DirecTV DRM nightmare
p2pnet news | TV:- Warner Music, EMI, Vivendi Universal and Sony BMG, the members of the organise music cartel, are slowly grasping the message that DRM (Digital Restrictions Management) consumer control isn’t only dumb, it’s bad for business.
So, wriggling and writhing all the way, they’re slowly but surely abandoning it, as are other entities which are coming to fully understand a reality everyone else has been aware of all along:
Anything which can be seen or heard can be copied by one digital or analog means or another.
Period. Full stop.
Now, “I’ve been a very happy DirecTV customer since 1997, and until today, I’ve never had a single problem with any of my receivers or my service,” posts Wil Wheaton (right) on his WWdN: In Exile blog.
He goes on:
Sometime between this afternoon and this evening, my DirecTV receiver (HD 20-100) decided that it wouldn’t let me see a picture on my television (Hitachi 60V500.)”
On every single channel, local, over-the-air, HD, or anything else, saw an error message reading, “This program includes content protection that restricts viewing on the television attached to your DIRECTV receiver’s HDMI connector,” he says, going on:
I spent a lot of time on the phone with an extremely helpful DirecTV customer service representative who helped me troubleshoot the problem, one step at a time, until we determined that this is a result of some kind of DirecTV software glitch, which prevents TVs like mine from getting a picture to go with its sound.
Here’s the thing: I understand that DirecTV won’t be able to resolve this issue for several weeks, and the best advice DirecTV can give me is to unplug my HDMI cable (and whisking any 1080i content I may want to watch) in favor of component cables, until they can come up with a software fix to this problem.
If you look closely at the error message, you can see that it mentions “content protection” – that’s another word for DRM. How many DirecTV customers are currently hosed by this DRM-related nightmare? I’m not sure, but I can tell you what the number would be if the damn studios and networks weren’t so dead set on treating their customers like criminals: zero.
Stay tuned, and watch out for error messages.
(Thanks, Michael, and good luck Wil)
Also See:
WWdN: In Exile – DirecTV, why hast thou forsaken me? (Hint: it rhymes with ‘DRM’), August 30, 2007
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August 31st, 2007 at 8:45 am
This is called progress. Obviously.
August 31st, 2007 at 9:28 am
No, it is called STUPIDITY!
August 31st, 2007 at 12:46 pm
I do not understand the introduction of this article. Clearly the studios are NOT getting the message. They are behind the DirecTV nightmare.
There is a simple solution. Instead of waiting until DirecTV fully implemented their DRM crippleware, why not end the contract. Game over.
August 31st, 2007 at 2:00 pm
I bet that Wil could watch the content (that he paid for) if he downloaded it instead. If I were him, I would insist on a 100% refund for the entire viewing period that has been blocked. If I were him, I would also mention that the content is available in HD online as well. When I had trouble with my satellite provider, I mentioned the option of downloading. The customer rep of course informed me that that was against the law. I told the rep that breaking the law was better than being screwed without recourse.
http://www.makethestand.com It’s that time, again.