External HDTV Receiver Question

[hermanv]

A while back there were some video tape machines, I think they were VHS-D (for digital?) they could record HD from the component inputs which do not have the copy guard flag like the digital signals do. Are those machines still around?

Wasn't there a recent superior court decision that said the FCC was never granted authority to 1. control consumer electronics equipment and that 2. the FCC requirement for inclusion of a a copy guard flag signal in any player or recoder was a violation of their charter? and 3. A violation of both free trade and speech?

Of course the entertainment industry is up in arms....

Also I'd bet some enteprising soul has by now written a digital copy disable tool to let you copy HDI, HDMI or other format to your computer hard disk. Maybe an internet search?

[edtyct]

Yeah, the ruling was that the FCC exceeded its jurisdiction; it can affect only communication by wave or radio per se, not what happens after it. For now, the flag is on hold. It remains to be seen what happens next. You can bet that the entertainment industry will punish everyone and withhold programming from ATSC, leaving only cable and satellite to show it. It has already threatened as much. I wish it were, but this ain't done.

D-VHS actually had one of the thirteen protection schemes approved by the FCC.

[hermanv]

The current brouhaha over "perfect" copies seems so silly when you think about plain paper copiers. It's pretty much the same as demanding that those copiers be limited to no more than 100 dots per inch instead of the 1200 dots and up commonly available.

When the first Xerox machine appeared, who could have seen the connection to digital cameras and the ability to print photographs at home, to home fax machines?

The industry attempts to halt long term progress in favor of short term greed. Remember these are the same folks who spent fortunes trying to block the VCR. The VCR due to shortcommings led to the DVD and DVD sales now account for around half this industries income.

As predicited all the movie theaters went out of business.- Oh wait, no they didn't, they were transformed into a different experience, reborn as the multiplex.