> One result of this proposal appears to be that no ATSC tuners could > have open source drivers, nor could open source software play back > recorded ATSC signals, nor could those signals be recorded in > open-standard formats. Existing tuner cards like HiPix which don't > include copy controls and let you open an ordinary MPEG stream could > be banned outright, in favor of alternatives like AccessDTV which > require proprietary drivers. Im curious how all the conclusions are reached looking at this from a european perspective. The basic european model uses smartcard modules to do cryptography for digital TV and does analog overlay onto the video signal (because if the digital signal does touch the computer its game over for any copy protector). The problem with this system and open source drivers isn't the technology or rules so much as the fact that the main players are trying very hard to lock customers into their non computer, set top boxes, and also to use that lock in to sell overpriced tivo clones which no competitor can provide. The smart card system has its own fundamental problems for home recording but not for timeshifting so much. You can also record the digital signal and play it back through the card later - which gives you the ability to use a DVR but not the ability to do conversions, so you can't easily flip a program into VP3.1 or similar then watch it on a handheld PC when you have time. Alan
