Stopping home copying, not pirates

By Ashok Argent-Katwala

Digital Spy are reporting that Sky have recently dropped component video out from their new HD set-top boxes.

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In another Digital Spy story at the weekend, Sky said:

This change was made to help prevent the illegal copying of HD programmes and movies, and enable Sky to continue to bring you quality entertainment.

And it will do that, a little. It will also help prevent perfectly legal copying, for example to time-shift a programme to watch it later.

Sky estimate that only 1% of HD-capable sets need the component-out, and they will "work with customers who are unable to connect through HDMI or DVI to ensure they have the appropriate box".

This won't stop any serious pirates, who will use an older box with component out, strip the HDCP from the HDMI signal (and deal with the fire-hose of data) or even to use a suitably equipped DVB-S card in a computer to capture Sky's signal entirely digitally (although card updates will be painful).

So if this isn't about stopping hardcore piracy (where only the first copy matters, and the rest flow about online in an easy-to-copy format), then what's the point? Well, it means that someone who wants an easy life to record Sky HD will need to get a box from Sky to do it.

The cynic in me sees a particular grim future. If you want to record shows from a particular digital service you will need to do it from the hermetically sealed box that they supply. You won't be able to shift those recordings around to watch them how and when you like; you'll have to put up with the recordings that they 'push' to you, and your recordings will expire according to whatever whacky rules have been applied at source, even when it is in error. There will be bugs in those systems, but they will mainly bite the end user. You'll need to patch the systems that live underneath your television, to keep them up-to-date in the arms war between pirates and content distributors. Sometimes those patches will screw up, and you'll have an unworkable mess. Worse still, a thousand innovations will never be invented, as the only people who can properly tinker with the video coming in to your home will be the supplier of the sealed box.

Alternatively, we could get back to a system of well-encoded, openly described broadcasts which anyone can make a box to decode. Then we can have many manufacturers making competing products to best delight the end user, including all the ones we haven't invented yet.