You can't record American Gladiators? Oh noes!

(BitTorrent FTW.)

Hey now Xenu, that is prime American culture that the network is relegating to the dustbin by keeping us from recording it. My children's children will, one day, lament the fact that, but for slightly more user friendly practices, they could possess recordings of the first airings of the second edition of American Gladiators

windpwned!

Let's see... what possible dealings could MS and NBC have with each other. MS... NBC. MS, NBC. MS NBC. Nope, not seeing it.

By the way, I do love American Gladiators. Sometimes, non-cerebral programming is just plain fun. Hockey, AG, Master Blasters... the world of Hitting Stuff and Blowing It Up.

...that said, nothing gets between me and Carl Sagan.

I refer to 2 previous comments on a slightly different topic that came to be relevant: http://www.boingboing.net/2008/05/13/analog-switchoff-drm.html#comment-188000 and the comment just below, 188223

If this was indeed just a glitch due to bad signal, then we truly can know that the future has arrived. Conspiracies that don't need any people to enact, technology that takes away your rights by accident. This 'malfunction' highlights the fact that these systems are designed to deny you functionality by default, that the ability to exercise your rights is controlled by a switch that must be held in the 'on' position.

I can just see it, you are recording something, turn on the blender to make a smoothie, and it causes so much signal interference that the computer decides that it should delete your program. Hooray!

Just because it became more relevant after I decided to get the whole text instead of quoting Bill Hicks from memory:

"Go back to bed, America. Your government has figured out how it all transpired. Go back to bed, America. Your government is in control again. Here. Here's American Gladiators. Watch this, shut up. Go back to bed, America. Here is American Gladiators. Here is 56 channels of it! Watch these pituitary retards bang their fucking skulls together and congratulate you on living in the land of freedom. Here you go, America! You are free to do what we tell you! You are free to do what we tell you!"

OK, I really like AG. Can't stand Hulk but that is what the mute button is for.

So I go watch Gladiators on my Vista PC when the recording stopped just before the show's intro. And this is with 15 Gig space on the hard drive is left.

Here is the rub, I've got an analog card and I'm not using a cable box.

I don't know why people are more fascinated by the fact someone wanted to record American Gladiators, the point is still the same... this could have been any program, it could have been the news, it could have been Peewees Playhouse, it doesn't matter, this program (computer not TV) allows for the fact a tv program has to be flagged to be recorded or not, when the program shouldn't even check for such a thing. Another case of something you paid for and still are not allowed to use without getting the permission from some entity or entities all of which HAVE to say Yes. Its like being on the recieving end of a rough trick and instead of getting paid for it, your the one paying for the 'digital experience'

Imho MythTV.org is an alternative, but dammit we pay this corporate monster a huge simplicity tax so we don't have to grow a beard and learn how to use free Linux.

Thanks for being there blocking the way yet again M$.

you know how to bypass this copyright crap?
V.C.R.
sad, but true

oh, I thought this was on your DVR, not a computer

well, that stinks.
still, VCR!

This is a very bad omen for the future of home electronics. Tethered technology is coming into our homes, technology that does less and less with each manufacturer software patch. Technology that "won't remember" or skips certain news broadcasts that the manufacturer or other parties would rather you not know about.

Sterile technology is coming and we must stop it. And always remember, if you can't open it you don't own it.

I'd recommend reading "The Future of the Internet--And How to Stop It" by Jonathan Zittrain for more.

Laureltree, you write in #9:

you know how to bypass this copyright crap?
V.C.R.
sad, but true

Alas, it is sadder than you know. One word: Macrovision.

Even an analog VCR can prevent you from making copies of your own video streams.

"Go back to bed, America. Your government has figured out how it all transpired. Go back to bed, America. Your government is in control again. Here. Here's American Gladiators. Watch this, shut up. Go back to bed, America. Here is American Gladiators. Here is 56 channels of it! Watch these pituitary retards bang their fucking skulls together and congratulate you on living in the land of freedom. Here you go, America! You are free to do what we tell you! You are free to do what we tell you!"

Now the bitter irony of this is, that when you prevent us from getting our pablum, thats when we get pissed and politically active. The fact the MS and NBC are introducing so many people to wonders of DRM is delicious.

My HD capture card ignores the DRM flag.

That said, I don't think NBC needs to worry about me making pirate DVDs of My Name is Earl.

