Filed under: Video
Elgato says no to voluntary DRM broadcast flags
Yesterday, I was reading through our sister site TV Squad and saw this post about Broadcast Flags that prevent PCs from recording shows. Broadcast flags, which are signals sent in a digital TV data stream, indicate whether shows should or should not be recorded by third party equipment such as PVRs. Curious, I shot off an email to Nick Freeman of Elgato to see whether my Mac-based EyeTV would block flagged recordings. Turns out that my Macintosh is a libertarian. I can continue recording any shows I receive. Phew.
Not only did Nick get right back to me, he put up this handy info page about Elgato's position on broadcast flags: EyeTV doesn't restrict recording. EyeTV (and Elgato's software in general) ignores voluntary DRM, the kind that asks you to shoot yourself in your own foot if you don't mind thankyouverymuch.
I was blissfully ignorant of these flags until yesterday. In a world of product placement and in-screen logos, does it really make sense to keep people away from watching your shows? It's not as though I don't get the concept -- a return to appointment television where people go to the bathroom during commercial breaks instead of fast forwarding -- but it just struck me as so incredibly brain-dead in its execution.
What a pity that Microsoft chose to support this silliness with Media Center. And bravo to Elgato for deciding not to. What kinds of voluntary DRM can you think up? Let us know in the comments. Mine is broadcast-approved earplugs. Stick them in whenever you encounter sounds that might be copyright.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
slimy33 said 6:05PM on 7-02-2008
Thank GOD!!! My EyeTV Hybrid shall not be hindered!!!
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Luigi193 said 6:27PM on 7-02-2008
I think your a bit confused...
No one really at all follows the flag, its IS NOT required by law to do it.
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zach said 6:31PM on 7-02-2008
Props to Elgato for not falling for broadcast flags. It's the stupidest kind of protection yet. Even TiVo does this and it's just idiotic.
Will look forward to continuing to use my Hybrid without seeing "Uh, sorry. You can't record this." for quite some time.
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reallycrazyguy said 7:02PM on 7-02-2008
He's NOT confused. MS's mediacenter DID [probably still does] "honor" some voluntary do-no-record flag, as I believe NBC "accidentally" turned on this flag for a couple of shows one night and there was a fairly public expose on how/why the show wasn't recorded one night for thousands of viewers across the country.
This isn't a big problem, as it's a voluntary bit that most everybody ignores.
The big problem is the new cablecard setup that the cable industry is moving to, which has encryption AND a mandatory do-not-record bit. So in a couple of years, when the only way to receive non-OTR broadcasts is with this new cablecard setup, ElGato won't be able to ignore this flag. Actually, ElGato will be out of the picture, as the Mac won't have the system-wide DRM that will be required for the possibility of connecting your Mac to this new cablecard system.
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Jack Beckman said 7:49PM on 7-02-2008
Well, the flag is honored if set on a Tivo for the Tivo-to-go program that come with Toast (which is obviously from El Gato, bit I'm sure this isn't their fault). If that flag is set, you can't transfer the program from your Tivo to your Mac.
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Rhywun said 7:57PM on 7-02-2008
Wow. DRM for television - a product you've already paid for with both subscription charges and the cost of commercials added to the products you buy every day. I say, if someone decides I can't watch a program on *my* time, I should be refunded the cost of showing it. Or then again, like all DRM, it will be broken anyway.
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Andrew said 8:14PM on 7-02-2008
Unlike Microsoft, Elgato have the luxury that media companies don't care whether their 10 users have the broadcast flag enforced or not.
Enjoy your recorded SDTV cable, I'll enjoy my HDTV on Media Center with a broadcast flag that makes zero difference to my viewing.
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gianpo said 8:52PM on 7-02-2008
Actually moron eyetv could record HDTV before ms media center could. so go troll somewhere else.
Eideard said 12:45AM on 7-03-2008
It was more than voluntary. It was challenged in court and before the FCC and a [minor] victory for consumers ensued.
Don't kid yourselves that it's over. The MPAA is as pigheaded, arrogant and belligerent as the RIAA. They will try, again.
In the near future, DirecTV, DISH, most cable systems will be testing the broadcast flag to prove to the satisfaction of the cruds at MPAA the provisions for the broadcast flag in their systems and software, hardware - are adequate to protect the MPAA's right to crush Fair Use.
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reallycrazyguy said 5:59AM on 7-03-2008
The MPAA and the major studios are switching tactics. The broadcast flag was illegal because the FCC wasn't empowered to make the use of it a law. Now the FCC has said that private industry should some up with a standard cablecard solution, and the movie companies are part of the group defining and licensing this standard, and part of the license companies need to agree to in order to implement this 'standard' is enforcing this broadcast flag. Just like the licensing agreements you have to sign if you want to create software/hardware to play DVD's prevent Apple from enabling iTunes from RIPing them to your iPod [which is within your legal rights, but the movie companies have got the entire product chain to agree to not let you do this], the exact same thing is happening right now with the new cablecard standard.
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bibi-pov said 6:42AM on 7-03-2008
Reminds me of the Honor virus joke, this works pretty much in the same way and is good an idea...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honor_system_virus
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Christiaan said 4:20PM on 7-03-2008
This doesn't surprise me at all. Elgato is one of the best companies I've ever had the pleasure of dealing with.
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