Network DVR: The First Challenge of a Connected Future - The Shelly Palmer Report

Originally published on November 5 2008One important vision of the future of video distribution is the concept of making content available to consumers WIWWIWWIW quotWhat I want where I want when I wantquot To accomplish this distribution goal service providers will have to store content in a central location and transcode prepare it for distribution to a plurality of devices Just think of the various screen sizes in your world Cell phone 2 amp189quot diagonal PDA 3 amp189quot diagonal Video Monitor in the back of the SUV 9quot diagonal laptop 15quot diagonal living room HDTV 42quot diagonal etc Just making video available in the appropriate resolutions aspect ratios and sizes for these different devices seems like a big job It isForgetting all of the business rules and technological hurdles of cooperation and interoperability one very big first step in this process is the centralized storage of the content Cablevision came up with a plan Eliminate the need for local storage in individual settop boxes and let subscribers have DVR functionality by creating one big network DVRYou39d get 160GB of remote storage enough for most people to record their favorite programs and complete DVR functionality for just 995 per month Nothing to connect nothing else to buy amp8230 just pick up your remote control and use the service In fact it sounds a lot like video ondemand VOD It even sounds a little like PayPerView PPV hummm amp8230 What would the differences be Well for DVR functionality you would choose what you want to record in advance For VOD functionality there would be a menu of prerecorded content to choose from and for PPV there would be a menu of prerecorded content for you to pay for and then watch All those services DVR VOD ampamp PPV sound very similar and even a little confusing but the idea of not having to hook up a new settop box sounds great rightNot everyone thinks so When Cablevision first revealed their intentions the Copyright Alliance a forty plus member organization which includes the NFL NCAA MLB MGM NBC CBS News Corp and many many more sued Cablevision claiming the RSDVR Remote Storage Digital Video Recorder quotfundamentally destabilizes copyright lawquot The court ruled in favor of the Copyright Alliance however an appeal filed by Cablevision reversed the decision unanimously Then last week November 5th the Copyright Alliance with the exception of the National Association of Broadcasters NAB and ATampampT filed an amicus curiae friends of the court brief with the Supreme Court The brief seeks to reverse the decision made by the appellate court who ruled that there was little functional difference between a remote storage DVR and a settop DVR The Copyright Alliance really isn39t up in arms about the technology they39re mad because Cablevision refuses to pay additional rebroadcast royalties in addition to the ones they already pay for operating DVR service The Copyright Alliance wants Cablevision to quotpay for the privilege of copying and transmitting copies of their workquot The only problem is that Cablevision isn39t recording the works users are and they are covered by the Sony Corp v Universal City Studios ruling from 1984 In fact nothing related to the functionality of the RSDVR changes from a regular DVR In their amicus curiae the Copyright Alliance asked the court to answer the following question 1 Whether the appellate court ruling fundamentally destabilizes copyright law and inverts proper relationship between direct and secondary copyright infringement2 Whether the Second Circuit court erred in ruling that Cablevision is not directly liable for copying Petitioners39 Copyright Alliance programs3 Whether the appeals court erred by holding that Cablevision39s performance of Petitioners39 programs are not quotpublicquot and therefore not infringing Regarding each performance being recorded separately and subsequently sent to the person who requested itIt is important to note that copyright matters are generally better settled in Congress which the Supreme Court said in 2003 and which the Copyright Alliance includes in their brief quotIt is generally for Congress not the courts to decide how to best pursue the Copyright Clause39s objectivesquot After all there is always a chance that especially given their previous statement that the Supreme Court won39t even take the case If I were asked to testify in this case I would bring some props and do the following demonstration First I would open up a DRV and show the court the cable that connects the motherboard39s hard drive controller to the hard drive This cable would be about six inches long Then I would remove the hard drive and put it on the table next to the DVR and connect it with a three foot cable and ask the court to find an engineer anywhere in the world that would tell me how the functionality of the device had changed Then I bring in a two thousand foot cable on a spool with both ends available and plug in the drive and ask the same question Case closedTo a computer a file is a file is a file A digital video file is a bunch of ones and zeros arranged in format that can be interpreted by the computer and displayed as a video signalThe technical part of my demonstration would be even simpler to understand I would attach the drive to a computer with a graphical user interface like Windows or OS X and show the court the picture of the directory where the files were stored Then I would show all of the other directories that the computer user had quotpermissionquot to access The word permission is a termofart in the computer industry It restricts users to specific directories by granting or denying quotpermissionquot Then I would ask the court to find any engineer anywhere in the world who could tell me how the functionality of the device changes regardless where the files are stored if I only have permission to access the files the system administrator has granted me Case double closedThis case is not about technology it is about greed and quite probably ignorance Time Warner quotStart Overquot and quotLook Backquot and Cox ABC primetime content ondemand nPVR network personal video recorder services have not been challenged by the Copyright Alliance Of course these services do not allow subscribers to fastforward through commercials so there is more to this story than technologyIn the postGoogle postiPod world viewers are starting to expect to have their media WIWWIWWIW Instead of filing lawsuits we should really put our heads together and develop a wellrounded profitable industry standard for adsupported WIWWIWWIW distribution There39s not much time left If the content rightsholders spend too much time preventing legitimate service providers from creating an interoperable WIWWIWWIW future consumers will take matters into their own hands see the epitaph on the Music Industry39s tombstone and that would truly be a shameShelly Palmer is a consultant and the host of MediaBytes a daily show featuring news you can use about technology media ampamp entertainment He is Managing Director of Advanced Media Ventures Group LLC and the author of Television Disrupted The Transition from Network to Networked TV 2008 York House Press Shelly is also President of the National Academy of Television Arts ampamp Sciences NY the organization that bestows the coveted Emmyamp174 Awards You can join the MediaBytes mailing list here Shelly can be reached at shellypalmernetamp160Check out the Shelly Palmer Report archive

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Network DVR: The First Challenge of a Connected Future - The Shelly Palmer Report

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