Tech Chat. What was the big surprise?

[MikeD-C05]

I just hope we will still have the option of creating manual timers so we can still record like we are used to , till they get the name based recordings working right.

 

[bcshields]

great, they'll put out NBR **AFTER** the season ends... I could really use it to keep up with American Idol... Fox bounces primetime programming around like none other.

 

[StevenD]

I think the "BIG SURPRISE" was how open an honest they were! And that they actually answered some questions!

 

[Joe Q]

No big surprise - E* using the MPAA as a scapegoat in their excuse that 'content protection' was the reason for shutting off the 921 firewire output.

True to form.

I missed the chat cause I dumped DISH two weeks ago and sold my 921 over the firewire big lie.

Did they really come right out and say it was because of the MPAA?

The story that we were hearing from the DISH rumor mill was that there was a design flaw in the 921 and the firewire could not be made to work.

It is academic at this point for me as I am waiting for my HD Directv TIVO but I would really like to know what the truth actually was.

Thanks,
Joe

 

[Stacy A]

Did I understand it right that the 510 is the only unit that will not get Name based recording ability?

Stacy

 

[markdl]

No. The 522 will get it first, and then the 5xx series receivers, and then the 721, and then later this year the 921.

 

[Stacy A]

So, about when will this happen to the 5xx series DVR's?

Stacy

 

[markdl]

Probably later in this summer, but they didn't specifically say. June timeframe for the 522 was the only time period they gave other than "this year".

 

[Ken F]

Did they really come right out and say it was because of the MPAA?

What is going on with Dishwire?
Support for Dishwire has been pulled because of content protection problems. We are still working on it.

From what I understand, they claimed there was something with their implemention that prevented them from using the appropriate content protection. It sounded to me like the hardware wasn't capable of supporting DTCP. DTCP--which you find on all the cable HDTV STBs with Firewire--isn't something you can just add in software; you need to have 5C support on-chip with the requisite key. If they somehow forgot this, that would be a pretty major oversight.

Others on the AVS Forum have suggested that the IEEE1394 silicon they are using may allow live programming to be output through Firewire, but not recorded (or buffered?) content through that interface.