Vista seems to block some TV shows
DRM kicks in
PLANETARY ARBITER Microsoft may now be deciding what its Vista Media Centre users can watch on the box.
According to thegreenbutton.com, Vista-using punters trying to record NBC Universal TV shows American Gladiator and Medium got a little message from the Vole saying that restrictions had been set by the broadcaster which prohibited recording of the program.
Oddly, the angry viewers did not rush to blame Microsoft for the problem. Indeed, many thought the blame must lie with their telly or cable networks who had stuck the block on to thwart advert-avoiding technology.
At time of going to press, no one had a clue why Vista Media Centre's DRM was blocking the downloading of the shows. Microsoft said it was investigating the matter.
However most who moaned to Thegreenbutton were Vista users recording digital cable with ATI cablecard tuners. Microsoft reports in cases where this has happened before said that the cable provider had set the DRM to 'copy never'. µ
L'Inq
News.com
Comments
so MS didn't act alone
ATi is the partner in crime... boycot!Protective DRM
Your computer refusing to record American Gladiators just means that its smarter than you.Not Just Vista
This is not unique to Vista as the exact same thing happens in Windows Media Center 2005 on some stations using the good old Analog cable.Blame Cablelabs
You can pretty much blame the broadcast flag and Cablelabs as to why I don;t build HTPC's anymore and will not put any money in to that industry. I have a robust home network and restrictive CRAP list this is not worth the frustration of implementing. I realize what the content owners are trying to do. But limiting "placeshifting" is draconian and overboard.Congratulations Microsoft, you too are aiding in the reason Vista has failed as an multimedia OS by playing nice with these draconian companies.
The old rules
HD-VHS FTWV'sATI OS a Sisyphean Hell?
Not exactly:DRM affects all video products:
This problems been around at least since 2006:
http://reviews.cnet.com/4531-10921_7-6650194.html
"TiVo blamed the restrictions on "false positives"--saying the viewing restriction technology, ostensibly designed for pay-per-view and video-on-demand programming, was being turned on (by the cable companies) to cover a wider array of programming."
I wonder whether DirecTV’s with Vista and HTPCs and networks: HDPC-20 boxes will will get on in the world:
http://www.tvsquad.com/2008/01/08/directv-pc-tuner-details/
http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=125889
http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=6230772
Or....
...perhaps the majority of complaints are coming the Vista edition of Media Center because it's included Vista (as opposed to be a "separate" OS in the XP days).DRM sucks but do you think that maybe you should find out a few more facts before throwing out cr@p like this?
Yep I can confirm
I too have Vista MCE with ATI 650 tuner trying to record "Night Garden" BBC show off of Treehouse TV (Canadian channel) and told to fobb off, thief.But my Zenith DVD hard drive recorder worked AND is more convenient to use to boot. My conclusion: microsoft sucks royally. Even when you give it every possible chance, the $80 dvd recorder still trounces it AND it runs off Linux AND microsoft sucks.
Why Doncha Just Say Screw HD and Sony B-Rape
Why Doncha Just Say Screw HD and Sony B-Rape! This is the main reasons why I buy another ATi production! When ATi intro the 9700 pro GC with new spanky M$DOt.net ware my Pro GC ATi config setting stop working!I paid over $400.oo in cash and I was'not able to use the card properly. So I'll just waited it out until somebody come up with some type of HD mod crack before buying anymore ATi +drm Suck GC.
Hold on
So the channels flip the no copy bit; the bit that the set top boxes, Tivos and everything else obeys and you blame Microsoft?Wow. Well done.
Wake up!
@sharkuIn no way did they say it was ATIs fault, if you read it again you'll see "However most who moaned to Thegreenbutton were Vista users recording digital cable with ATI cablecard tuners.". With an emphasis on the word "MOST" so not all users were ATI users, its most likely that ATI has a larger market share then most other tuners under Vista.
Looking at the
progs being blocked it would appear that vista has some taste!The problem is obviously the responsability of many
Now that MS has its finger in that pie, I'm happy to see that it gets its share of the blame as well. I have never accepted the lame excuses associated with DRM and I never will.Any equipment or media I pay for had damn well better function the way I intend it too. I care not that the Sony executives, or the MS developers, want to restrict my ability to record, rip, convert or otherwise modify that which I purchase or view. As long as I do what I please in the privacy of my own home, NO ONE can tell me that I do not have the right to do it.
Any equipment or program that purports to decide in my stead on whether I can do what I intend to do is not fit for purpose. It is an illegal impediment on my individual rights and I will not accept it. From that point on, any crack, hack or bypass method that I can find is fair game to restore my rights, DCMA be damned.
The only thing I do not have the right to do is distribute whatever changes I made. If I do so, then the Content Owner which has granted me license to view in private has every right to go after my hide and sue me for whatever damages I caused.
But if I do not distribute, then get the hell out of my way or else I'll push you out of my way.
Remember the broadcast flag
This really shouldn't be a surprise to anyone. This is exactly the behavior the DRM is leading to. Last year in the US the FCC mandated that all content receiving hardware had to support the "broadcast flag" – digital data that would tell the receiving hardware if it was allowed to record the content, if you could fast forward, how many times the content could be viewed, when the content would be deleted from the receiving hardware (not your choice, the content provider would decide how long you could keep their content). At the last minute the Supreme Court stepped up and reminded the FCC that their responsibility was "broadcast" not "reception" and that the FCC could not mandate the support of the broadcast flag. That doesn't mean that the hardware manufacturers could not support it on their own. Remember, some of the major hardware manufacturers are also in the content business (think Sony), so it's in their interest to make sure the receiving hardware is regulated by the content providers. Try recording any HBO content to a home entertainment DVD recorder. I'm trying to replace my five year old Pioneer DVD recorder (which would record HBO content just fine), but all of the new DVD recorders throw out a message that reads "cannot copy copyrighted material" and refuses to record. This is just the tip of the ice burg. "They" can't just come along and regulate your recording and say "you can record this content but we won't allow you to fast forward through the commercials" -- too many people would be outraged. So let's try this approach -- they say "you can't record this content at all" ... Oh, too many people outraged. Okay, you can record the content but only if you allow us stop you from fast forwarding through the commercials. "Oh, well I guess that's okay then"