The Tease of Things I Don't Need

We Control the Transmission

A coming wave of problems for people used to having an increased amount of control over their television watching, including recording shows for later and repeated viewing, isn't a new problem but many facets of it aren't necessarily broadly known. Most of the problems involve the entertainment industry's growing paranoia concerning protecting their content, especially as high definition broadcasts become more common. The optimistic view is that we went through much the same thing over twenty years ago, when VCRs were ripping through the home markets and the entertainment industry started screaming about lost revenues. The pessimistic side is that now the tech is more easily and deeply embedded, and seeming alternatives will make it easier for them to justify the "protective measures" embedded in newer television sets and recording devices. The bottom line is that as much tech appears to be designed these days to restrict one's ability to record programs as to facilitate it, even while setups like TiVo ostensibly give us more open control over when we watch what we want. Tammy sent me a link to a rambling but fairly inclusive piece that appears to cover most aspects of the problem -- saving me some time. Thanks, T.