[mythtv-users] BBC Freeview HD DRM

[Duncan Brown]

Ben Lancaster wrote:
> Really good news, but I'm not sure it'd have been that much of a big 
> deal for us as the MythTV community - the BBC quite vehemently denied 
> that it was proposing encrypting content, just "managing" 
> distribution/copying instead [source: 
> http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/bbcinternet/2009/09/freeview_hd_copy_protection_up.html]. 
> I doubt this would have affected our ability to receive and playback 
> the DVB-T2 stream (when it and the necessary hardware finally arrive).
>
> Don't get me wrong, I'm no fan of DRM, but I can appreciate that the 
> BBC's commercial arm (BBC Worldwide) needs to protect the part of its 
> business that sells content on physical formats. What OfCom have done 
> is definitely the right thing, and maybe the upshot for the BBC is 
> that they'll create more worthwhile, affordable content in 
> high-definition on physical media.
> _______________________________________________
It very much would have affected us.

The important bit being the encrypting of the lookup tables.

In very simple terms, the stream would be unviewable
except by approved hardware with the right key. Fine if you are using a 
DVB-T2 card on windows or STB, but by its nature generally impossible on 
a linux box using open source drivers.

To sum up, we would not have been able to watch it, let alone recording 
it on Mythtv

Dunc