Will We Need A SmartCard to Watch Digital TV? 326
An anonymous reader writes "This story on EE Times points out that Hollywood and major electronics manufacturers are in agreement on a SmartCard requirement for digital video interconnectivity. Note that the article talks about them 'closing the analog hole.'"
Yeah, That'll Work (Score:1, Informative)
Re:I wonder... (Score:2, Informative)
'nuff said
Re:Next time they will make you pay for the servic (Score:1, Informative)
They've had it for a few years now.
I think it's a fine idea.
Waste of effort (Score:3, Informative)
Someday these corps. are going to have to realize that digital is _more_ easily copied than analog, not less. No matter what clever locks and barriers they put up, the data is the same, and so it is inherently easy to reproduce. The demands of digital secrecy/security are fundamentally opposite to the demands of broadcasting and never the twain shall meet.
Re:Yet another reason DTV will FAIL. (Score:5, Informative)
2006? Nah. 2012? Probably. The 2006 figure was never taken seriously by anybody with a clue. Screw replacing the TVs - that's chump change. Replacing every bit of electronics in the broadcast chain, including the tower, in 10 years? When there was absolutely nothing available in 1996? No f'ing way.
But if you think that DTV is going to outright fail, well, you're just as blind as those who thought it would be nationwide by 2006.
Re:The Truth? (Score:2, Informative)
You'd think, hunh? After all, the FCC said that if at least 85% of homes can't get DTV, they'd stretch the dark date.
Oh, but some of our illustrious congressmen have decided to "solve the DTV problem." Reps Tauzin and Dingel propose to:
1. Force the end of analog TV on Dec. 31 of 2006. Forget about whether you don't want to buy a new DTV or if you give a fat furry rodent's behind about hi-def programming.
2. Force all TV stations to pass network programming without changing to a lower resolution. So what, you ask.It means that your local cable system (who 'must carry' local broadast stations) will have to give up the bandwidth of 4 cable channels for every broadcast station taking a hi-res feed. 'nother good idea!
3. Force the broadcast flag into every DTV receiver built after a 6-month period. Are you listening Hollywood? We're Congress, and we're here to help.
4. After 2005, no TVs could have analog outputs. Sure, you can have a big screen, and it can have 4-channel Dolby sound. BUT YOU CAN'T HOOK IT UP TO YOUR STEREO.Great.
And you thought the FCC had some bad ideas.
Re:Yeah (Score:3, Informative)
Care to explain that one?
I have seen and handled all in one homebrew cards for the Analogue system that worked look here [google.co.uk]
I have seen and handled cards that connected to a laptop to do decryption on the digital system - to be fair not working at the time I saw it.
You can also make attempts at cloning smartcards if you feel you're l33t enough try Cardman [cardman.co.uk] for some hardware - but don't please ask him *how* to do it - he got burned by some of the flack around the ITV Digital pirating issues and is now sticking firmly to just supplying hobbists tools to stay well clear of the allegations. Spend some time looking if it interests you.
One of the problems in broadcast systems is the system is only as secure as the people that run it. As soon as a disgruntled tech leaks some info about the encryption used then you have a chance to brute force it. Self authenticating systems are only secure when they can 'phone home' otherwise tech savvy consumers pop the lid off and start sticking the logic probes around the EPROMS - maybe this is why the Sky Digiboxes have to be connected to a live phone line or they have a paddy?
Now issues that do concern me with Sky is that the various broadcasting regulations in the UK mean that any digital reciever should be able to display free to air broadcast. This is because the operators with a license to broadcast nationally are obliged to carry the national stations (BBC) that people have already paid for through thier TV license. This is via cable / terrestrial or sat. They are also required to provide support for other broadcasters decrypt cards - this is designed to prevent monopolies by one company flooding the market with 'free' STB's - the ON Digital boxes mostly had two slots for a reason.
But on Sky the 'free to air' channels are encrypted - you have to apply for the 'free to air' decrypt card. And this is on the very boundry of breaking the conditions. There is also no capability of taking an extra decrypt card, nor as in the old analogue system adding an external decoder.
Additionally if the Digibox does not receive a signal from one of the Astra (Sky's own) series of satellites for a while then it resets its memory.
Why is this done? Well the Digibox is 'free' - of course it actually isn't it costs around 300 UKP. Now Sky doesn't actually pay for the boxes, a company called OPEN does - and they run all the online side of Sky's operation and build the operating environment on the STBs. They rely on a certain number of the customers using the charged for services that the Digibox can provide to make thier money back.
Canny independant dealers realised you could get the 'free' Digibox, hook it up to a good positioning dish and one cheap free to air system to go!
Hence the need to apply to Sky for the 'free' card and the reason for the memory wipe - not so long ago they closed down a company that sold an offboard backup system for thier Digiboxes because as well as great to save you the pain of reprograming after a power cut, it also bypassed thier 'wipe the memory' system.
This is what a major broadcasting company is doing in the UK - a country where we are used to free quality programming, and have a culture of regulation that tries (most of the time) to keep things fair.
I'd be very concerned over in the USA that your broadcasters don't just ram control into your front rooms.