FCC mulls blocking users from recording films on DVR
IT LOOKS LIKE yet another roadblock is to be plonked down in the way of digital television transition. The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) has petitioned the FCC to block people from recording newly released films on their DVRs before they are officially released as DVDs.
The move means that people who shelled out for a DVD recorder may now be limited in what they can and can’t record from satellite, cable, and even broadcast TV.
How? All thanks to a little built in Selectable Output Control (SOC) switch, already lurking inside every DVR player out there. The FCC can decide when to activate these switches, making it impossible to record a programme, even if you have (and paid for) the right equipment.
Apparently, the MPAA reckons that this move will help to protect the ‘poor’ studios who want to make money from people buying the high definition DVD movie release in its shiny, overpriced packaging, rather than simply recording it from the television for free.
As could be expected, consumer advocates are up in arms about the MPAA’s request, with the likes of the Home Recording Rights Coalition (HRRC) calling on the FCC to play fair and avoid creating, what could well turn out to be, a rather slippery slope. The organisation also points out that if the move went ahead, people would be far less likely to purchase DTV, which the FCC is supposedly an advocate of.
But the plot thickens with reports of dodgy insider dealings, mainly that one of the main MPAA lawyers is a former FCC commissioner. Ehem. Nothing to see here, move along.
Still, if the move does go ahead, it could mean that high definition films would have to be released much earlier than they otherwise would have been. And then of course, there’s always the pirated copies. µ
L’Inq
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I don't see the point of recording TV any more, anyway... A person has to sit through commercials when they record, instead of simply getting the DVD.
Well im glad media pcs wont be affected
All this will do is force users who only want to placeshift (or do some other "fair use" usage of the content) to go to open source solutions for DVR software.

Snapstream, MythTV are both great solutions and both companies allow us to actually utilize our fair use rights where the cable Co. and Microsoft DVR devices/software infringe on our rights and take them away from us.

I respect the MPAA and content owners rights as well, but just because I "could" rip and distribute the media does not mean that I "would." However the MPAA seems to want to make that decision for me and that flat out sucks.
If it's a newly released movie then it's obviously not going to be playing on a standard tv station with commercials. It would be recorded off of an on demand service.
Are you joking 'arthur'? Didn't you hear about how they 'accidentally' turned on the broadcast protection bit a short while ago and nobody could record the TV show on their media PC because, even though the FCC shot down the concept, for some reason MS made all systems listen for it and disable recording if detected.
The technology is there, and built into vista/WinMCE already, not just in PVR's., and all they need is approval to hit the switch and they can enable it for most anything, hell it's even part of all computer hardware audio codecs and part of the HD audio specs to have hardware DRM in the damn things and they just need to enable that too to make every computer made the last 18 months lock down.
I used to get angry over news like this one. But since I have ditched cable TV (and antenna, never had satellite), I can actually laugh about the FCC. As long as there are people PAYING for TV, there will be news like this one, and I can enjoy it. Folks, please pay MORE for your TV, PLEASE!

Ha ha ha!!!
Now the hacker community will really roll up its sleeves and take care of that SOC switch with code tailored for every platform.
All I have to do is wait for mine to appear....