Isn't this a good thing? Isn't anything that pounds more nails in the lid of Vista a good thing?

Everytime some mouthpiece almost gets me convinced that it's OK, the water's fine, something like this comes along and stops me. And I'm one of those people who LIKES Windows. I like the way it's laid out, the way it works, the way it does stuff. Comfortable shoes. Six flavors of Linux don't do it; Mac OS anything is like a rock in my shoe. But someday I'm going to have to move on, and it's not going to be Vista, not now, not ever.

I was just talking about this possibility with a couple of friends this evening, and now it's on BoingBoing in tangible screenshot format.

My boyfriend thinks that Apple will be less likely to go along with broadcast flags, and he may be right. Regardless, it's the potential for it to happen that I don't appreciate.

We postulated that if this is to go widespread and be the norm, there will probably be a software version of the blue and beige boxes of yore to work around it, and maybe even darker hacker magic to unlock premium channels and other such restricted content that is harder to obtain for free as a consumer in the analog world.

it's not a feature, it's a bug.
or is it?

The best thing about AG is of course Laila Ali. Not quite as cool as her dad (who could be?) but just as pretty. However, the rest of the show is so not my taste that I can't watch it.

As for the actual topic of this post: I will hold the EFF to their promise to dig into this. I am leaning toward a series of innocent mistakes on the part of the broadcaster and Microsoft. I can attest from personal experience that both camps are more than capable of screwing up like this.

it's not a feature, it's a bug.

I'm sure Microsoft has that one at the top of their yellow legal pad marked "To Be Fixed."

"Oh gosh... You know, I'm not much on speeches but, it's so gratifying to leave you wallowing in the mess you've made. You're screwed, thank you, bye."

So users can't record "American Gladiators"?

It's for your own good really. Who needs to watch such trash? It's a slippery slope. Soon you'll be thinking " 'Desperate Housewifes' isn't so bad" and the next thing you know your flesh will be fused with the sofa and you'll look like Jabba the Hut.

Grow a beard and learn to use Linux folks. It's FREE. Faster, stronger, better, less buggy.

Did I mention it's free?

Hackers to the rescue in 3...2...

Elvis Gump (#21) A couple of things:

Desperate Housewives may be a guilty pleasure, but I would play Earthquake with Felicity Huffman any time. In all seriousness she is one of the best actresses out there.

I think you can achieve Jabba's physique just as easily by blogging all day. OK maybe moving a mouse and drinking Jolt will slow the process a bit...

Thanks for reminding me to finally get around to installing Hardy Heron. I have a beard but it is not very long...

Unfortunately it's not just Microsoft imposing this sort of a limitation:

As I've mentioned in a previous posting here on BoingBoing, I own both a TiVo HD and a Vista PC with an HD tuner card (http://gadgets.boingboing.net/2008/03/05/morning-tech-deals-h-114.html#comment-137086), but I primarily use the TiVo, due to the superior user interface (my four-year-old can navigate it) as well as the "TiVo Suggests" functionality.

However, I was disappointed to find when I upgraded from my old TiVo Series 2 to the TiVo HD that the TiVo company has also apparently bowed-down to the media companies, and is now allowing "broadcast flag"-like limitations on some programming (and not only HD programming).

The TiVo HD will record the programming (which you can still watch and keep on the TiVo so long as you like), but at the whim of the broadcaster will then block your ability to transfer the program from your TiVo to your PC, where you could of course do something horrible like burn it to DVD in case you wanted to keep a copy to watch later on another TV.

I've run into hundreds of programs with this limitation just since I got the TiVo HD back around the end of 2007, and none of these were on the broadcast networks - it appears for example that the "MPLEX" channel, which shows only old movies, sends out this limitation on all their programming.

I'm looking at my list of shows currently stored on my TiVo right now, and I've got three Sherlock Holmes movies, all with copyrights between 1940 and 1959, all of which were recorded from MPLEX, and all of which are locked from being transferred.

On the other hand, I also have a bunch of programming from Turner Classic Movies (who I assume has to be considered a direct competitor to MPLEX), and none of their programming is flagged to prevent transfer.

So it isn't just Microsoft doing this with Vista - TiVo is allowing the cable networks to impose these sort of limitations too.

