Looking for the regulations applying to Freeview PVRs

P

peterh337

Member
Is there a reference to e.g. why a Freeview PVR manufacturer is required to encrypt the videos stored on the HDD?

I found this summary, which is quite interesting:

Freeview PVR manufacturers are required to encrypt recorded content to the HDD as part of the licensing agreement to use the "Freeview HD" or "Freeview Play" branding, primarily to satisfy content protection requirements from broadcasters.
Here are the specific references and reasons for this requirement:
  • Freeview HD/Play Branding License: Any device carrying the official Freeview HD logo must adhere to specific content management, which includes encrypting recordings so they are only playable on the machine that recorded them.
  • The "D-Book" Requirements: The technical specifications for Freeview, known as the "D-Book" (produced by Digital UK and the Digital Television Group), define the content management and security specifications.
  • Content Producer Demands: Content protection gives producers confidence to provide early and free access to HD content on terrestrial platforms without allowing them to be freely copied or transferred, which might jeopardize future revenue streams (e.g., DVD sales or on-demand services).
  • The 2010 Shift: To enable the launch of Freeview HD in 2010, the BBC and other Public Service Broadcasters (PSB) allowed a form of "content management" (encryption of recordings on the HDD) while keeping the broadcast signal itself unencrypted.
  • Non-Official Devices: Devices that do not carry the Freeview HD/Play logo (e.g., some PC USB sticks or non-certified imported boxes) do not have this requirement and can record in unencrypted formats.
Summary of Requirement:
The encryption is not usually to stop you from watching it at home, but to ensure that high-definition (HD) recordings cannot be extracted from the HDD and moved to other devices.

===

But I see no HDD encryption requirement. It says recordings are to be playable only on the original box.

D-Book
dtg.org.uk

The D-Book | Technical specification for UK Digital Terrestrial TV | DTG

The D-Book is the technical specification for all UK Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) based platforms including Freeview Play, Freeview HD, YouView, EETV, Now TV, Freesat, and several international adaptations such as Freeview New Zealand.
dtg.org.uk dtg.org.uk

Not free though.
 
Last edited:
peterh337 said:
But I see no HDD encryption requirement. It says recordings are to be playable only on the original box.
Click to expand...
How else would you do it?

peterh337 said:
D-Book
Click to expand...
...has been mentioned many times on the forum, eg https://hummy.tv/forum/threads/epg-listing-swamped-by-great-movies.11375/post-175566. Raydon seems to have had access to a copy (but is one of those who seem to have popped their clogs, we've had at least one death in the community but usually don't find out).
 
You could just do it with a marker on the HDD. That would stop 99.9% of the general public. And disassembling a few MB of binary (ex C most likely) is a great deal of work.

Anybody clever will just build a "PC" with an SDR and get the broadcasts... although admittedly that was harder to do 20 years ago. But it was all illusory anyway, if the signal is not encrypted.

What interests me is the legal leverage involved i.e. what exactly stops e.g. Currys selling a box which does Freeview but doesn't have the badge.
 
Last edited:
The easiest way to stop recordings being playable elsewhere and not to encrypt them on the HDD is to not provide an easy route to copy them off the device. Humax's more recent DVB models (post 9300T) have allowed StdDef and sometimes HiDef to be archived or streamed. If I have read correctly Manhattan models do not.

I can't imagine your normal punter would open the box and remove the HDD to extract recordings, so unencrypted storage might be allowable.

Clearly, there are some on here - myself included - that find the ability to archive the main reason for choosing Humax. Lose that and they lose my custom.
 
peterh337 said:
You could just do it with a marker on the HDD. That would stop 99.9% of the general public.
Click to expand...
Would it. How did you arrive at that figure - stab in the dark? Without encryption, there's nothing stopping any half-competent person removing the HDD and extracting its contents externally, especially as some PVRs (eg HDR-FOX) use a main-stream file system. Older Humax models have their own unique file system, which is a little more challenging but meant Humax had a heavier software load to create and maintain their own system.

This is not about what a casual user might figure out, it's about what somebody fairly motivated can do easily and then tell everybody else how to do it.

You need to keep in mind that this is a global market, and the HDR-FOX is "just" a machine with essentially global innards customised for the UK market. The global market clearly thinks encryption is the best way to protect their IP, because it is implemented in the chips used to make PVRs. It's available in the hardware, so why would any manufacturer with a remit to protect content not do that the easiest way - using the encryption facilities they already have at their disposal for no extra cost?

More recently, PVR makers have access to encrypted file systems. I don't know whether any models use an encrypted file system (as opposed to the hardware encryption within a video file – note the video file itself is not encrypted, only the video blocks within the file).

Bear in mind also, even VCRs are/were not strictly legit. Recording off air is only tolerated with the exemption of "fair use".
 
Black Hole said:
Define "normal". If that were the only way you could do it, wouldn't you? Aren't you "normal"??
Click to expand...
Possibly not, in whatever sense you care to define it! I've never removed any Humax HDDs, so far.
Seriously, normal in this context - someone with a non-technical background who feels uncomfortable with opening the box. We see some of them on here but I would suspect there are many more not viewing this forum. They may be perfectly happy using a PVR for the intended purpose of recording/watching/deleting a programme for ages until they come across one they want to keep - usually when something goes wrong with the box. My evidence - none. All guesswork!
 
EEPhil said:
until they come across one they want to keep - usually when something goes wrong with the box
Click to expand...
Isn't that what would motivate "normal" people to dip into it?

Nonetheless, the idea that only 0.1% (one in a thousand) might do so takes a bit of swallowing.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top