The Floppyhead blog has an interesting post regarding Microsoft and digital cable tuners and CableCards. The studio-backed effort to lock up the HD video path from tuner to display may have interesting consequences for Microsoft, consequences not unlike Apple's use of Fairplay DRM to anchor music tracks to iTunes.
Basically, they [Microsoft] have a monoply of the digital cable tuner market (not including Tivo since it is not a PC-based solution). How many companies have the ability to deliver DVR software and convince vendors to supply their software? No matter what Microsoft does or how far they lag behind the market, you have to use Vista to watch cable premium content on your computer in HD. No competitor can match them on that important feature. All thanks to DRM. Not innovation or feature-sets, but content protection.
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[Thanks to a reader apparently from Canada who writes:] The author of the blog is incorrect. See Exhibit C (Compliance Rules), section 2.4.3 of CableLabs' CHILA agreement (http://www.opencable.com/downloads/CHILA.pdf) OCUR products may output Controlled Content over the DRI interface (i.e., the USB) as long as it is protected with either Microsoft's WMDRM and Real Network's HelixDRM. Unfortunately, RN has taken Helix off the market for devices http://www.drmwatch.com/drmtech/article.php/3663976
It should be noted that CableLabs has provisionally approved DTCP-IP as an output protection technology http://www.cablelabs.com/news/pr/2007/07_pr_dtla_082307.html
Posted by: Anonymous | Tuesday, December 04, 2007 at 10:50