Re: [Discuss-gnuradio] HDTV Do not copy bit.

[Steve Schear]

At 07:13 PM 10/16/2003 -0400, Krzysztof Kamieniecki wrote:
> I just heard on NPR on Market Place
> that the FCC may be issuing it's edict about the "Do Not Copy
> Bit" sometime in the next couple of weeks. They made it sound like
> the FCC will go forward with mandating that all HW manufactures will have
> to honor the "Bit".
>
> Has anyone heard anything about this recently?

There are lots of problems with current HD Content Management Systems,
not the least of which is that most of the HD monitors on the market do
not support it. It's impossible to legally
add an HDCP decoder, internal or external, to a TV that was not designed
for such an upgrade. The HDCP agreement (
www.digital-cp.com/data/HDCPlicense061402b.pdf
, requires that HDCP display devices have both physical and software security built into them to thwart user access to any decoded signals. Non-HDCP TV's do not have such security, so they can never be legally upgraded.

Until recently too few set top boxes with DVI/HDCP have been deployed to offer a DVI/HDCP product (DVI/HDCP was recently selected by CableLabs, the cable industry's standards group for all future digital HD interfaces and content protection). Many cable companies are still deploying analog HD boxes which need to be amortized over at least 30-40 months. 

Some key Congress critters have expressed disinterest in limiting fair use of content acquired from subscription services (e.g., cable and sat) becuase teh consumer has already paid for it.  Only Over-The-Air HD is likely to be a viable target for such controls, but the limitations of widely deployed consumer HD displays makes even this problematic. I think the horses have left the stable.

Should be interesting times ahead.

steve