The discussion about the issues with HDMI connection problems prompts me to return to the 'copy protection' discussion.

A lot of the issues that people have when trying to connect up new equipment is linked to the film/TV industry insisting that efforts are made to prevent people recording programs at high quality (HD / Blu-ray / etc.). Though I fully agree that people should not be able to sell or supply to others media without providing the necessary recompense to the owner of the material the majority of the problems then hit the 'normal' consumer who just wants to be able to watch (non necessarily at the time of broadcast) the content themselves.

The 'professionals' who actually want to do this can always find ways to beat the systems but the home user is the person that suffers the problem.

To go back in history there has been a constant battle since the days that people used to first write the bible by hand, followed by the printing press, camera, photocopier, scanner etc., where there have successively been easier / better / cheaper ways of people to copy the 'written' word. These same systems allow copying of still images and the original wax disc, through tape recorders, electronic recorders and mobile phones have done the same for audio.

We are now in the world where video is at the front line (most people know that it is now almost pointless to try to protect the written or audio world) and the same battle will probably go on for a few more years before the next defeat in this arena happens. As a very minimum it is possible to stick a video camera in front of a TV and capture (generally at a lower quality) a digital recording of the pictures and sound. Someone with some basic / good electronics knowledge can get to the insides of a TV / video screen and also build a device to capture the information without loss of quality. Much of this can also be done with software on a computer where the source material is available for display on that.

As started I do not condone people selling (or giving away) other people's copyright but the sooner the industry recognises that the 'professionals' will always be able to do this and making it hard for the home user to do reasonable things is a waste of time and money the better.

My 2c/2d worth.

WW

Rather then focusing on problems with the solution you need to be looking at solutions to the problem?

So how do you suggest stopping people stealing things which do not belong to them?

I believe the focus needs to be those who do the selling / distribution of the material. This is where it should be stopped - as pointed out previous experience over hundreds of years proves it is / will be impossible to stop the copying - unless the only way to view the material is in a sealed controlled area where people entering the area are scanned to make sure they have no way of capturing the material - sounds a bit like a cinema!

If the industry regards the 'delayed viewing' of material as theft then they should not make it available for viewing - but of course they do not want to do that as they want to make money from the 'after' market.

That, at least, is not one of the problems with the solution.

How do you reconcile that part of the amortisation of the funding of a quality programme is probably its release on a pay service (in another territory) AND on DVD. If the business model to fund a programme is dependent on this then some protection might be needed in order for the programme to get funding in the first place.

Either that or the programmes don't get made to the standard desired.

Bob,

I understand that the current business models may look for this - all I am saying is that no matter how sophisticated the industry tries to get with its copy protection those that want to can and will defeat it.

Even if you take the 'lower quality' option of filming it with a video camera from a DVD being played on TV or in a cinema (and it is known that many first run / preview cinema door keepers will allow someone in with a camera in exchange for some £/$) it is possible today. The majority of people just doing reasonable things suffer issues with cables not working and their expensive HDR not working with their expensive TV while it make no difference to the minority who want to gain from selling the material.

The industry needs to find a better way of making sure that they get the appropriate rewards for their efforts.

WW
Last edited by winterwarmer : 03-01-2010 at 18:52

Do they? And are all, if any, of their problems down to copy protection? I very much doubt it.

Some people may suffer some problems due to a manufacturer cocking up their implementation of copy protection but there is a very simple remedy for those cases.

The local Police tell us that around 1 in every 10 £1 COINS is a fake..
Now we find almost weekly that DUD £2 coins appear in my wife's handbag..
We now do the Doddery OAP act and say we have left the cash at home and pay for everything by Credit Card..
If the Government of the day cannot have a criminal policy which Hurts/Deters those who threaten the very stability of the nation..
What chance has any other industry?

As another example of the issues that copy protection causes consider the person that want to have a media server and view / listen to their CD's, JPEGs, DVDs on their WiFi enabled TVs, PCs, Laptops, Games players etc.

This is being done today by many people (it was even quoted in a recent review of the new Samsung series 7 LCD TVs). If you over copy protect the media then this, quite reasonable requirement, is difficult. Currently this would be difficult with HD and Blu-ray but I am certain it will not be too long before this will be got around (even if it hasn't already).

As I have mentioned I do not condone people selling or distributing to others other people's copyright but for their own personal use this seems to be a very reasonable need. It might actually INCREASE sales as more people, possibly including myself, would be willing to invest in Blu-ray if I could use it in the same way as I do DVDs and 'normal' resoultion recordings.

WW