[mythtv-users] HDTV cards...looking to the future

Alan Hagge ahagge at wbfa.com
Tue May 3 21:51:34 UTC 2005


Offtopic, but hopefully relevant enough to not be flamed...

Wendy Seltzer wrote:

> My recommendation is to buy at least one card now.  The ATSC spec is 
> fixed, and if the flag rule sticks, the current cards will be the only 
> ones you can get (in the U.S.) that can give you the high-def digital 
> signal for all channels.  If there are any PCI cards at all post-flag, 
> they'll have to be "compliant" and "robust against user modification" 
> -- which means not giving your general-purpose PC (a non-compliant 
> device) the full digital signal for flagged broadcasts.

Do we have any idea of the implication of the broadcast flag for the US 
"public TV" (PBS) channels?  I mean, they're not "commercial" in the 
same sense that ABC, NBC, CBS, etc. are, and I as a US citizen and 
taxpayer am funding (both indirectly, through taxes, and directly, 
through contributions) these channels for the express purpose of their 
delivering content to me that I can use according to existing US "fair 
use" laws.  Will the broadcast flag force law them to turn it on, or is 
it up to the individual channels and programs (and their sponsors) to 
decide what programming has the BF turned on?  Of course, the thought of 
only having informercials broadcast without the BF flag turned on makes 
me shudder...


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