Encryption

[speedingcheetah]

I recall from earlier in this thread that you also have to have the original tuner with which the recording was made in order to play it back. So if you ever replace your HDHR Flex you would lose access to all your old recordings. Is that still true? Or am I misremembering that?

That is correct. That may change in the future to be associated with your account.

I recall having some DRM media files, from the olde days of Windows Media Center. It would only playback on that computer, that Windows 7 install.
Upgraded to Win 8, or get a new computer, bye bye ability to payback file.
Also, Windows Media Center no longer a thing....
DRM thing's did not work out back then, were not popular and died out...

[tzr916]

DRM => Comskip cannot scan the file, period
AC4 audio is also currently a problem for Comskip (unless you are a wizard with scripting, compiling, ffmeg, etc).

[gtb]

DRM => Comskip cannot scan the file, period :x

Technically, if a 3rd party comskip solution wanted to implement and obtain certification for a full protected path solution for the analysis, it could most likely continue to support the desired capability. You should contact the provider of your preferred solution to determine if they have a plan to move forward with a full protected path solution.

[tzr916]

For PC/Windows there's only one Comskip. Any other provider just embeds the source code, adds fluff, and slaps their gui on top. The following is in every Comskip release readme "WARNING: Comskip can not and will never be able to process copy protected files". So technically Comskip may work on ATSC3 drm files depending on what copy flags a local station applies to their content.

[niquekk]

So I was just thinking of upgrading my old HDHR to the new 4K ATSC3 model, and now there’s this DRM bs?

So is there no point to buying this thing anymore? All channels except one in my area are encrypted…

Boy am I glad I checked here before ordering one!

[Cabal]

So I was just thinking of upgrading my old HDHR to the new 4K ATSC3 model, and now there’s this DRM bs?

So is there no point to buying this thing anymore? All channels except one in my area are encrypted…

Boy am I glad I checked here before ordering one!

Unless you're planning on ditching OTA TV entirely, you will almost certainly need to deal with ATSC 3.0 DRM eventually. The HDHomeRun app ecosystem will support decryption of DRM protected content in the future, but does not at this time. It is unknown whether popular 3rd party apps (Channels, Plex, etc) will.

As for whether or not you want to upgrade now or later, there is probably no wrong answer. ATSC 1.0 is still going strong.

[niquekk]

What’s the current status though, like will it even let you *view* DRM encrypted channels at all currently?

Or is it just a restriction on recording?

If plain viewing won’t even work that’s pretty lame and embarrassing imho, and there’s not even one single point to buying the ATSC 3 version of the HDHR right now…you never ever ever buy anything tech related with the promise of “it’ll be fixed sometime in the future” — we all know how that goes!

Why did they all of a sudden push for drm anyway, like why was it unnecessary with ATSC 1 but now is needed? Is piracy of OTA content really even an issue, especially with streaming?!

[foxbat121]

Currently, you can't even view them.

[niquekk]

That’s ridiculous…also from what I’ve just read, even if the HDHR becomes DRM certified and can decrypt the video, all the apps you use that interact with the HDHR have to go through an additional DRM certification process as well, and collect information about you and report it back to the broadcast providers….?!

What the actual fck is going on here? This is a literal show.

And it gets worse…the broadcasters have the ability set time limits on recorded content, meaning they will be able to DELETE FILES stored on your hard drives

They’ll also have the ability to flag a broadcast as not being recordable at all…I mean jee whiz why not just turn that on 24/7?

This is an absolute nightmare

[speedingcheetah]

That’s ridiculous…also from what I’ve just read, even if the HDHR becomes DRM certified and can decrypt the video, all the apps you use that interact with the HDHR have to go through an additional DRM certification process as well, and collect information about you and report it back to the broadcast providers….?!

What the actual fck is going on here? This is a literal show.

And it gets worse…the broadcasters have the ability set time limits on recorded content, meaning they will be able to DELETE FILES stored on your hard drives

They’ll also have the ability to flag a broadcast as not being recordable at all…I mean jee whiz why not just turn that on 24/7?

This is an absolute nightmare

This is the way.......

