This article focuses on Belgium, but it’s also a commentary in general on the state of digital video receiver boxes. Since about a year, I have a Telenet Digicorder (site in Dutch), which is a device that both decodes incoming digital broadcasts and is able to record and timeshift them. It’s a fairly user-friendly device and, while I have experienced a crash or two, is pretty stable so I’m happy with it.
What does bother me is the totally closed nature of the box. There is absolutely no way to interact with the device, except through the remote control. You can’t control it via automation and, more importantly, you cannot get the recorded video of the box, not even for streaming it to another TV in the house.
This seems to be a pretty common occurrence in many new media devices. Try to keep everything as closed of as possible. Even connections the screens are now secured. Users are treated as pirates. In this regard, I’ve always wondered why we can’t skip those terribly annoying anti-piracy messages when watching a DVD. But if one was to watch the pirated version of that same DVD, there’s no message, and no annoyance.
Anyway, getting back to the Digicorder, I turned to the Internet to see what people had already done and apparently, no one has done much hacking on the device. There’s a lot of talk about it, but it seems every one is afraid to void their warranty and possibly get blacklisted by Telenet, I guess. I did find out that the device is very likely an ADB one, but with a custom front (via). If you’re interested, here and here are a few discussions, both in Dutch though.
I’d like to conclude this post with a quote by Hack-a-Day commenter “Ugly American”:
Of course, pro pirates have inside connections and get the media before it ever hits retail so all the RIAA/MPAA actions really do is make piracy more profitable for organized crime the same way Prohibition in the US catapulted organized crime to the big leagues and the continuing ‘war’ on drugs sustains it.