Didn't they flick them before, set up OzTAM, & now they've contracted them back to do the job for OzTAM?? Worse than the public service!!

I really wish FreeTV would free TV.

Justin

At the end of the day even if we get a free access EPG for any device, we still don't have FTA TV in australia. What we do have is a mixture of several other formats;

Free Already Run Television
Run Already Television Syndicated All Round Service Extreme TV
Digital Only Gretel
Benevelent Broadcasting Understands Providers Lament Airwave Technology Epg

Have you been hanging around with Ben Cousins again?

Edit: I should add, I get the first letter of each word business, but you usually do that with words that sort of combine in a sentence.

ou'reyay utsnay, udeday!

E.E.

As always with the copyright mafia, the Devil's in the detail.

regards

designed to protect copyright

Means you have to create a method so you can't use the EPG to start or schedule recordings.

protect the integrity of the program information

Means you have to put something in place to stop skipping or cutting ads.

facilitate collection of ratings information

Means what it says.


What they want is and EPG thats like the on-air EPG thats provided already, purely "look but don't touch" but they still want to know what your watching when you change channels.

I would like to see the system in use in germany for 10+years for VCR's. the broard cast program would have code number associated with it, you tell you vcr to record from ch7 code number XYZ. the VCR keeps an eye on ch7, when ch7 starts transmitting code XYZ the VCR would start recording and keep recording untill ch7 stops transmitting code XYZ.

easy system to use, great for when shows are delayed or news buletins cause the end of the show to finish later than predicted.

That system should be easy to implement with a Digital system. Now how do we promote this system to the TV stations for digital TV broadcast.

Wow, Tivo in Australia.

I missed that one.

I don't remember hearing/reading about that one anywhere.

Shoot all the TV execs and replace them with Germans.

What annoys me is that these b?st?rds (M$ included) are determined to make us watch TV the way THEY want us to watch it, NOT the way WE want to watch it.

The analogy is, if anyone needed one, a book or magazine publisher telling us when to pick the book up, what page to turn to and when to read it,

The copyright mafia simply don't get it!

For your book analogy to be more preciese. The book is not yours, the owner is showing you the pages when he wants, someone else is paying him to show the book to you so long as he interjects some conversation in between turning the pages. Your trying to argue that you want to read the book you don't own without the interuptions and you want to be able to make a photocopy of the book you haven't paid for and read it later without all the interuptions that pay for the guy showing you the book you don't own in the first place. Where is your arguement now?

Yeah, we had that here too.

It was called G-Code (or something like that).

Our VCR was an old one that didn't support it, and the TV guide in our free local paper didn't have the codes, so I don't really know anything about it other than its name.

Hi mcopas, I know of Gcode. with the gcode system, the code itself contained the channel, the start time and the finnish time of a given program. you would scan the bar code with your remote and beamed the details to your VCR from the remote, but the system was flawed, if the show ran late or was delayed then you didn't get all of the recording.

The german system differed buy the fact that the vcr would only start recording when the station transmitted the code of the program you wanted to record, then the VCR would only stop recording when the station ceased the transmission of the the code(or transmit a different code for a different program).

Essentualy the station controlled the recording process of your VCR.

with the age of digital transmission this system should be easy to implement, pre and post padding would be a thing of the past.

sorry if i have repeated myself.

wildpig

you know i think it could be a good thing though. maybe now the networks will get a better idea of who is watching what and when and stop cancelling shows(before the US does) and keeping (good)shows in the same time slot for once(*cough*Sopranos, Veronica Mars, etc. *cough*)

The arguments here are very interesting and raise fascinating issues.

Each entity in this discussion have a very specific desire. The viewer wishes to be entertained for their pleasure, the media wishes to entertain for their financial gain.

Both are quite valid persuits, and when you consider it, both parties are the consumer and the consumed. Media is consumed by the desire to be popular (to attract the advertising) dollar and therefore the financial gain. Viewers are consumed by their own desire for financial gain to fund their personal pleasures.

That has been talk of users desiring to be free to control their own content; not have their content controlled by traditional media. In this new age, more now than ever, do we have the opportunity to view whatever content we desire, when we desire to do so.

It must induce true fear into the hearts of traditional media concerns! Packer was wise to jettison his interests. Time will show his wisdom, methinks. The rise of the internet and the number of internet savvy users will ultimately see to the eventual downfall of traditional media, probably kicking and screaming.

That is unless you are clever like Murdoch and see that some traditional media outlets do have a very valid (and very valuable) place in the world wide web. Those of finance come immediately to mind, so is it any wonder he is wooing (Is that the word?) Dow Jones. A very clever man there too.

For us in this forum though, the final question remains:

When do we Australian MCE users get to have what the rest of the world already has?

When do we get a truly free EPG for our HTPCs?

Jyrate