Gizmodo
Recently, some Windows Media Center owners were blocked from recording American Gladiators and Medium because of an incorrectly set broadcast flag from NBC. What's the deal here? The broadcasters (NBC, ABC, HBO) can turn on a flag in their data stream that tells whatever DVR machine on your end that it's NOT alright to record a show, protecting Pay-Per-View or premium channel content from being archived. This has actually been around for years.
Microsoft's had this ability in Media Center to prevent specific shows from being recorded for a while, and the last time there was an error was a few years back during an episode of the Simpsons. It's not something broadcasters usually do. This also isn't a unique thing to Microsoft—TiVo has something similar but not quite as severe—it does illustrate the fact that if the providers wanted to, they could shut down your Media Center DVR right now and you couldn't do much about it. [JustinJas via Ars Technica]
Comments
Hmmmm....wonders if that flag transfers over an S-Video connected STB, or if it's only for direct connections?
VCR/DVD recorder anyone?? Sometimes, older technology is the most reliable.
how many people watch american gladiators anyway?
@TendoMentis: It probably does. If it even approaches digital, it'll get blocked. Acemonster is partly right. VCR is the only way.
Thanks tech companies. I wasn't using my fair use rights anyway.
@Weihovah: Apparently the type with Windows Media DVR's...
I wonder if the open source DVR stuff is the same?
That is such a load. "Free" tv and you have to put up with crap like that. I think that's the only negative side effect of things like Zune Marketplace and iTunes. Now that they know people will buy it they won't give it away for free at all even though we have to be bombarded with ads the whole time.
I recorded American Glaidiators on my Tivo HD just fine this week.
@Weihovah: One of the women contestants fired the bazooka the wrong way in assault, but even if she was holding it the right way she would have fired it directly into the wall in front of her, the barrel was two inches from the wall. This was after she couldn't figure out how to use a slingshot.
The male contestants are just as dumb most of the time, I watch it for comedy value.
Well, except stop using Windows Media Center. There are a few DVR software products out there that can record all of your programming that ignore broadcast flags. Oh, and they are not made by Microsoft, which could be considered a bonus.
Why would anyone want to record American Gladiators?
That's fine, you don't want me to watch your crappy show on my own time, that sure as shit won't convince me to tune in live next time.
@Canadian Impostor: I take that back, now I wish I watched it.
Um, copyedit much? That second paragraph is atrocious.
So what's the point of DRMs? I thought it was used to encrypt recorded shows and prevent distribution.
This is why I never followed through building my Media Center when my Dish DVR does the same thing with less of a hassle.
@Kohono:
Agreed. I think DVR'ing the Weather Channel would be more entertaining.
@Hestika: Thank you. I was beginning to think I was the only one who noticed.
Awesome, this news makes all of those precious hours I've spent my perfecting MythTV setup totally worth it!
I still have a problem with NBC though, because the audio in their HD programming has sounded like crap the last few weeks (both in recorded and live TV), but I think that may just be an issue with the rickety old cable in my building.
@Hestika: Almost as painful as American Gladiators!
@Kohono: Because it's unbearable live. If you skip past all of the talking and go straight to the events it's not that bad, plus it takes half the time to watch.
Although watching that guy with one leg struggle through the events was painful.
theres no flag set in the signal its self
thats just your pc gagging on that suckfest of a show
long live vhs
I've never had trouble with my MCE box before, but then again I've never tried to record american gladiators, maybe MCE was doing this person a favour from what I hear. I haven't really found any good alternative to MCE at this point, I've heard good things about MythTV but the box I'm running MCE on needs to run windows.
Also, could you not just pass the signal through a tv and back into the pvr? That's how I used to bypass that macrovision protection on vhs tapes.
Your scheduled recording of Rock of Love and Tilla Tequila has been stopped as the broadcasters have determined that they never should have created this crap in the first place, and have already destroyed their archived copies. The broadcasters apologize to those who have been forced by their spouses to watch this crap, and promise that we will only make more if millions of idiots promise to watch it and support us with advertising dollars.
Post Script: Millions of Idiots have watched these shows, so, sorry, expect more like them!
As long as I can still record "Ow, my balls!" I'm happy.
@OMG! Ponies!: s-video is analog, right between composite (red-white-yellow) and component (red-green-blue)
@ramman345: so like 200? 250? hehe
@Canadian Impostor: that sounds like it's worth watching. too bad i can't record it =P
Or: You could use Mythtv or Media Portal instead of evil software..
@jackfrost132: Media Portal runs on XP and is generally better than MCE. Plus its free.
[www.team-mediaportal.com]
@TendoMentis: Connecting the video in a different fashion and/or being Cable Card-ed won't help, at least in my experience.
