[opendtv] Re: Q on digital OTA broadcasts

  • From: "Manfredi, Albert E" <albert.e.manfredi@xxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Mon, 5 Nov 2007 12:35:54 -0500

Ron Economos wrote:

> The only copy control method for ATSC is the rc_descriptor
> or "Broadcast Flag". It does not define any levels such as
> "copy once" or "copy never".
>
> Since ATSC DVD recorders were developed after the repeal
> of the Broadcast Flag, none of them honor the flag in any way.
> You should be able to record any ATSC signal whether it
> contains an rc_descriptor or not.

Good info, Ron. So maybe there's no problem after all, at least for OTA
users.

Here's the wording in the owner's manual:

http://www.p4c.philips.com/files/d/dvdr3575h_37/dvdr3575h_37_dfu_aen.pdf

On page 39:

"You cannot record copy-protected program using this unit.
(Copy-protected signal is included in DVD video or some satellite
broadcasts.)

"You cannot record 'copy-once only' program on DVD."

On page 115:

"This unit cannot record programs that contain copy protection signal.
This is not a malfunction."

Could be that the mention of "copy once" only applies to NTSC
broadcasts. Could be that the rc descriptor is explicitly ignored. Hard
to tell.

What I would have preferred to see is an unequivocal statement that says
that any program can be copied to the HDD, no matter what settings are
broadcast, but that copying from HDD to DVD may be prevented. And then a
list of circumsances where this is the case.

Bert
 
 
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