I am forever saying “If you’ve got good credit or bad credit, you need to see your credit report at least once per year.” To see your credit report, you want the most convenient and least expensive way possible….

The average guy will lose out, but then he doesn’t want to have to learn anything new so he’ll happily pay whatever the digital tyrants demand. I on the otherhand like to watch my programs WHEN I WANT to watch them… and will do so on my terms, in my way, when I please. And if I get prodded enough I’ll educate others along the way.

The draconian attitude is unwise, and historically unfruitful.

Yes, I’ll continue to pay my subscription fees as I’m not suggesting outright piracy, but entertainment is supposed to be convenient to ME.

Run the HBO signal through an analog tuner.

Put your PVR on the output of said tuner. Granted, there will be a tiny bit of degradation going digital>analog>digital, but it should eliminate the problem of time shifting. Analog devices don’t capisce digital flags…

OTOH, it seems to me that the best way to kill this legislation is to require that it also makes “commercial flags” a required feature as well, so that “parents can choose to not subject their children’s impressionable minds to advertisements of products and/or information for adult use only.” (nudge, nudge, wink, wink).

As for jb, the 90% of everything is crap, poster, please remember to give the credit to the creator of this.
It is best known as “Sturgeon’s Law” after Theodore ‘Ted’ Sturgeon, a great science-fiction writer from the 40’s to the 80’s.

So, when the flag is on you will not be able to use your analog component video connections to record content in the same resolution as what you are watching it in (IF you are watching in Hi - Def). Instead, you only get lowly DVD - quality recordings (which, when re - up converted…something that many systems do already and most will do in the near future….looks nearly as good as the HD source material).

For those without HD receivers or who are recording using “S Video”, “Composite Video”, or RF Coax, you will still be able to record the program exactly as you can now. Tivo, VCR’s, DVD recorders, Windows Media Center, etc… should all work just fine with either a “standard def” source to standard def recording or (worst case) with a HD source to “enhanced def” recording….still not bad at all.

What we *won’t* be able to do (when the flag is on) is grab HD content digitally (or by grabbing the analog signal and then compressing it ourselves….something that nobody can really do today *anyway*) and record it digitally *as HD*. If we could, then the potential for “PERFECT” Piracy would exist (’perfect’ because a 1080i or 1080p HD image is equal to the resolution that motion picture masters are recorded in today…get an HD copy of a movie on HBO and you can literally reproduce an image exactly as it was shown on the screen….*MOVIE THEATER* screen, that is!).

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t like this broadcast flag, either. However, it’s use (no matter how strict) hardly creates stranded investments in our current video recording systems (as I said, nobody can record analog HD content today anyway). For those who *can* record HD digitally (a few people with HD Tivo’s and even fewer with DVHS machines with special converters or cable boxes) today, the ability to record most HD content from movie channels and such was *never* available anyway…not due to the “broadcast flag” analog hole issue, but due to the current “no record” flag required on all HD - capable digital recording devices.

So it seems to me that while it certainly would be nice if the broadcast flag was not an option for broadcasters, it is hardly a case of “the sky is falling”.

Just my own $0.02, though.