To make money and have control

[zippy]

I don't think disney is thinking about selling ABC because it's a cash cow.

[ckwsp101_tv]

So I was just thinking of upgrading my old HDHR to the new 4K ATSC3 model, and now there’s this DRM bs?

So is there no point to buying this thing anymore? All channels except one in my area are encrypted…

Boy am I glad I checked here before ordering one!

If your in a difficult reception area the newer ATSC1 tuner chip is an upgrade from prior generation HDHR units.

[Bluehawk]

All ready the November 2024 election advertising is reaching us. I wonder how long it will take candidates to realize that they could be reaching more people if they were to outlaw DRM on the airwaves? ATSC 3.0 has a better reach than ATSC 1.0. Most TV's today, do not have ATSC 3.0 tuners. As many of our elections have been won or lost by a few thousand votes, and in some cases hundreds of votes each vote counts. Will the stations that are DRM'd give a credit to their advertisers? I live in an area that over 4 Million People can obtain live tv with an extremely small investment. Watching any Network other than CBS would allow me to see the advertisement of any candidate. So lets say I'm watching the news, I will tune in any of the many available stations broadcasting on ATSC 3.0. If the candidate had placed an ad on CBS I wouldn't see it. Election advertising becomes annoying after a while as we draw closer to the election. This is just something that occurred to me as our Governor Election was so close. Maybe if CBS wasn't DRM'd we would have had a different outcome.

[speedingcheetah]

All ready the November 2024 election advertising is reaching us. I wonder how long it will take candidates to realize that they could be reaching more people if they were to outlaw DRM on the airwaves? ATSC 3.0 has a better reach than ATSC 1.0. Most TV's today, do not have ATSC 3.0 tuners. As many of our elections have been won or lost by a few thousand votes, and in some cases hundreds of votes each vote counts. Will the stations that are DRM'd give a credit to their advertisers? I live in an area that over 4 Million People can obtain live tv with an extremely small investment. Watching any Network other than CBS would allow me to see the advertisement of any candidate. So lets say I'm watching the news, I will tune in any of the many available stations broadcasting on ATSC 3.0. If the candidate had placed an ad on CBS I wouldn't see it. Election advertising becomes annoying after a while as we draw closer to the election. This is just something that occurred to me as our Governor Election was so close. Maybe if CBS wasn't DRM'd we would have had a different outcome.

Live streaming and recording, very differing things.

You fail to consider the fact, that most people with Gateway type devices, like HDHR, one of the main desire and use case for them is Home DVR use. Where the end user records the broadcast, to watch later, often, skipping the commercials. And, also, then has a local copy of the broadcast, they can edit out commercials, and either keep for them selves, or, share. This is what the major networks do not want and are taking away with use of DRM.

STB devices (Set top boxes), are just converter boxes, essentially, that have no DVR function. While technically possible to do a HDMI capture via separate a hardware based device or PC capture card from the output of STB boxes, it is not something the average consumer would know of or try. However, even this method may be fruitless depending on the strength and type of DRM/Encryption and design of the STB, as some have already mentioned in other posts on that topic.

[nblair5]

You fail to consider the fact, that most people with Gateway type devices, like HDHR, one of the main desire and use case for them is Home DVR use. Where the end user records the broadcast, to watch later, often, skipping the commercials. And, also, then has a local copy of the broadcast, they can edit out commercials, and either keep for them selves, or, share. This is what the major networks do not want and are taking away with use of DRM.

There are definitely some people that use a gateway exclusively that way, and I understand the rationale behind companies writing them off as customers. However, most people are just using them to watch the content whenever and wherever it is convenient for them. For me, that's usually live. I don't know if it is 75% or 90%, but most of the time I am viewing their content in exactly the way they intend.

But it is 2023, I will not be adjusting my work and personal life schedule to align with their broadcast schedule, whether it is for live sports, the 6AM news weather forecast, or Jeopardy. If I happen to be available when it is scheduled, I'll frequently watch it live. But if I'm not, I will record it and start it on delay or watch it later. Anything that doesn't have that as a capability is not useful to me. That seems like a pretty mainstream customer for the networks to me, and one they might not want to be so quick to discard.