Word: vcr
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Land, the swapping comes on top of another, potentially bigger threat. While college kids and geeks are swapping comedies and cartoons online via PCs, a controversial new device called ReplayTV 4000--think of a supersmart VCR--lets regular nontechie folks save television shows in pristine digital format directly from their TV, then watch them commercial free and send them over the Net to other Replay users. Hackers have even figured out ways to copy Replay files to their personal computers, where the files can be uploaded by users of Morpheus and similar programs for wider dissemination...
...Hollywood is not amused, and has filed two lawsuits: one against the makers of Replay, the other against the creators of Morpheus and two similar file-sharing services called Grokster and Kazaa. While it may be O.K. to copy a show for yourself on the VCR, "it's not O.K. to start sending it around and file sharing," warns Jack Valenti, CEO of the Motion Picture Association of America. The first legal face-off begins March 4 with a hearing on the Morpheus case in federal district court in Los Angeles. The Replay trial is scheduled for August...
...after individuals like Chaplin, it will probably be an uphill battle. According to Forrester Research, personal video recorders will be in 40% of all U.S. households by 2006. Until better encryption or industry-ordained alternatives give consumers legitimate ways to watch any show, anytime--without bothering to set the VCR--pirating and trading are bound to flourish. Even then, concedes TiVo president Morgan Gunther, "nothing is unhackable." While soap operas and sitcoms may not be getting any smarter, our ways of watching them almost certainly will...
...long. Each of the nine specialists solves 30 to 40 cases a year, according to team member Ralph Richards. "We're making some headway, but it's a drop in the bucket," he says. "The chances of getting caught are much less than for the guy who steals your VCR...
FEEL THE BURN Are the VCR's days numbered? Pioneer and Philips have introduced the first DVD "burners" to create discs that can be read on most DVD players. Though built using competing technologies, Pioneer's DVR-7000 and Philips' DVDR1000 have one thing in common: a daunting $2,000 price...