[mythtv-users] Comcast to drop analog cable

[Mark Knecht]

On Mon, Jun 16, 2008 at 6:23 AM,  <peter at vanderwal.us> wrote:
>> Being in Canada, I am not familiar with the downloads NetFlix makes
>> available,
>
> As I understand it, NetFlix doesn't make ANY downloads available.  They
> only "stream" the movies to you and "Near DVD quality"
>
>

All I can say is 'stay tuned'. I believe this Roku box is not the
be-all, end-all but rather just a test box. There have been numerous
newspaper articles about different products NetFlix is working on.

Just like the 5C spec and how it impacts Firewire it's very reasonable
to assume (IMO) that before long we'll see some DVD player company
providing a DVD player with the NetFlix Watch Instantly capabilities
built in and a hard drive with media encrypted and stored in that
unit. Manage that specific device with a queue at NetFlix hooked only
to that device, store the media in that device, and then watch the
movie. When I delete the copy from that device then new media starts
downloading to fill the empty space. If my DVD player box has a drive
large enough to hold 20 BluRay movies (say 20GB each) the unit has a
400GB hard drive. When I delete 1 HD movie a new movie starts
downloading. I don't need that download to complete before I watch the
other 19 movies. While I may take a few hours to download 20GB (i.e. -
it's not instant) if I delete tonight's title at 11PM I'm pretty sure
I'll have the next movie in my queue by the morning.

Just an idea of what it might look and act like.

If it was legal then there technically isn't anything that stops
MythTV users from sharing recordings. It's just a matter of putting a
file on a server or using something like BitTorrent to move something
I record to 50 other people's houses. If we're all doing enough of
that then we don't all have to record everything. Is it really
necessary to make 5000 recordings of 'The Daily' Show' every night in
every home? Or is it more efficient to make 5 and BitTorrent them to
everyone else? I'd love to be able to access anything shown on
anyone's TV anywhere in the world by just accessing a Global TV menu
in MythTV and getting a copy delivered sometime the next day.
Unfortunately we, as a group, are not a company and copyright stuff
really says we cannot do this, but I think companies that are
interested will appear that offer services like this. For $10/month I
could legally get copies of every newscast shown on every TV station
around the world from some business source like NetFlix but oriented
toward current affairs not movies.

There are lots of good things coming I'm sure.

Just some ideas,
Mark