[mythtv-users] Help! I missed the start of the Oscars

[Joseph A. Caputo]

Hi,

I'm not entirely sure whether this request is kosher, so *please*...
REPLY OFF-LIST!

My second tuner is down at the moment while I resolve some HW issues (I 
hope it's RF interference, going to try moving it to a different slot, 
away from my wlan card), so since I'm down to 1 tuner, last night I was 
letting it record some other things while I watched the Oscars.  Hence 
my problem...

A friend of my wife's called with a desperate computer question while we 
were watching the red carpet pre-show, and kept me on the phone for 
20-30 minutes, causing me to miss Billy Crystal's opening, which for me 
is the best part of the whole thing.  When I went back upstairs, my 
wife was still laughing saying how funny it was.

So, if anybody out there recorded the Oscars and wouldn't mind 
transcoding *just* the first few minutes w/Billy Crystal (320x240 
MPEG-4 would be fine if you want to save bandwidth) and putting it up 
on the web (or email; it might be small enough), I'd be forever 
indebted.

Please don't reply to the list.  I recognize that any legal gray area 
would only be made worse by posting offers for content in a public 
forum.

I admit I'm kind of interested to see how this plays out... there have 
been discussions before regarding the legal ramifications of adding 
"sharing" capabilities to Myth, a la P2P... obviously that would open 
up a big can of worms.  However, I'd hope there would be some 
reasonable middle ground somewhere that would facilitate Myth users 
contacting each other... perhaps something like:

- An option to have Myth post the metadata about your currently held 
recordings to a central location
- An interface (possibly in Mythweb) to indicate you have an interest in 
a recording that someone else holds.  When someone has indicated an 
interest in one of your recordings, Myth will display an icon next to 
it, or possibly list it in a separate screen.  It's then up to the 
holder of the recording to contact the interested party privately and 
make any arrangements.

This approach is different from a P2P network in that Myth wouldn't be 
facilitating the transfer of content; instead it would only be 
facilitating personal contact between 2 parties.

Perhaps it would help the legal issues to filter out certain types of 
content.  For instance, don't allow movies to be included, as those can 
easily be rented through other channels.  Perhaps TV series (sitcoms & 
dramas) should be excluded to avoid incurring the wrath of the 
networks, and also they're often repeated.  Where this mechanism would 
be most useful, though, would be for unique events like sporting 
events, newscasts, award shows, and other "special" programming that is 
unlikely to ever be repeated or released on DVD.  I can easily see 
networks getting upset over someone advertising that they have an 
entire season of 'Friends' available for trade, but I doubt they'd care 
if the 6:00 Action News broadcast from Boise, Idaho was listed as being 
available.  One of the main reasons the networks get upset is that they 
see damage to a potential revenue stream.  When they see someone 
sharing an entire season of 'Friends', they envision future 'Friends' 
anthology DVD sales taking a hit.  Since there usually is not an 
anticipated revenue stream from rebroadcasting or DVD sales of these 
special events, I think the networks might not care so much.

Maybe it's an unworkable idea.  Feel free to continue this thread, but 
only reply off-list to my Oscar request.

-JAC