[opendtv] Re: Microsoft's Masters: Whose Rules Does Your Media Center Play By?

Here's the two television sets I was speaking of.

analog 28" inch (actually, 27 when measured) Sony 
http://www.etherguidesystems.com/Demos/IMGP0055.jpg

digital 32" inch (actually, 31 when measured) Funai/Sylvanie
http://www.etherguidesystems.com/Demos/IMGP0056.jpg

same tape measures used for both sets.  height of picture on both within 1/2".

And, that was because I told mom to buy one at least 32" wide so that her 
picture on 4:3 content would be as at least as big with the new set as the old. 
 It's been so long, I don't have my math sitting around (I did this last year) 
but if I can get it right, I suspect that Craig can, in time.

John Willkie

-----Original Message-----
>From: Tom Barry <tom.r.barry@xxxxxxxxx>
>Sent: May 23, 2008 11:58 AM
>To: opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
>Subject: [opendtv] Re: Microsoft's Masters: Whose Rules Does Your Media Center 
>Play By?
>
>It is good to get all this out in the open since then consumers can 
>choose to purchase either TV recorders that can record TV or those that 
>cannot.
>
>And I personally consider it extremely unlikely that (pending other 
>legislation by Congress) any court would hold that any recorder 
>manufacturer would have a legal obligation to honor the current 
>broadcast flags on OTA TV.  After all, if the courts have already said 
>even the FCC does not have the power to enforce that flag then it is 
>fairly sure that NBC doesn't either.
>
>M$FT was voluntarily pandering to Hollywood and I hope it costs them 
>market share.
>
>- Tom
>
>
>John Willkie wrote:
>> this posting is specious and foolish.  NBC -- and CBS o&o's by the way -- 
>> asserts the broadcast flag.  The former appears to not know that they are 
>> doing do.  That's their bad.
>> 
>> Microsoft's Media Center/Vista simply follow the language of the ATSC A/65 
>> spec in the presence of the broadcast flag, which means -- simply that 
>> "“technological control of consumer redistribution is signaled."
>> 
>> The court's decision was that the FCC could not make this language a mandate 
>> against receiver manufacturers.  (Sorry, but I ACTUALLY read and UNDERSTAND 
>> [for the most part] court decisions.)
>> 
>> The decision didn't say that manufacturers couldn't respect the flag (it 
>> said the opposite), just that the FCC didn't have the jurisdiction to force 
>> them do so so.
>> 
>> MS is an ATSC member.  They are simply following the instructons that NBC 
>> puts in their transport stream.
>> 
>> We had a "somewhat higher level" discussion of this on my PSIP list earlier 
>> in the week, and used the CNET posting.
>> 
>> There is a pending question as to whether ignoring the flag is a violation 
>> of the Copyright Act.  That is too complicated for a CNET article, of course.
>> 
>> John Willkie
>> EtherGuide Systems
>> 
>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: Monty Solomon <monty@xxxxxxxxxx>
>>> Sent: May 23, 2008 4:47 AM
>>> To: undisclosed-recipient@null, null@null
>>> Subject: [opendtv] Microsoft's Masters: Whose Rules Does Your Media Center 
>>> Play By?
>>>
>>>
>>> May 19th, 2008
>>> Microsoft's Masters: Whose Rules Does Your Media Center Play By?
>>> Posted by Danny O'Brien
>>>
>>> While its customers are still puzzling over why Vista Media Center is 
>>> suddenly refusing to record over-the-air NBC digital TV, Microsoft 
>>> has come out with an astounding admission, courtesy of Greg Sandoval 
>>> at CNet News:
>>>
>>>     "Microsoft included technologies in Windows based on rules set 
>>> forth by the (Federal Communications Commission)," a Microsoft 
>>> spokeswoman wrote in an e-mail to CNET News.com. "As part of these 
>>> regulations, Windows Media Center fully adheres to the flags used by 
>>> broadcasters and content owners to determine how their content is 
>>> distributed and consumed."
>>>
>>> Microsoft's statement shines light on how Microsoft expects Media 
>>> Center to behave. If this is the company's explanation for what users 
>>> are seeing when attempting to record digital NBC broadcasts 
>>> over-the-air, then Microsoft is saying Vista obeys the broadcast 
>>> flag: a requirement rejected by courts and Congress.
>>>
>>> ...
>>>
>>> http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2008/05/microsofts-masters-whose-rules-does-your-media-cen
>>>
>>>
>>>
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>>  
>>  
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>
>-- 
>Tom Barry                  trbarry@xxxxxxxxxxx 
>
>
> 
> 
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