[mythtv-users] cablecard

[Brad Templeton]

On Wed, Apr 06, 2005 at 02:36:33PM -0500, David Shay wrote:
> > dean collins wrote:
> > >  http://mythtv.info/moin.cgi/CableCard
> > >
> > > FCC have recently pushed back the deadline for Cablecard to the 1st of
> > > July 2007. Having said that the FCC have indicated both publicly and
> > > privately that this date will be stuck to and not negotiable. In
> > > addition this date may be moved forward should the FCC feel that the
> > > cable companies are being obtuse in bringing this about.
> > >
> > > The future of Myth TV will be greatly improved by a cablecard
> integration.
> > >
> > > If anyone is working on this please contact me as I may have some
> > > funding available for this specific development.
> > >
> > > Cheers, Dean
> 
> Until someone decides to make a PCI card with a Cablecard slot, I can't see
> how this possibly "improves the future of MythTV".  The chances of that
> happening seem slim to none in general, and almost certainly none once the
> broadcast flag ruling is in place.  And yes, the broadcast flag still has
> relevance to cable in some cases, as far as I understand it.


Actually, cablecard PCs are coming for use with Microsoft MCE.  However, I have
not yet seen firm information on just how that is going to happen.

You aren't allowed to get the cablecard to give you decrypted video unless
your system is "trusted" not to let those pesky users get at the data.

While Microsoft will make MCE act in this fashion in order to get cablecard
certification, what's unknown is how secure they can actually make that without
palladium/TCPA, and why they will get away with it without making it secure.

The answer is probably "They're Microsoft."

It seems extremely unlikely Myth or any open source program would be granted
access to the encryption keys you need to talk to the cablecard, since Myth
can't stop its users from getting at the data -- you have the source, after all.

It is possible that one might be able to reverse engineer the MCE product and
take its keys, but this could be illegal.