First, I'm with MHTH... read Zittrain's book (and it's free on the web!).
Secondly, I'm on a friend's computer here, who uses a major ISP (in Scooby-speak, Romrast) and I simply cannot follow the link from EFF.
Coincidence? Or something... more?

UPDATE -
Whiskey tango foxtrot? Make that not able to access EFF at all on this machine. Ruh ro! Romrast?!?
The irony...

Hey Vagabond, I'm on RomRast right now, and I can't get to any EFF websites either. Big Conspiracy or trouble at EFF's servers? Time will tell.

non-romrast N/G, servers?

Also can not get to EFF.org through comcast. Hmm... any can non comcast people get to it?

I can't get through to the EFF and I'm on shaw ( a Canadian ISP).

Hrmmm..

@REED SAVORY

I was going to post that.

I have my original Series 3 solely on the net, no antenna (too far away and so far too cheap to erect a tower), no CableCARD (can't abide Comcast).

I note that although you can go through a painful process to add podcasts, it won't play video podcasts and even audio ones don't have the TiVo control functionality.

But huzzah! TiVo signed deals with podcast providers like CNET and Ziff and Podshow so you get those like regular TiVo season passes.

Then I discover that the DRM prevents me from transfering say "Cranky Geeks" from the Tivo to the PC while I can transfer network shows.

Soooo....I can subscribe to the Cranky Geeks podcast directly on any platform and get a non-DRMed video file in my choice of formats but if I subscribe the Tivo I can't transfer it off!

I hooked up my Macbook Pro to the TV and home theater.

It breaks my heart because I'm still in love with the functionality of the Tivo UI and remote but I'll be eBaying the HD Tivo and mothballing the other 4 Tivos.

OMG! http://www.eff.org is down!

Have the lords of control killed it?

Bill Higgins #12 (re:Macrovision):

One and half words: Proc-Amplifier.

P.S. If you think that's expensive, a broadcast version can run you $10K but they can synchronize and convert to and from just about any audio/video format used in the world today.

I don't mean to boast, but I get to play with real high-tech porn like this all day long.

In addition to MoreHumanThanHuman and VagabondAstronomer, I'd also like to recommend Jonathan Zittrain and his book The Future of the Internet — And How to Stop It. He echoes a complaint I've been making for over a decade now: that centralization has ruined the World Wide Web. Instead of running your own server from home, people host their services at remote sites which can shut down or snoop your data. We must not forget that the Internet was designed for peers that speak a common protocol, not a "web applications" sever-client dichotomy.

Definitely check out the interview of Jonathan Zittrain on Charlie Rose.

Hardy Heron > Vista

Ninja Warrior > American Gladiators

That is all I have to say.

I have an easy fix.

STOP WASTING TIME WATCHING TELEVISION.

IT'S ALL A BUNCH OF CRAP ANYWAY.

If viewership falls off drastically...the networks will stop pulling this retarded crap making it so "hard" to watch what you want, when you want, how you want.

All better.

-Chris

STOP WASTING TIME WATCHING TELEVISION.

Funnily enough, tomorrow is my third anniversary of canceling my cable. It was a good decision. But all this talk of American Gladiators is tempting.....

Deviant (#35): If I may..

Cray OS > OSX > Hardy Heron > NeXT OPENSTEP > Unix > Amiga OS > A lot of things M$ bought and buried > Windows 2000 > Apple ][gs System 6.0.1 > CP/M > MS-DOS > MS Windows 1.0 > CBM 8032 ROM DOS > Altair 8800> Babbage difference engine > abacus > Papyrus > a bag of hammers > Vista

Just guess what I was fighting with all day yesterday....

I want Gates to take responsibility. he must wear a web connected shock collar at all times. Any compulsory Vista user would be allow to vote a micro-amp.

I'm sure someone will correctly me if I'm wrong, but the defeated law would have required every computer and piece of electronic equipment to support it. In the absence of a law, it's on the individual manufacturer as to what they want to do with any information the broadcaster sends them.

Now as Microsoft had most likely spent millions of dollars on putting all the broadcast flag and related HDCP restrictions support into Vista, I'm sure it seemed to them like a waste to take all that code back out again. Thus Anton Chekov's law of drama comes to apply: "If you introduce a gun in the first act, it must be fired by the third act." Congratulations, public, you're the casualty.

