[HH] Roku

[Tom Metro]

Bill Bogstad wrote:
> No, you can't change the [Roku] software.  i.e. Tivoization.   From what
> I've read, the low-level firmware will only install new system
> software which has been cryptographically signed by Roku.

Ah, so that complies with the letter of GPL v2, but kills the hacker
community. Nice.

Aren't there provisions in GPL v3 to address this? (Which doesn't help
when most code - notably the kernel - is still v2, and will likely
remain so.)

I wonder if there are hardware hacks to get around this. Say reflashing
the bootloader via a JTAG port, or the like.

I guess it doesn't matter. I'll give my money to a vendor that chooses
to play nice with the open source community.


> Some people have tried to use Roku's software developer kit...

I gather that's something to create an app.


> ...to implement a MythTV channel for Roku. Unfortunately, you have
> to transcode all of your videos to H.264 to use it.

Wouldn't be such a big deal if MythTV had better architecture and
on-the-fly transcoding to match a client's capabilities.

I read that the torrent community has collectively (where do they hold
their meetings? :-) ) decided to standardize on H.264.


Thanks for the Roku info.

 -Tom