[mythtv-users] Semi-OT: Democracy In Myth: Problems?

Brian Wood beww at beww.org
Thu May 25 13:01:18 UTC 2006


On May 24, 2006, at 11:46 PM, Ivan Kowalenko wrote:

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> Hello. I found myself thinking today, about the IPTV thread that was
> here earlier. I also thought about Democracy, an open source IPTV
> system. Theoretically, it would be easy to integrate Democracy into
> some kind of Myth plug-in, but I thought of one problem.
>
> Democracy uses three tools to do its job.
>
> First is a download client. Something like wget, I don't know
> exactly. No problem here.
>
> Second is an RSS aggregator. Myth already has one in MythNews.
>
> Third is the controversial one. It's a BitTorrent client. Last I
> checked, there was some kind of moratorium on the use of P2P
> technology in Myth, for fear of it being used for illegal activities
> (thus making Myth a target for the anti-piracy police) ... or
> something like that. However, I'm wondering, in the case of Democracy
> (and similar systems), where the use of P2P technology is completely
> legal, is it possible that an exception could be made?
>
> I'm seriously wondering this, because it could be a serious stumbling
> block for some IPTV clients in Myth (which is something Myth could
> really use).


I agree with you that video delivered via the internet would be a  
great addition to Myth. With the release of the first "Open Movie"  
other legitimate uses of P2P are happening.

But the fact remains that the "anti-piracy police" (as you so aptly  
put it) are a definite problem, and it is an unfortunate fact that  
any P2P capability in Myth would certainly be mis-used in many cases.  
With its commercial skip capability Myth is a target that the APP  
would love to have a "legitimate" reason to go after.

I don't know what the answer is, but I certainly understand the  
reasons for keeping P2P clients out of Myth. I guess such capability  
would need to be a separate and "rogue" stream of Myth development,  
though perhaps developments such as you bring up might make it of  
more interest to those of us who have no desire to steal content.


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