There could be no better illustration that Microsoft really does not believe the public even has a choice about whether to use their software. In Microsoft's view, you will use Windows, and you will stop using XP and use Vista when they tell you that you must. It does not matter if their features bring you no benefit and only cause you pain - they assume you will accept whatever they do, with whatever level of grumbling you happen to feel like.

If you don't care to be viewed and treated this way - start planning your switch off Windows, because with decisions like this, they are clearly telling you how they will treat you. If you let them, it's on your own head.

#36 POSTED BY OSIFANATIC , MAY 17, 2008 8:54 PM
STOP WASTING TIME WATCHING TELEVISION.
IT'S ALL A BUNCH OF CRAP ANYWAY.

Back in July 2008—July 4, 2008 to be exact—I chucked my analog TV after a few weeks of not only having my head shaked by HDTV and the options out there, but realizing that I actually didn't watch too much TV anyway outside of a handful of TV shows and the news.

I truly do miss the creative/fun TV shows of the 1980s, 1970s and beyond. And if TV actually had a fraction of that kind of creativity nowadays I'd miss it as well.

Instead I like downloading the handful of shows I like, and watching cute kittens and puppies on YouTube. If network TV came up with anything as half-way scintillating as the "Dramatic Chipmunk", I'd watch it. Watch yet another reality TV show? Feh. It's worthless and boring.

Are you serious? "creative/fun TV shows of the 1980s, 1970s and beyond"?

TV is better now than it ever has been. "The Office" (both versions) blow away anything aired in the 80s for sharp, subversive writing and acting. "Curb Your Enthusiasm", anyone? "Arrested Development" is the best TV show in the history of the medium. These and other recent shows BLOW AWAY anything coming out of Hollywood on the big screen.

Those Linux hounds who foam at the mouth over stories like this as potential to convert the unwashed Windows masses seem to be missing the point. The way to fix the problem is not to abandon the medium; that's not FIXING the problem, that's AVOIDING the problem. We need to do what we can to get Microsoft to fix this bullshit (i.e. get this all over the internet).

TV is better now than it ever has been. "The Office" (both versions) blow away anything aired in the 80s for sharp, subversive writing and acting

Yes, but the Japanese version blows them both away. Warning: Self starting, possibly region restricted, DRM'ed, AD supported content ahead but totally worth it...

As for Curb Your Enthusiasm: I watched every episode Charlize Theron was in, and really enjoyed it. But I had no interest in it before that, and stopped watching afterwards. I totally get that it is top notch television, and for a lot of industry pros it is one of the very few TV shows they watch "outside of work". It just does not click with me.

Those Linux hounds who foam at the mouth over stories like this as potential to convert the unwashed Windows masses seem to be missing the point. ... We need to do what we can to get Microsoft to fix this bullshit (i.e. get this all over the internet).

Those Linux hounds who foam at the mouth over stories like this as potential to convert the unwashed Windows masses seem to be missing the point. ...

Hm. Maybe. And maybe they've decided that the point isn't how to fix Microsoft. It's instead to watch what they want to watch. If Microsoft can handle providing that, great. If not, go elsewhere. Companies get the point a lot faster when you leave than when you keep giving them money, but ask them to be nicer to you. Companies only care about nice when it involves a profit motive.

Can we take over the airwaves? I haven't seen anyone publish a codec for encoding/modulating 8vsb/HTDV broadcast television for us GNU/Linux users. I can't wait until this happens. I'd expect distributed microcasting transmitters to pop-up all over the place. This is probably prime time for someone to get a microcontroller to broadcast a simple text message via analog UHF television. I thought someone had done that, but I couldn't find it.

Bigtime MythTV user here, for the last 4 years. I tried to record AG this week, but since I put such a low priority on the show, it recorded things like Gomer Pyle USMC, or whatever else was on. I guess I don't really care about AG, but I thought it would be an okay test just to see if I could.

Funny how I downloaded and watched American Gladiators yesterday and watched it (using Media Center even, muhahahah) I'm done with trying to so the right thing with media, and I'm unapologetic about it.

And btw, Those of you people trashing on American Gladiators? You can take your TV snobbery and stuff it. It takes about 7 minutes total to watch an entire episode of American Gladiators if you fast forward past all the BS and just watch the events. That being said the old American Gladiators was superior in every way. Especially the faux-Olympic music.