[mythtv-users] Myth Developers ban all use of MythTV as a PVR due to IP infringement?

kijuhty kijuhty kijuhty at gmail.com
Fri Sep 7 20:50:09 UTC 2007


To the nay-sayers who insist that Tribune's "threat" to kill zap2it was not
fake and that they really were ready to deal with screen scrapers, look at
it logically.  If Tribune really wanted to stop zap2it labs, they would have
shut it down "effective immediately".  That would have had the desired
effect; all myth users in the u.s. would instantly be without TV, and have
no time to get a screen scraper or other solution in place, and our wives
wouldn't let us go 1 day without TV/PVR, so we'd have to switch to the cable
company's box.  Myth would have lost lots and lots of users who wouldn't
have stuck around to wait for a screen scraper or other alternative.  But
Tribune didn't.  They announced the "termination" months in advance.  Why
would they do that?  That would only mean we all have plenty of time to
develop a screen scraper alternative and continue using myth uninterrupted.
It's clear their "we will terminate in 3 months" was purely an attempt to
test the waters and see if the myth community would be willing to cross the
line and go from being free to paying Tribune for the data, and to allow
enough time to form a non-free alternative.  These guys on the list respond
with comments like "tin foil on the head".  That's just a silly emotional
response and proves that the authors lack the  cognitive skills to think
logically and form a coherent response.  I don't see one logical
counter-argument to the obvious fact that Tribune's "termination"
announcement was just a test to see if Myth's community would pay, only
silly comments about tin foil, which shows where certain people's mindset
is.

All this complaining about whether someone can afford $5 month.  Sure we can
afford it.  But we can also afford $13/month for the cable company's PVR,
and then we'll be able to record 400 digital channels (not the 10 or so Myth
can receive), and we can record premium content like HBO & Showtime in
high-def.

The point is not whether it's $1 or $1,000.  There's a black & white,
crystal clear line between free and non-free.  You're "non-free" if you
charge anything, even 1 cent for the next 100 years.  I didn't use Myth
because I couldn't afford $13/month for the cable box.  I used myth because
I believed in the free software movement and wanted to support a free
solution.  I actually would rather pay $13/month to Comcast and record the
Sopranos in high-def than $5/month to SD so I can only record a handful of
un-encrypted QAM/ATSC channels, all of which are crammed with commercials.
Like most myth users, we made lots of sacrifices (stability, usability,
number of channels, etc.) because we wanted to support a free solution.

So it's hard for us all to accept that Myth isn't free anymore and we're
still supposed to show the same support.  As long as I'm using a non-free
solution, I might as well get the Comcast box and watch the channels I
really want to watch.

When you watch Tribune/DD/Zap2It's actions, it's really clear that for them
giving free access to zap2it was better/cheaper/etc. than trying to thwart
screen scrapers.  If they were really going to do stuff to circumvent
scraping (like using images instead) then they would have done it years ago
instead of giving away dd for free.  They're a business.  Their goal is to
make money.  period.  They weren't giving us zap2it/dd for free to be "nice"
and "charitable".  They did it because it was cheaper than dealing with
screen scrapers.

So despite all the talk, I'm really convinced that if the Myth community
stood up and said "no, myth is and always be a free solution, and if you
kill zap2it we'll go back to screen scraping", then Tribune would back down
and continue to give dd for free, since, after all if thwarting screen
scrapers was really their plan, they would have done it years ago instead of
offering DD for free.  Tribune "tested the waters" to see if the myth
community would cross the line and go from free to non-free, and the myth
community said 'yes, we'll go non-free', that's why SD exists.
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