The Sellout of Dish Network
In the "olden days" it was possible to, through specialized equipment, record HD broadcasts onto DVHS tapes, maintaining full digital quality so that it could be time shifted at will. This set up was VERY useful, and worked fully in accordance with fair use, and the Betamax decision. And all was well.
Unfortunately, Dish Network changed its satellite configuration for High Definition programming. This rendered the previous setup completely useless. So what did they decide to do for those of us whose functionality was destroyed, and our previous high definition receivers made instantly obsolete? They offered to give us a discount on an HD Tivo type machine.
At first glance, this isn't a bad idea. However, when you find out that the firewire ports that WERE going to be included in the device were explicitly EXCLUDED, you find that it is not possible to archive the programming you wish to record. Given the finite capacity of HD recorders, this is a BIG issue.
Dish, of course, was caving in to the MPAA who now seems to make all decisions regarding what technology is permissible and which is not, regardless of the law and our rights. As Dish quality is not as good as DirecTV quality, I cancelled Dish, since there is no longer any advantage whatsoever to having it. Their "customer retention" people called me up in some sort of an attempt to "get me back." I told them that they should go to their legal department and get them to stand up to the MPAA and not let a group of thugs decide what legal technology we are allowed to have. Of course, even after explaining the whole thing to the minion on the telephone, she still didn't know anything I was taking about. I finally found a way to get a simple message to management, however. "I'll come back to Dish when they enable firewire output in their HD recording device." Hopefully they will understand.