[mythtv-users] Court rules commercial-skipping in recordings covered under Fair Use

[Richard Hulme]

On 25/07/13 12:19, Stephen Worthington wrote:
> On Thu, 25 Jul 2013 11:52:32 +0200, you wrote:
>
>> Also, you can usually jump directly to one of the menus without needing
>> to skip through anything.
>
> That does not seem to work while playing VIDEO_TS.VOB with 0.26-fixes.
> I have tried all the commands I can think of while playing a long
> VIDEO_TS.VOB and none have ever worked except to make it start playing
> again from the beginning.

It depends on how the DVD was authored, unfortunately.  If it's been 
authored so you can't navigate directly to a menu until after watching 
all the stuff at the beginning, at least 0.27 should make it 
easier/quicker to skip through that stuff.

>> Having said that, a lot depends on the way the DVD has been authored.
>> The entry points for 'title', 'root', 'chapter' menus etc. are really
>> nothing more than markers.  There is no necessity to actually have a
>> menu there.  It's feasible for the DVD author to put some code in there
>> that checks whether a certain point has been passed on the DVD (e.g. all
>> the trailers have been watched) and jump on to the real menu if so, or
>> back to the beginning of the trailers if not.
>
> I don't think I have met one that was that bad yet - but if I do I can
> step through the code in PGCEdit or DVD Remake Pro and figure out what
> is going on.  All the while cursing the publisher.

I don't think I've seen one that bad yet either, but it's a possibility.

>> Myth currently ignores the prohibited user operation flags, which allows
>> the user a lot more freedom.  That *can* come at a price, though.  A DVD
>> is effectively run in a small virtual machine, which executes code found
>> on the DVD.  There are a number of variables available which can be used
>> to store values.  Jumps can be performed conditionally (like the example
>> I gave about trailers) based on the value stored in one of these
>> variables.  By skipping parts that can't (according to the prohibited
>> user operations) be skipped over, it's possible to miss some of these
>> instructions that may be important later.  This could lead to odd
>> playback behaviour.  A bit like arriving in the middle of a conversation
>> and getting the wrong end of the stick because you missed the beginning.
>>
>> Most of the time, this doesn't happen, but it is possible.
>>
>> Richard.
>
> I had thought that MythTV was ignoring PUOs, but I have very few disks
> with them on so I had not done any proper testing to be sure.  It is
> welcome news that it really does ignore them.

There has been some discussion about whether to enforce them or not. 
Enforcing them is *really* annoying to a lot of people and jumping about 
*usually* doesn't cause playback problems, but it would cut out a 
potential source of errors from users who don't (and can't) know that 
they've skipped over some instructions that that particular DVD needs. 
Then the finger gets pointed at Myth for not playing the DVD correctly.

The problem is less with knowledgeable users (or even just users who can 
grasp and accept the principle) but more with the stereotypical grandmother.

Nothing has been decided and it would take some work to add the code to 
enforce them, and even then, it would be optional.

> What I do not understand in all this is why DVD publishers inflict all
> this stupidity on us.  Forcing people to watch things they do not want
> to watch is about the dumbest bit of marketing I can think of.  All it
> does for me is to make me never want to buy a DVD from such
> publishers.  I do often watch trailers on DVDs that are sensibly

Kids DVDs seem to be the worst, but it's just the same as having sweets 
at kid-height at checkouts.  Let the kids put pressure on the parents :)

Richard