Now that I have my new digital television tuner, I am becoming bewildered.
This tuner has a FireWire connection, which networks it with my digital VCR, enabling me to record high definition programming. The thing is, because of all the ridiculous restrictions imposed by Hollywood (how the hell did they become a law unto themselves?), I can’t figure out which outputs will work with which inputs. I have to switch the TV to different inputs at different times with different programming sources because of all the paranoia that is rampant in the entertainment industry.
I bought this equipment now because I am so worried that in the near future our home entertainment devices will be severely crippled by this paranoia. But it’s already started happening.
When will Hollywood learn? These are the same people who fought tooth and nail against the VCR. And the VCR saved their ass by opening new sources of revenue. And they fought the DVD until they were given the layers of piracy protection they wanted – which was cracked almost immediately. Of course there are going to be pirated copies of movies around, but the important lesson to be learned from the DVD is this: if the companies price the product correctly, people won’t want to pirate it! DVDs have been priced to reasonably that the adoption rate of DVD has been higher than any other home technology – higher than the VCR, the television, and the telephone!
Hollywood is worried that we will all make perfect digital copies of TELEVISION programs (cripes, why?), then transmit them via the Internet to our friends. Well, I doubt that many of us are so anxious to see the high definition extravaganza of shows like “The Tonight Show” that we would tie up even a broadband connection for a few days transmitting GB worth of data. Get real, Jack Valenti. Your stuff just isn’t that desirable.
