Time Warner Cable Patents Method For Disabling Fast-Forward Function On DVRs 298
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by
samzenpus
from the no-skip-for-you dept.
from the no-skip-for-you dept.
antdude writes in with a story about a patent that won't have DVR users skipping for joy. "Time Warner Cable has won a U.S. patent for a method for disabling fast-forward and other trick mode functions on digital video recorders. The patent, which lists Time Warner Cable principal architect Charles Hasek as the inventor, details how the nation's second largest cable MSO may be able prevent viewers from skipping TV commercials contained in programs stored on physical DVRs it deploys in subscriber homes, network-based DVRs and even recording devices subscribers purchase at retail outlets."
Re:Patent good in this case (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Nobody needs a stinking DVR (Score:4, Informative)
I already own an HTPC. But I still have to buy/rent two STBs so it can record channels not available on analog cable (mostly all the interesting ones), and am stuck in SD as my provider won't rent/sell cable cards. Even then , about half the channels carry the do not record or do not copy flag (meaning can't record, or watch on another computer. If the motherboard dies, I'm unable to watch what's recorded or even archived on DVD).
Even if I buy two new HD STBs and remove their cable cards and put them in cablecard tuners, they won't allow the tuner's serial numbers to be added in their DB, Meaning some channels won't work at all (such as those using SDV).
By getting my content on torrent sites, I can do whatever the fuck I want with it (and it's in HD too)
Re:That's not what 'digital' is for... (Score:5, Informative)
I thought slashdot inserted those logos automatically when you typed digital" as a keyword? And speaking of newbies:
>>>It's summer, it's endless summer...
It's called Endless September not summer. The term "september" refers to the point when a bunch of college kids got internet accounts, and started spamming a bunch of messages to Usenet forums w/o regard to polite netiquette. The summertime used to be a haven from all the college kids (since they were home w/o a connection).
The "eternal" refers to when people started getting internet at home. Then it was as if September never ended... a continuous supply of clueless newbies.
Re:Patent good in this case (Score:1, Informative)
Just so nobody patents this idea, here's how I would do it for DVRs running my software--I would encrypt the video, but change the keying after each commercial break. The software would not unlock the key for the subsequent program material from either an online (via 'net) or local (offline storage on the DVR) until the users had viewed the commercials at normal speed... One would use any method to detect the start of the commercial block--or heck, commercials could be unencrypted.. the method of determining when in the program keys change could be used for the commercial start/stop detection too... One could even inject streaming live/updated ads (that allows them to be changed if the user views the program later and get up-to-date ads... there, now they can't patent THAT idea either) and the streaming server could unlock or send key updates which would permit even more data gathering possibiliites... WHeee this idea thing is easy!
Re:Patent good in this case (Score:5, Informative)
Once you have the commercial cut point markers, you can program the player to do anything you want. You can either skip the commercial upon seeing the initial cutpoint or disable navigation controls entirely.
Yet another patent on the obvious with plenty of prior art.
Re:That's not what 'digital' is for... (Score:4, Informative)
The term "september" refers to the point when a bunch of college kids got internet accounts, and started spamming a bunch of messages to Usenet forums w/o regard to polite netiquette. The summertime used to be a haven from all the college kids (since they were home w/o a connection).
September, by itself, referred only to new college students, not all of them, since they were pretty much the vast majority of USENET users. After a semester or so, thing settled down, so January-August weren't bad.
The "eternal" refers to when people started getting internet at home. Then it was as if September never ended... a continuous supply of clueless newbies.
No, eternal September [wikipedia.org] specifically refers to when AOL started bridging their discussion system to USENET groups.
Re:Next (Score:5, Informative)
Ok, let's switch goalpoasts. We'll now consider the cost of Doctor Who, instead of BBC's overall offerings and costs.
Doctor Who is watched by, conservatively, 7 million Britons (more for premiers, finales and specials). It's also redistributed to 50 other countries. The US viewership peaked at around 1 million, and Australia was achieving about the same viewership in 2005, so let's be again conservative and say that those 50 other countries add about half of Britains viewership, bringing the worldwide total to around 10 million viewers. At that rate, it costs $0.30 an episode per viewer, or about $4 a season. Your $400 is off by 2 orders of magnitude. Even if we double that, and give the BBC a nice, chunky profit, you're off by a factor of 50. Note that my estimates are conservative; I wouldn't be surprised if the worldwide viewership for Doctor Who was closer to 15 - 20 million.
Re:Next (Score:4, Informative)
Ok, let's switch goalpoasts. We'll now consider the cost of Doctor Who, instead of BBC's overall offerings and costs.
Doctor Who is watched by, conservatively, 7 million Britons (more for premiers, finales and specials). It's also redistributed to 50 other countries. The US viewership peaked at around 1 million, and Australia was achieving about the same viewership in 2005, so let's be again conservative and say that those 50 other countries add about half of Britains viewership, bringing the worldwide total to around 10 million viewers. At that rate, it costs $0.30 an episode per viewer, or about $4 a season. Your $400 is off by 2 orders of magnitude. Even if we double that, and give the BBC a nice, chunky profit, you're off by a factor of 50. Note that my estimates are conservative; I wouldn't be surprised if the worldwide viewership for Doctor Who was closer to 15 - 20 million.
You're treating the BBC like its a private corporation... stop that.
The Beeb is a public broadcaster that operates under a Royal Charter, basically they can do whatever they want as long as they fulfill that charter (which is, in case you haven't been paying attention is to be a public broadcaster). They dont have to make a profit, in fact they probably dont even have to break even. But they are probably making a mint from Doctor Who. Not only do other networks pay the BBC for rights, but there's DVD sales, toys and merchandise, books and what not. When the BBC does make a profit, that money is funnelled into other productions (news, web services, other shows) Doctor Who probably pays for a bunch of BBC shows.