is it time to kiss mediaportal good bye (3 Viewers)

[chenks]

so just to confirm.. the only DVB-T encrypted solution MP supports is...

FloppyDTV DVB-T CI (which is a firewire solution) ?


as an add-on... in terms of UK DVB-T... i'm not sure there is any legal issue with regards to softcams... otherwise Nebula Electronics woulnd't be allowed to sell this product

http://www.nebula-electronics.com/information/info.asp?Code=0011

which is used in conjuction with their tv cards and software (using softcams)

 

[ziphnor]

no one is interested if YOU care or not.

but in many countries there are companies (providers) and their lawyers who care. :roll:

My point is that they cant sue(or shouldnt be able to) you for allowing a user to do something that might be legal in some cases, and illegal other times. It might be that some cable provider doesnt disallow it for example, in which case it should be sufficient that MP pointed out before using the softcam that you should check your terms of agreement.

Anyway, the Smartcards now a days are so hard to copy that in order to use a seperate smartcard reader you would need at least one working original smartcard anyway, so how is it more illegal than say the SmartWi cardsplitter i am using?

Note that a widespread program like MyTheatre which supports havent been sued yet. I think the MP team is being overly cautious and i hate it when lawyers manage to make some illegal by using scare tactics.

Finally just supporting the MDAPI doesnt even require MP to integrate Softcam support, it would have the nature of a plugin and you could just choose not to distribute it along with MP. MediaPortal can hardly be held responsible for the plugins people load into their own MP! No-one has sued Microsoft over people making illegal programs for windows, right?

NO SOFTCAM SUPPORT - end of discussion about that.

Then what is this (live and open) thread (in the dev forum) about?:
https://forum.team-mediaportal.com/viewtopic.php?t=13057

 

[infinite.loop]

MediaPortal can hardly be held responsible for the plugins people load into their own MP! No-one has sued Microsoft over people making illegal programs for windows, right?

MediaPortal is open source, so if anyone wants to write a 3rd party plugin to enable what you are talking about, we will not stop him.
Its up to the users if they use it or not.

But, the Team MediaPortal will not put that into a release version, and will not support or host it.

 

[chili]

NO SOFTCAM SUPPORT - end of discussion about that.

ROFL God has spoken :roll:

 

[Scarecrow__79]

Hi all,

I have only started using Media Portal recently. I would say i am an above average pc user, but certainly no expert.

I found the install process to be quite easy. I must admit that i did not even read the documents. My MP installed and worked correctly straight away.

Playing around with the EPG was a little tricky, but not rocket science and i ended up settling on DUGG, which came with suitable documentation to get running and also to help me set-up a scheduled task, which works perfectly. I did spend 2-3 days scrolling through the forums before installing everything, just to get a feel and to see anything else i should know. I am in Syd, Australia and have digital FTA working perfectly including ABC 2 and SBS News. I previously used MCE when a friend installed it on my pc, but it would forever crash and was very slow and frustrating (this is an old HP 1.8 with 512ram).

I love the EPG (as does the other half!) which shows upcoming shows, genre, decription, i can schedule and search on anything - so many options. I love how shows recorded weekly go into their folders etc.

I do find at times MP can be a little slow, but i put that down to my pc and the fact i am impatient and my main pc is much faster, which i use more often to play on. I am now working on integrating FOXTEL using an old Winfast card, which is awesome. Something MCE can only dream of. I have basically completed that now. To avoid lengthy downloads of EPG for fox and FTA i will be using Fox on one channel and using the Fox EPG to change channels etc. In case anyone did not know (who uses Fox) you can browse the FOXTEL EPG and when you see a program you would like the box to switch to you press the red button (i think from memory - i am at work and instead of reminding you of the upcoming show, FOXTEL will just switch to that channel. You can do this for any channels, any programs as far ahead as FOX can see...

Soon i will have FOX and FTA at once and the missus will be most impressed

Sorry for the long post - keep up the tops work guys 8) Well done

 

[purplejuelz]

i see no problem with a free app of this magnitude, as far as im concerned its a near perfect solution to spending $100+ on M$MCE ... ive never used MCE ... does it function better in any aspects??

 

[robomonkey]

Lol, I just read this entire thread, from start to finish, I have to say I love these threads as you get one person flamed by all the die-hard users 8)

Being a die-hard user myself I have to say MP is great, my reason for posting to an idea to address this situation of happy users never posting, only those with problems, thus poorly reflecting the entire community.

I would bet that most happy users check the home page on a fairly regular basis, so my suggestion is to have an ongoing poll on the home page / forum home page, which is a one click question "are you a happy user?"

Much like the speed test on www.adslguide.org, where you have to answer a brief questionaire about your ISP's performance before you get your results.

 

[NLS]

great idea

 

[moullas]

The copyright law of 1979
* Faculty may request a broadcast television program be videotaped, but not a cablecast program, without seeking permission from the copyright holder
* Such a videotape may be kept for 45 calendar days for faculty evaluation
* Such a videotape may be used once in class and repeated once for reinforcement within the first ten school days of the recording
* Exerpts may be used in class, but the programs may not be altered or electronically combined with other work


This is the original copyright law..., and the same law extends for home usage.

So.... to follow up on the softcam discussion (and make MP *LEGAL*), we should make MP delete a recording after 45 days by itself, allow recording only from Broadcast tv but not from Cable, and allow playback only 2 times.

In addition to that, no comskip or similar stuff should be made on recorded tv, since that is considered alteration or combination of other work...

So, in other words, copyright, legality and the like are ALL relevant to how a user uses MP.
in the same vain as removing softcam support, so should recording tv should be removed, because it can be used in illegal activity.

There are legitimate uses for everything... like a knife can be used to cut bread or kill someone.... noone is restricting knifes from people....

hope i made my point clear... (i'm still gonna keep my Dreambox for the time beeing though )

 

[CodeMonkey]

It is remarkable the amount of passion there is on the whole softcam topic. And in a lot of cases for good reason. However it has been stated many times, and in many threads, that MediaPortal itself will not include anything that can be used for illegal decryption. It simply doesn't matter if, for example, MDAPI can be used for other things or not. MP will not support it natively. Agree or disagree with the decision (I personally disagree), but that is the decision of the main developers. This thread:

https://forum.team-mediaportal.com/viewtopic.php?t=13057

Shows that others are working on similar issues. And one person in particular, draktheas, is doing wonderful things with TTPremium support and may someday do something with MDAPI as well. So stay tuned and offer your support. And try not to get too dissapointed by the official MP policy. They are only doing what they think is best for the project they put so much time and effort into.