Originally Posted by Clem:
“This really is pretty annoying. In the case of the BBC HD stuff, by and large it's the same stuff that's broadcast in SD. If I can archive that in SD, why not the HD version? It's all well and good building-up a library of HD stuff on the recorder's hard disk, but at some point you're gonna need to reclaim that space, not forgetting of course that disk drives fail.
I really hope that someone (more clever than me, to be certain) comes-up with way to crack this issue. As a licence payer I'd like to be able to create archives of some programmes that are broadcast in the best possible quality. The copy protection or whatever is employed is in effect treating legitimate viewers as criminals, IMO.
Clem”
Your complaint seems entirely justified to me. The people who set up the freesat spec disagree, however. Blame is usually put on the shoulders of 'the studios', though I don't know the detail of how this arrangement was developed. The result is the use of technological means to prevent what has been defined as legal for years (timeshifting), hence bypassing legally won freedoms. (It seems there is a difference between timeshifting and archiving, but both are being eased out.) The extension of technological capabilities for consumers (perfect copy capability) *may* need some refinement of law, though the ability to write the bitstream directly to DVD has been around for quite a while now. This isn't how it's being done, however: the balance between incentives for producers and the public good is being destroyed by force by the rights holders, who are apparently unaccountable.
Most people probably aren't aware in the slightest of what is happening, but they may be less indifferent to it when all TV is HD. There is talk that the BBC will relax restrictions on its own programmes in time, but there has been no sign of it so far.
The foxsat includes an encryption chip which seems to work pretty well! On other threads people have examined the basics of what it does and have come to the conclusion it would take some quite advanced analysis to undo it.
The TV signal itself is unencrypted, and there are boxes out there (which cannot use the freesat logo) which will record it in the clear, and have a 7 day epg. They are single tuner and not quite ready for prime time IMO. More refined ones are said to be on the way. There are also PC based solutions. I think there are interesting times ahead.