for TVs and displays.

Re:What television?

[Anonymous Coward]

Man Constantly Mentioning He Doesn't Own a Television [theonion.com]

That's not something to be proud of

[Anonymous Coward]

It's like "What book? Never heard of it. Don't own one. Haven't since May 1978. You really should get rid of your books too"

Re:If they want control.....

[thedillybar]

Oh boy. Pretty soon you will be able to go to the store and pick up a "free TV." Banner ads the entire time and for every 10 minutes of TV, you have to watch 5 minutes of commercials.

Don't think you can turn it on and walk away, because we'll randomly make you hit buttons on the TV/remote to make sure you're watching. If you continously hit the button and try to screw our scheme, we'll penalize you by making you watch more!

Re:Get rid of it

[ChrisN79]

Obligatory link to Onion article about guy who doesn't own television:

http://www.theonion.com/onion3604/doesnt_own_telev ision.html [theonion.com]

even simpler

[Petronius]

You'll be able to buy a simple device whose sole purpose is to NULL that flag in the input stream.
It'll probably retail for $9.99 on the web.

That's until a college student figures out that all it takes to disable the DRM feature is holding the SHIFT key on your remote.

I can't wait for 'the flag'...

Re:Thank our government for this!

[Christianfreak]

[tin foil hat]

Yeah and next they're going to put in a battery backup so that even when you unplug it just keeps playing forever.

And then they'll make them so that it contains nano-bots that repair everything if you try to physically break the hardware.
[/tin foil hat]

Re:And that is one reason to stop watching TV

[Anonymous Coward]

Have to disagree about Stargate. That show is completely unrealistic.

There was one episode where they had one ion gun, but they needed many more. How stupid is that? They have MacGyver. He can make ion guns by the thousands with a banana peel and some rubber bands, for crying out loud!

Re:What about low-quality copies?

[sik0fewl]

Low quality? You mean there's something better than VHS out there?

Where have you been? Of course there's something better. It's called Betamax [wikipedia.org].

Lost it long ago

[rossz]

I lost control of my TV long ago.

I have a teenage daughter.

Re:What about low-quality copies?

[threephaseboy]

This DVD Decoder removes noise and disturbing signals.

I dont think it works. I watched Hannibal thru it and it was still disturbing.

Licensing Agreement

[Detritus]

The DVD licensing agreement says that a player has to implement the standard set of software that controls the user interface to the DVD. That puts the producer of the DVD in charge of what you can and can't do with the remote control.

There is nothing wrong with your television set. Do not attempt to adjust the picture. We are controlling the transmission. If we wish to make it louder, we will bring up the volume. If we wish to make it softer, we will tune it to a whisper. We will control the horizontal. We will control the vertical. We can roll the image; make it flutter. We can change the focus to a soft blur or sharpen it to crystal clarity.

All your TV...

[Lead Butthead]

Consumers: What happen?
Slash-Dot: Somebody set up us the Broadcast Flag.
Slash-Dot: We get SUED.
Consumers: What!
Slash-Dot: Main screen turn on.
Consumers: It's You!!
MPAA: How are you gentlemen!!
MPAA: All your TV are belong to us.
MPAA: Your rights are on the way to destruction.
Consumers: What you say!!
MPAA: Your rights have no chance to survive make your time.
MPAA: HA HA HA HA!
MPAA: Take off every "zig."
Consumers: You know what you doing.
MPAA: Move "zig."
Consumers: For great justice.

Re:What television?

[cosmol]

but watching TV alone is like going to the movies or a restaurant alone- an asocial act of mental masturbation.

Well gee, I thought I went to that restaurant because I was hungry.

I don't see how putting food in my mouth or giving my attention to a movie is "asocial mental masturbation." In fact I feel a bit insulted by you saying that.

Re:What about low-quality copies?

[Savatte]

and what about high-quality recordings of low-quality shows?

It's like a 3-year-old child!

[penginkun]

(MPAA)
It's mine mine mine mine mine mine mine mine mine mine mine mine mine mine mine! And you can't have any! Nyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!
(/MPAA)

Buncha babies.

Re:Thank our government for this!

[DrCode]

And if you remove the battery backup, it will start singing "Daisy, Daisy..."

Typo?

[spood]

You know you've been surfing /. too long when you see the word "losing" and think it's a typo.

Re:intelligence

[zero_offset]

You're in the finance business, but you don't know how to spell "lien"?