IEEE 1394 vs. DVI
Dear Gary: Kudos for Bob Perry for the best article I have ever read in Widescreen Review (“IEEE 1394 vs. DVI,” Issue 62, July). He took a complicated subject and explained both the technical and the business issues clearly. I found myself asking a question only to have Bob answer it in the next paragraph. Usually I finish an article with excitement about some new development. However, in this case I am even more fearful about the future of HDTV, since the content providers seem bent on destroying it in the pursuit of greed. I have found I don’t get the usefulness that I expected out of the three HDTV channels now on DirecTV, because I don’t have an HD recorder to time-shift the programs in HD format. Rarely is a movie I want to watch on when I am ready. The content providers seem to want me to watch on a “pay-for-view” basis, rather than time-shift HBO HD and its brethren. Maybe I will do so occasionally when more HD is on pay-per-view. But in the future, after everything goes HD, it is also likely I will find that I won’t use my Platinum movie package very much if I can’t time shift it, and I will cancel the whole subscription. Since the content providers also own these movie channels, what do they gain if I cancel because of their “no free recording” policy? The point is people have other choices, including more ballgame tickets instead of movies. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of the viewer’s right to record and time-shift broadcasts. What gives the content providers the power to do an end run to block home recording of all digital content? Bob neatly destroyed the fiction that the Internet is a useful medium to watch HD movies. The Napster case proved that Internet transmission of copyrighted material can be successfully blocked. There are about a million home theatres that will need an HD recorder with component inputs to connect to their set-top HDTV decoder boxes, and pass the signal through to the display. I have a need to record the local CBS digital station off the component outputs of my set-top decoder, which also handles DirecTV (Toshiba DST-3000). Why doesn’t some manufacturer just build a recorder with ALL the required inputs and outputs that the viewer needs, in spite of “business models” of content providers? Why isn’t a copy protection scheme, where an HD tape will only play in the machine that recorded it, or was purchased in that format sufficient?
Don Shannon, Kennewick, Washington
Mitsubishi’s Bob Perry Comments:
In general, distribution companies such as cable television and satellite will create set-top boxes that have inputs and outputs to match consumer televisions and other products. First and foremost, they are in the business of selling content. If they can convince everyone to move to non-recordable connections such as DVI with the threat that “we won’t release content,” they improve their business model, and lock you into STB HD recording only. Of course, if you don’t buy the threat, they will cave in. If the consumer caves in, they will be the gatekeeper, and the play button becomes the pay button. But you get to decide—do you support DVI, or do you support other connections? Staying informed and being active is, as in all consumer issues your best weapon!
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