[NTLUG:Discuss] Re: OT (waaay OT): BitTorrent and TV shows

[Bryan J. Smith]

I don't think I touched on the ethics at all.
I kept my responses to 100 percent business and technical.

1) The government does not and has never invented ant consumer electronics.
At the most they have incubated select technologies for national security.
But they were still far from practical consumer products.

2) As far as A/V downloading over the Internet, the bandwidth for not just unicast, but multicast is just not there.
Until that changes, TV will stick to dedicated broadcast mediums out of sheer 100 fold cost concerns.

If pointing out your failure to even consider the reality of #1 or the  feasibility of #2 is an "attack," then I guilty as charged!
The TiVO guys "got it right" because they realize such details.
That someone could invent an affordable, easy-to-use embedded device for today's broadcast mediums of TV and other A/V entertainment.

And they chose Linux.
TiVO is a great case study on how it "all comes together" -- a sound business plan for feasible application of technology.

I have absolute no idea what all the tangents you were talking about (especially anything about involving govenment is scary to me).
I stayed away from the ethics, and solely focused on the business/technology aspects.

--  
Bryan J. Smith (currently mobile)
b.j.smith at ieee.org

-----Original Message-----
From:   tr_data1
Date:  04-12-3 10:13
To:  discuss at ntlug.org
Subj:  [NTLUG:Discuss] Re: OT (waaay OT): BitTorrent and TV shows

Man, you guys are brutal and on the attack, _a_LOT_. I once again
regret posting (and I rarely post). I am retracting my questions
about BitTorrent as it appears to be an illegal means to get [even
recently broadcasted] TV shows. Therefore, not an option for me.
However, I feel I must defend myself from all the accusations and
insults I've seen come across here. 

Firstly, please re-read my original question. Here's an excerpt:
::: Another idea of getting the TV shows part of my HDTV wishes
::: is with BitTorrent (or such). What's the scoop on that? 
I was asking what the tech. was about and if it was legal. I think
people got off target by me pondering why it might be illegal (in 
that you can legally use a PVR to watch the show later). I saw 
the BT just an alternate way to get the same thing. 

>> And our tax dollars didn't/don't contribute anything?

For the record, what I was theorizing was that the gov. helped 
make television, not the programming, possible. Maybe I'm wrong
(gasp!).  It's a moot point to the topic. IIRC, this point stemmed 
from me talking about how anybody, legally & zero$, can receive 
a TV signal. *sigh* yes, assuming they have equip, electricity, ...

>> But, people VCR fast-forward and Tivo-through commercials all the time.
>> [...]
>> If it's such a big deal in not having the commercials... then the
>> local stations could offer a FREE download of the shows -- with the
>> commercials in tack.
>Sigh.  I think you're _really_ starting to miss the point.
> [... broadcast...unicast...multicast...]

Clarification: The usage I was exploring was NOT on-demand tech.
Also, IMHO, there isn't any difference between someone viewing a
TV show file sans commercials  vs  one that FF's through the ads.
The advertisers don't gain $ from either. THAT was my point there.

> [another person's reply]
>Just my opinion, but just don't see much use in downloading movies or
>TV programs from the internet, if I watch movies or TV I'll use my TV

Except for my original questions. If you forgot to set your VCR to
record that special 2hr episode of your fav TV program, the using
the above approach would mean you are SOL. Or, let's say you do
have the VCR set but the broadcast flag says "can't record" - again
you are S.O.L. Not everyone has the time to watch shows DURING
the time it's aired.

I'd like to thank the people that informed me of the same discussion
going on in Slashdot and the few that provided info instead of attacks.

If anybody insists on a followup, please take it off-list. As I noted
at the top of this post, I REVOKE the BitTorrent questions.
=TR=


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