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ATSC3 with DRM is coming. Say goodbye?


CharlieMurphy

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CharlieMurphy

An NBC affiliate enabled "Do Not Record" on their channel which means an HDHR Flex 4k can't tune it anymore. On the Silicon Dust forum a poster said:

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DNR will require DRM support... SD currently does not have DRM support for ATSC 3.0 but they are an adopter of a3sa so eventually it should support such. Note for DNR it will require an app also capable of DRM support (HDHomeRun app should be capable on the same platforms that currently support DRM once the tuner itself supports it)

So I'm wondering if software like Emby on a server would ever have the capability to deal with the DRM? If not, is it a fair assumption that eventually all the channels will use DRM and we have wasted our time and money on ATSC3 development and ATSC3 devices?

We have been waiting all this time to be able to use it and they are going to shut us down anyway?

Edited by CharlieMurphy
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17 minutes ago, CharlieMurphy said:

An NBC affiliate enabled "Do Not Record" on their channel which means an HDHR Flex 4k can't tune it anymore. On the Silicon Dust forum a poster said:

So I'm wondering if software like Emby on a server would ever have the capability to deal with the DRM? If not, is it a fair assumption that eventually all the channels will use DRM and we have wasted our time and money on ATSC3 development and ATSC3 devices?

We have been waiting all this time to be able to use it and they are going to shut us down anyway?

Emby will never (I know don't say never) have a protected playback path and pay the licensing fees to playback DRM content so it is highly probable that this won't happen but you never know! I feared years ago that the two way capability of ATSC3 would bring DRM to OTA content. Don't fear though, it may not happen as broadly as you think. I can use 99% of the channels I have from Spectrum in my area via HDHomeRun Prime CableCARD tuners.

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CharlieMurphy

I guess I have nothing to fear because NBC is already gone so I guess I'll just use IPTV for network TV. I regret buying the Flex 4k now though and if I were a dev I wouldn't want to sink any more time into it.

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Have you checked with SiliconDust to see what their plan is with this? It seems that there needs to be at a minimum a f/w update to the tuners and then you'd need to pay your NBC affiliate a monthly fee for access and get a code to enter into the tuner. Emby won't have the playback path for this as it requires a license to get it and then it either needs to be in all Emby Servers and Clients or Emby would have to create a different set up for it. This is way too much effort for a small company but if SiliconDust ends up supporting it because their existence depends on it you'd still be able to use their HDRH app for playback but I'm not sure about recordings as they still haven't got that figured out for the Primes AFAIK.

BTW, can you post a link to the thread on the SiliconDust Forums? I'd like to read it.

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  • 2 months later...
rdhardi

Same here. After rescanning my HDHR Flex tuner last week, the NBC ATSC3 channel is now marked as DRM. The channel is no longer available in the Emby Live TV Guide.

The HDHR Flex is able to tune the channel and it's available in the HDHR app on my Android Shield, but when I try to play it, I get the message:

Unable to play channel:
Content protection required

Did a little research and there's very specific requirements to play DRM channels on HDHR. On the Android Shield, I would need to give Location permission to the HDHR app and enbale Wifi on the Shield even if I'm using ethernet (which I am). Um, NO!

Source: https://info.hdhomerun.com/info/drm

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CharlieMurphy

It's disappointing that we will lose more channels in Emby and other 3rd party apps if DRM continues to roll out. I'm not sure if affiliates pay for the bids on broadcast spectrum or not, I guess if they bid like everyone else, it's their spectrum to DRM and Do-Not-Record. If the spectrum belongs to the public, I think it's unethical. In any case I was excited for HEVC OTA, picture quality does look better, but now I'm over it.

This quote is from Wikipedia. DRM is not in the public's interest. Maybe OTA TV isn't in this category though?

"Commercial users (such as television, AM/FM radio, and some types of two-way communications) will receive an FCC assignment to a portion of spectrum, which may be a single frequency or a band of frequencies. In issuing broadcast licenses the FCC relies on "comparative hearings", whereby the most qualified user will be granted use of the spectrum to best serve the public interest"

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rdhardi
On 3/22/2023 at 4:40 PM, Sammy said:

What's wrong with that solution?

Nothing wrong with it. Just my quirky personal preferences. Our house is wired for ethernet, so we rarely use wifi (except for a few iOT devices in a separate vlan). As for Location Services, I disable it on all my devices because I think it's invasive, especially for devices IN my home.

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