Comments on: More DRM Crap From TiVo and HBO

By: MegaZone

MegaZone — Wed, 11 Oct 2006 22:39:00 +0000

The Series3 is a CableCARD device. CableCARD requires DRM support, period. TiVo has no choice in the matter, at all - other than to not support CableCARD and therefore not record digital cable.

Also, TiVoToGo, which you note as 'good', only got the nod from the FCC when TiVo agreed to support Macrovision and transfer restrictions. No DRM, no TiVoToGo approval.

Clout? What clout? TiVo is a flea compared to the content providers. They aren't even the largest DVR vendor. If TiVo tries to make a stand, they'll be steamrolled - just like ReplayTV.

DRM is a fact of life and in the current legal and business environment it is not viable for any CE vendor to take a stand.

Any vendor who, say, took MythTV and sold pre-made DVRs based on it, with all the open transfers, etc, would get sued as soon as they got big enough to get on the radar. There are a few small vendors who get away with it only because they're too small to bother with.

By: Shawn Morton

Shawn Morton — Wed, 11 Oct 2006 06:01:00 +0000

I love how people equate being anti-DRM with being pro-piracy. I prefer to look at it as being pro-Fair Use.

I have no plan to steal movies or music; however, I would like to watch/listen to content that I pay for on any device that I choose.

BTW, Thomas, your response cracked me up:

"tristan, the last time I checked I didn't have DRM on my photographs."

By: Thomas Hawk

Thomas Hawk — Tue, 10 Oct 2006 21:11:00 +0000

tristan, the last time I checked I didn’t have DRM on my photographs.

By: phototristan

phototristan — Tue, 10 Oct 2006 19:27:00 +0000

Me either. You wouldn’t want someone stealing your photographs, why would you condone being able to steal movies and such? Why the double standard?

By: Dustin

Dustin — Tue, 10 Oct 2006 16:07:00 +0000

It’s not DRM that’s the problem, it’s bad implementations of it, and in reality, the vast majority of consumers benefit from well-implemented DRM, since it gives content owners the confidence that their material won’t be stolen [easily].

Sorry, Thomas. I don’t buy the “DRM is evil” argument, and I’ve heard it made so many times here and elsewhere that I’m just tuning out. Bitterness doesn’t make a compelling, logical argument.