@Gann: You need a degree from Costco to hook up your DVR...
i seem to remember when Comcast accidentally gave me free HBO for a few months, i wasn't allowed to record anything from that channel with my VCR... hearing that a free-to-air channel does the same thing is surprising, though.
Anyone here tech-savvy enough to know if there is some sort of signal filter available to remove these flags?
a friend of mine's got media center with feed coming from composite cables from a digital cable box. and these record flags even come across on those damn cables.
"it does illustrate the fact that if the providers wanted to, they could shut down your Media Center DVR right now and you couldn't do much about it"
Sure I could. I would just stop paying for cable/sat TV and watch everything online.
was that the episode where the contestant had one leg..it was crazy. I really felt bad when he was trying to go up the reverse treadmill. You have to feel like an ass going against the one legged guy though, win or lose your a putz.
"you couldn't do much about it."
Except switch to MythTV, GBPVR, or MediaPortal, or perhaps another media center software not made by a company looking to bend you over.
Many of you are missing the point, or being ridiculously sarcastic anyway.
The point is....what do we as viewers do when our DVRs which many of us have gotten used to and depend on - can no longer record the shows that we like? (vs. American Gladiators that so many of you hate). I mean, adoption will probably be gradual, but eventually there is a possibility that you won't be able to record ANYTHING you like to watch. You'll either have to catch it when it airs or buy it off Itunes/Zune Marketplace.
I'm not looking forward to a future like that. I'm not much of a TV person, but one thing that's made it much easier to deal is firing up Tivo's Season pass or WMC, and now both are in peril.
More than likely software will have to go compliant eventually, or risk...well, whatever is forcing any company to comply.
@fostina1: "long live vhs"
Boo! Long live Betamax!!!
HA! Just try to stop me and my five year old piece of shit RCA Scenium DVR.
What about MythTV ?
Are there free PVRs that don't make you pay for TV listings in the US? Besides MythTV being a royal PITA to set up a couple of years ago, that was another reason I switched to MCE 2005. I'm always looking for alternatives, but it's really hard to beat the Media Center interface, even with all it's problems.
Can Media Portal run on Windows Server? Maybe Giz should do a rundown on where things are in the HTPC/PVR realm these days...
linux
I loved my media center, at this point it is so bad I can't even use it. I hate you microsoft, I paid real money for what should have been a good product and now I get drm errors ALL THE TIME!
@Enigmaaron1: I feel you on the cripple. I took one look at him and said "that thing is going to get caught in the net on the eliminator".
I'm all for cripples living normal lives, but seriously who the hell let him on there KNOWING that he wasn't going to be able to make it? My girlfriend kept telling me what a horrible person I was, but when he got to the eliminator and got tangled up in the net, she just said "oh", and that was the last I heard about it.
I think those flags come in through the CC signal. I have a FTA box and if you disable CC on the box itself then the CC signal does not reach Media Center and I am able to record whatever shows I want. I had that problem with some HBO programming and after disabling CC, I was able to record to my pc and even transfer the recordings to another pc.
@edmicman: If you already have Windows Media Center, there are ways to convert its listings to the XML format that GBPVR and MediaPortal use. Otherwise, your options are a bit limited. There used to be a way to get listings using the interface set up for Yahoo Go, but I think it's defunct, so your only options would be either an HTML scraper(inefficient and often inaccurate) or SchedulesDirect (which carries a small charge).
Yahoo Go TV is also an option, but, not being a community-oriented project like GBPVR and MediaPortal, it'd probably suffer the same problems from broadcast flags as Media Center does.
@edmicman: In fact, here's the converter program for MCE: [gbpvr.com]
And apparently, you can still get listings from Yahoo, using this: [gbpvr.com]
Dear CE manufacturers,
THIS is why I don't buy HTPC or DVR gear anymore. You let the MPAA and the FCC fuck you out of profits. Good job guys, you're irrelevant!
while it is true that they could turn the broadcast flag on and shut down my DVR, they can't force me to watch TV. If I had to watch shows as they aired, I simply wouldn't be watching television except for the one or two shows a week that I would schedule myself to watch. And that is something they DON'T want. I'm guessing I am not alone. Pandora's box has been opened and there is no going back. I simply couldn't sit waiting for my show to come on any more than I could go back to a 56k modem. I'd rather just do without.
I believe have the answer for you: This happened to me a couple of years ago and I figured out how to resolve it with Windows XP Media Center 2005. Then just recently it happened again! The original culprit was Windows XP update KB891122 which was an optional update. After installing it I noticed the broadcast flag issues! I quickly reinstalled Windows and made sure that I didn't install that update.....for 2 years everything was great! Until Service Pack 3 was released. It appears that the "Optional" KB891122 Windows XP update was now rolled into Service Pack 3! So I would advise not installing Service Pack 3 and everything will be good! I don't have any answers for Vista users, sorry!!