Gefen's HD video recorder still has HDMI inputs, but the recordings will now be encrypted.
(Credit: Gefen)Gefen is adding hard-drive encryption to its High-Definition Personal Video Recorder to ensure that it won't become an easy avenue for video piracy. Doing so will bring the product into line with other commercially available set-top recorders and DVRs, all of which encrypt video recordings to ensure they won't be played back outside of the device.
The addition of encryption follows a dialogue with CNET that was initiated after the Gefen HD PVR was highlighted on Zatznotfunny. Blogger Dave Zatz noted that the Gefen was a unique product: not only did it have HDMI inputs--a usually unseen rarity--its recordings were completely unencrypted. That meant that enterprising techies such as Zatz (and fellow enthusiast "AVeNVy") who were willing to crack open the Gefen and yank out the hard drive were able to view high-def recordings from their cable box as standard (albeit undoubtedly massive) H.264 video files when they connected the drive to a PC. Such unencrypted/non-DRM video files are the holy grail of video pirates, who could take those files and put them on file-sharing networks. Imagine, for instance, a whole month of high-def HBO movies as Pirate Bay torrents, and it's easy to see why Hollywood studios tend to demand tough encryption standards from hardware manufacturers.
When contacted for comment last week, Gefen specified that the device was "preserving HDCP [High-Definition Copy Protection] on output." But a subsequent communication from the company's representative has since clarified the issue:
Gefen did not anticipate that users would void warranty to crack the unit and use the internal drive in this fashion. The company is currently in the process of encrypting every internal drive of every HD PVR so this situation will be corrected.
The product is brand new, so it's unclear how many of the pre-encryption models are already in the wild. But if you see one of them on eBay going for more than the $1,000 list price, you'll know why.
Call it a mix-and-match approach to music retailing.
Sony BMG's Platinum MusicPass
Sony BMG Music Entertainment, one of the top four music labels, is the latest to meld an offline-online sales strategy. The record company said in a press release it will soon offer gift cards through brick-and-mortar stores that can be used to redeem music from the Web.
The best part of the offering is that the music is available in unprotected MP3s, more proof that Sony BMG is easing away from copy-protection software. Citing unnamed sources, BusinessWeek reported last week that the label is preparing to strip digital rights management software from at least part of its catalog. The other three large record companies have already begun dropping DRM.
The gift cards, called Platinum MusicPass, can be purchased at Best Buy, Target, and other retail stores starting Jan. 15. The way they work is this: fans of Alicia Keys, Bruce Springsteen, or other Sony artists can purchase the cards, scratch the back off to reveal a PIN and then punch that number into Musicpass.com to retrieve full-length albums. Initially, 37 titles will be offered.
It's important to note that the music is "anonymously watermarked," which means that it can't be used to identify users or where the music was purchased, according to the company. The watermarking is intended to help the label learn whether songs are being shared on peer-to-peer networks.
Considering Sony's history with privacy, it's likely that some users might get spooked.
Sony ignited a major controversy two years ago when it was discovered that the company had used "rootkit" technology to embed copy protection software in its CDs.
The gift cards feature artist images and album information and represent the latest effort by a record company to spur people to buy complete digital albums. The Internet has rung the death knell for albums but the labels continue to look for ways to boost sales.
Other efforts by some of the company's competitors include music-loaded USB drives. Warner Music Group, which recently reported that it's the only major record company to grow unit sales in 2007, released an album by the band Matchbox Twenty on a USB drive fitted into a bracelet.
A nice idea, but the public has yet to show much interest in buying digital music attached to physical packages. Why not just buy a CD and rip the music later?
To everyone who has ever griped about music locked up in copy-protection software, it appears that the technology is on its way out.
Sony BMG Music Entertainment, one of the top four music labels, is preparing to offer part of its catalogue without Digital Rights Management software, according to a story in BusinessWeek.com, the online publication of BusinessWeek magazine.
According to BusinessWeek, Sony BMG plans to reveal its plans sometime in the first quarter. Citing an unnamed source, the magazine reported that Sony BMG, a joint venture between Sony and Bertelsmann, will participate in a song giveaway as part of a promotion for the Super Bowl on Feb. 3. The DRM-free music will be distributed via Amazon's download service.
Representatives from Sony BMG and Amazon declined to comment.
The move by Sony BMG is significant because it means that all four of the largest record companies are at moving towards digital music unencumbered by copy-protection schemes.
DRM was supposed to safeguard music but has done little to prevent widespread file sharing. But too often only the people who purchased songs legally were affected by DRM.
People who bought music at legitimate online music stores, such as Apple's iTunes, couldn't listen to their music on just any device. There was often confusion about which songs played on which devices.
Last year, Apple CEO Steve Jobs called on the music industry to do away with DRM.
Many of the top music-subscription services, such as Yahoo Music and RealNetworks' Rhapsody service continue to use copy-protection software.
Apple TV: still compelling in a post-DRM world?
(Credit: Apple)It's the digital equivalent of the first few cracks in the Berlin Wall: soon EMI will be offering the bulk of its music catalog free of DRM restrictions. Steve Jobs was on hand at the press conference to enthusiastically endorse the idea--he did, famously, suggest as much in an open letter just a few short weeks ago. But is Apple simply fashioning its own hangman's noose? If the other major record companies follow suit, the one big advantage of the entire Apple "digital ecosystem"--iTunes, the iPod, and Apple TV--essentially becomes null and void. Jobs says Apple's superior design will keep the company's software and hardware at the top of the must-have list for digital media. For the iPod, maybe--but for the just-launched Apple TV, the answer isn't as straightforward.
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JVC engineers failed to duplicate the glitch
(Credit: JVC)There's still no word on whether the TiVo Series3 will be seeing a price cut in the near future. But in the meantime, it's worth visiting an issue that cropped up during our testing of the box back in the fall of 2006. At that time, we noticed that the Series3 analog-video outputs exhibited some strange behavior when connected to JVC A/V receivers via HDMI--essentially, the composite and S-video outputs wouldn't work when playing back recordings that were flagged as "restricted" by the content provider.
Both TiVo and JVC have since followed up on the issue, but neither was able to duplicate the problem as experienced by CNET. A TiVo representative suggested that the copy-protection flag was inserted by the local cable company (the New York City Time Warner Cable franchise). That's why, the rep theorized, neither TiVo nor JVC could recreate the problem when recording the exact same programs from the same channels elsewhere in the country (neither company is located in New York).
It's also worth noting that Macrovision--which we originally identified as a possible culprit in the JVC problem--has nothing to do with the digital copy protection on the Series3. To clarify the issue, TiVo has long since updated its online support documents, separately listing the four levels of digital copy protection ("copy not restricted," "no further copying is permitted," "one generation copy is permitted," and "copying is prohibited").
For their part, JVC engineers even diagrammed their testing regimen, reproduced here:
We can't retest the problem ourselves because our Series3 review sample was returned to TiVo months ago. So, it is unknown whether the problem was due to a Time Warner, NYC-specific, copy-protection flag, or it was simply a temporary glitch that's been corrected by a subsequent software update to the TiVo. For all we know, it may still crop up in New York (or elsewhere) when and if the programs get flagged as such. I'm still peeved that such copy protection flags exist at all, but I applaud the engineers at TiVo and JVC for following up on the issue, and doing the best they could to get to the bottom of it.
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