[Seth-Trips] EFF HD-PVR Build-In: January 29, 2005

[Seth David Schoen]

----- Forwarded message from Wendy Seltzer <wendy at eff.org> -----

Here's an invite to our HD-PVR build-in sneak preview.

  *****  HD-PVR Build-In  *****
--Saturday, January 29, 2005--

If there's a wardrobe malfunction this Super Bowl, be ready to replay 
it in high def! Build your own HD personal video recorder (PVR) 
before the FCC's broadcast flag mandate takes that opportunity away.

Join EFF staff for our first ever HD-PVR build-in.  You bring a 
computer and HDTV tuner card, and we'll help you get it up and 
running as a PVR.  We'll be installing MythTV, an open source 
software package that lets your machine function like a TiVo in 
high-def: pause live TV, schedule recordings over the web, and manage 
your media the way you want it.

It's not all fun and games, though.  The FCC's broadcast flag 
mandate, set to take effect July 1, 2005, prevents manufacturers from 
making HDTV (ATSC) tuners that give users access to the unencrypted 
signal that's broadcast over-the-air.  The good news is that tuners 
made before July 1, such as pcHDTV.com's HD-3000, will continue to 
work flag-free after the deadline.  Building your own HD-PVR now 
helps ensure you'll have open an media platform now and into the 
future.


Details:
Who: 10-15 people, EFF staff and friends
When: Saturday, January 29, 2005 10 a.m. - 5 p.m.
Where: EFF offices, 454 Shotwell Street, San Francisco
RSVP: wendy at eff.org, 415.436.9333x125 (please let us know if you're 
coming so we can get the pizza count right)

How: Bring your own computer and HD tuner card (3 GHz Pentium 4 
recommended.  Recommended configurations will be posted to 
<http://www.eff.org/broadcastflag/hdtv-introHY.php> in the new year.)

We'll supply food and drink, power, Ethernet connections, antenna 
connections, KnoppMyth CDs, and a few monitors and television screens 
for testing (but bring your own if you're able).

We'll also have the preview of our HD-Myth Cookbook, a guide to 
installing MythTV with an HD tuner card from the KnoppMyth 
distribution (Debian-based).  We're inviting a first round of 
EFFfriends to help us beta test, before spreading the campaign 
further.

Thanks!
--Wendy
-- 
Wendy Seltzer -- wendy at seltzer.com || wendy at eff.org
phone: 415.436.9333 x 125 // cell: 914.374.0613 // fax: 415.436.9993
Staff Attorney, Electronic Frontier Foundation   http://www.eff.org/
454 Shotwell Street, San Francisco, CA 94110
http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/seltzer.html

----- End forwarded message -----

-- 
Seth David Schoen <schoen at loyalty.org> | Very frankly, I am opposed to people
     http://www.loyalty.org/~schoen/   | being programmed by others.
     http://vitanuova.loyalty.org/     |     -- Fred Rogers (1928-2003),
                                       |        464 U.S. 417, 445 (1984)