The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) has filed another request for the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) to give a waiver on the 2003 “plug and play” order which prohibits altering a video stream to disable the analog or digital signal to consumers home theater equipment. The MPAA first made the request in June 2008, but consumer groups such as Public Knowledge opposed the waiver and former FCC Chair Kevin Martin didn’t like the idea either.
The MPAA claims that the waiver, which will allow the use of “selectable output control” (SOC) measures, will enable studios to link up with broadcasters to air pre-DVD releases that will benefit consumers. “Physically challenged or elderly consumers who have limited mobility would have greater choice in movie viewing options,” a filing from the trade group reads.
Pro-consumer groups are not convinced however, largely because the use of SOC will inevitable disable some HDTV’s in the United States when they try to view such broadcasts. Public Knowledge warned that SOC would, “break all eleven million HDTVs in the US that don’t have digital input” and allow the MPAA to control when and how you view content with equipment you have already paid for.
The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) went even further and said that as many as 20 million HDTV sets could cease to function as they did when they were bought. Public Knowledge then came back to add that CEA figures are actually a low estimate, because you also have to account for digital video recorders (DVR) and other consumer electronics hardware that can only receive from analog connections.
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Result for: digital video recorders
Amazon has announced that fans of the company’s Video on Demand service will now be able to rent and purchase high definition movies and TV shows to playback on their PCs, or devices from Roku, TiVo, Sony and others.
New release HD movies will cost $3.99 to S4.99 USD to rent, and HDTV shows can be purchased for $2.99 USD.
As of writing, over 500 HD TV episodes and movies are available from major studios and broadcasters.
“Our customers have been asking us for two things: HD and the ability to watch movies and TV shows instantly on their television,” added Bill Carr, Amazon vice president of music and video.
Users can playback the titles on the Roku digital video player, TiVo Series3, HD and HD XL digital video recorders; Sony Bravia Internet Video Link; and Panasonic VIERA CAST-enabled HDTVs as well as PCs.
Result for: digital video recorders
Both the DISH Network and EchoStar announced yesterday that they have filed a lawsuit against TiVo hoping the court will find their DVR software does not infringe on any TiVo patents.
Late in January, the US Court of Appeals stated that DISH had infringed on a TiVo patent in building digital video recorders and upheld the original verdict of a damages award against DISH of $74 million plus interest. In April, the appeals court denied DISH’s request to have judges rehear the arguments related to the case.
DISH Network was formerly part of EchoStar Communications which has since spun off its technology assets to create EchoStar and DISH.
