[mythtv-users] SiliconDust to Announce CableCard Product at CES [RUMOR]

[Rod Smith]

On Monday 04 January 2010 12:08:00 am Big Wave Dave wrote:
> This could be an interesting companion to MythTV (if it is indeed true):
>
> http://www.geektonic.com/2010/01/silicondust-to-announce-cablecard.html

One of the articles linked to by this one (specifically, 
http://www.geektonic.com/2009/09/microsoft-media-center-announements.html) 
includes the following:

: # Looser DRM Flagging for content – The ATI Tuners will get a firmware
: update that will relax DRM.  I believe this means that only content flagged
: as “protected” by the cable company will have DRM – all other content should
: be DRM-free unlike current CableCard recorded content.

This is in reference to Windows Media Center and an ATI device, so it's 
unclear how it might affect MythTV or the new CC-enabled HDHomerun (if that 
product is even real and what people are speculating); however, if it 
reflects a general policy shift concerning CC, it sounds as if this might 
mean that the new HDHomerun might be able to deliver the same unencrypted 
streams that you can get off a cable box via FireWire. From the studios' 
point of view, this wouldn't be any worse than what's happening now, so it 
seems at least plausible.

Let me be the first to say that I'm hanging WAY out on a limb speculating on 
this point. Ultimately we'll just have to wait and see. Even if I'm right, 
this may not be a huge improvement over what we've got now -- many cable 
companies seem to lock down a lot of content off their FireWire ports. OTOH, 
if you can get material off a FireWire cable box, an HDHomerun might be more 
reliable and/or flexible, particularly if the device has dual tuners and/or 
enables recording multiple streams from one multiplex, as the current 
HDHomerun does. I guess we'll just have to wait and see what SiliconDust 
delivers.

-- 
Rod Smith