Upside down
More cat and mouse for video content providers and users. Digital recording company TiVo is to let its customers download TV programmes to replay on their video iPods and PlayStation Portables.
TiVo's service, which is sadly only available in the US, UK and Canada, has lots of bits of cleverness that let you record TV shows digitally and play them how you want, on TV or your laptop. But now that the digital rabbit's out of the portable hat, the pressure will increase on other providers to also let you play Desperate Housewives on the road.
It could, however, upset the applecart, says The Guardian. ABC struck a deal with Apple in October to sell certain TV episodes through its iTunes store for $US2 each.
The video content companies and broadcasters would rather you buy another version of a DVD or CD you already own – for instance, UMD versions of films are coming out that you can play on your PlayStation Portable.
It's apparently still going to be a tricky business to copy a TV show to your portable device – it has to go via your PC first. But this sort of stuff is tricky anyway - yes, it's technically possible to do this with your DVDs right now. (No, I haven't the foggiest.)
Why am I interested in this? Not because I'm likely to hack a DVD to play on a PSP I don't have. But I naively believe you should be able to use your property exactly as you like, as long as it's for personal use.
And late to this, but good news is good news. Australia is to let NZers enter the same customs channel, as we have let them for yonks. It should be like travelling domestic, of course, as CER philosophically promised. As long as we could still buy duty-free, like we do when do when we travel to the South Island.
Of course, in a quid pro quo, we might have to let the Aussies have GST refunds...
TiVo's service, which is sadly only available in the US, UK and Canada, has lots of bits of cleverness that let you record TV shows digitally and play them how you want, on TV or your laptop. But now that the digital rabbit's out of the portable hat, the pressure will increase on other providers to also let you play Desperate Housewives on the road.
It could, however, upset the applecart, says The Guardian. ABC struck a deal with Apple in October to sell certain TV episodes through its iTunes store for $US2 each.
The video content companies and broadcasters would rather you buy another version of a DVD or CD you already own – for instance, UMD versions of films are coming out that you can play on your PlayStation Portable.
It's apparently still going to be a tricky business to copy a TV show to your portable device – it has to go via your PC first. But this sort of stuff is tricky anyway - yes, it's technically possible to do this with your DVDs right now. (No, I haven't the foggiest.)
Why am I interested in this? Not because I'm likely to hack a DVD to play on a PSP I don't have. But I naively believe you should be able to use your property exactly as you like, as long as it's for personal use.
And late to this, but good news is good news. Australia is to let NZers enter the same customs channel, as we have let them for yonks. It should be like travelling domestic, of course, as CER philosophically promised. As long as we could still buy duty-free, like we do when do when we travel to the South Island.
Of course, in a quid pro quo, we might have to let the Aussies have GST refunds...
posted by Mark Broatch at 7:16 PM
2 Comments:
Worth mentioning, I think, that Sky TV New Zealand is launching its 'My Sky' service here from 5 December. At first glance, it looks similar to the 'Sky Plus' service that's been available for a couple of years in the UK now, and I defy any Kiwi to put an "early adopter" spin on that. 'My Sky' uses a hard-disk drive to record and replay content from all channels available on the Sky Digital network. The glossy pamphlet Sky has been distributing to existing subscribers, however, conveniently neglects to put a price on the new service, but let's hope it addresses some of the shortcomings of the existing Sky Digital: e.g. the crappy onscreen Guide that doesn't show you whether the programme you wanted to watch will be repeated so you don't need to bother recording it (OK, I could pay another couple of dollars a month to have the paper guide mailed to me, but that would be so 20th Century). And what happens if there's "rain fade" at the time of your recording — is the recorder smart enough to select a repeat showing to record? Also, will the 'My Sky' guide's programme descriptions be a bit more, er, descriptive than they are presently? I could go on...
And poacher turns gamekeeper and raises $12m...
http://film.guardian.co.uk/piracy/story/0,15728,1648830,00.html
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