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My HDMI is broken. It’s not just me. Comcast has broken their HDMI implementation on the Motorolla dual-tuner 6412 DVR device. My simple HDTV device is not “authorized” anymore by their HDCP.

To some people, this is no big deal. However, I run 720p out of my DVR box, and this is only because it won’t output 1080p. As anyone can tell you, the YPbPr comonent system is inadequate for true HDTV transmission. It is not even digital. So, we’ve been using DVI to transmit digital video to digital display devices/TV’s for awhile now. But, the industry that does so much to disrupt individual consumer’s fair-use rights decided it needed better protection.

So, who do I blame? Comcast, who said I might need a whole new DVR box? Motorolla, who makes the box and software? I wish these idiots would sell me a working, valid product. I shouldn’t have to waste MY scarce resources on my TV, on my computer, on my network, simply to satisfy inane studios. Give me DVI if you can’t get HDMI/HDCP working.

Update: For more information on this problem, check: http://ghelf.wordpress.com/2006/12/21/comcastmotorola-hdcp-issues-via-hdmi/
http://www.spanishturtle.com/2006/12/ho-ho-ho.html

Today ends the ASSA 2007 conference. It’s been a wild ride this weekend, but I’ve been able to formulate quite a few useful ideas - hopefully they will see fruition at some point in time. The conference is also magnificient at giving a beginner an inferiority complex, but I suppose that’s to be expected. I didn’t really find any first-year grad students dipping in the water besides me, though. All the people I met at the IHS “Experimental Economics” seminar this past summer had other things going on. Additionally, I did not happen to run into any of Nothern’s faculty hanging around, even though I received confirmation later than Dr. Evan Anderson was in attendence when Dr. Jennifer Juergens presented their joint paper (also co-written with Dr. Eric Ghysels).

One complication is that the first train on Metra’s Union Pacific-West line to Geneva departs Geneva at 6:37 and arrives at Ogilvie in Chicago at 7:46. Fourteen minutes is not quite enough to get from Clinton, across the river, and all the way to Michigan Avenue for the West Tower of the Hyatt where most of the sessions for the AEA occured. So, Thursday evening I drove in for the reception, and I drove in again on Sunday. It’s really only the parking in Chicago that irks me most, though that Thursday evening commute in wasn’t fun.

I’d also like to thank the fine folk at Cafe Descartes for keeping me caffienated. I passed by their newly opened branch at 327 N. Michigan Ave. when we were out doing some Christmas shopping, but the girls wouldn’t let me stop in. They had me at a picture of Nietzsche. Then I saw Plato, Hobbes, etc. Upon returning to patronize the facility, I enjoyed even seeing Kahlil Gibran - that was a pleasant surprise! See, I am a sucker for a gimmick. What of it?

Anyway, I have just about a week before the semester begins, and this is going to be a big one. I have just enough time to place the bi-annual Amazon order for next semester, grabbing that last textbook and reference materials.