NFL mobile app + droid x HDMI out able to watch games on tv?

[largeselection]

Anyone know if this will be possible? My gut says no way, but I would love it if it were true. Damn time Warner cable monopoly in manhattan and the impasse with the NFL...

 

[doctorlove316]

I'm going to say I doubt it as well but if you have the cable, give it a shot and let us know.

 

[moosc]

And if you live where it's blacked out it will be blacked. Or if your In a town and game is blacked out it will be blacked out on your app. And no u can't plug HDMI and watch games or movies just stiff u have been recorded or pictures

 

[dubge]

there must be a way around this

 

[jdbower]

And no u can't plug HDMI and watch games or movies just stiff u have been recorded or pictures

Not quite true, you can watch anything that isn't protected content. Anything you can get to play via DLNA (still haven't gotten it to work well) or any non-DRM movies that are supported by the device can be played. Still, the NFL app does not exactly count as free and open content so I wouldn't expect it over HDMI anytime soon...

 

[lowermi]

I have a laptop w hdmi out to my 46 in tv and use peer to peer I use myp2p for all my sports and no blackouts. Most every game is covered...

What's Myp2p?

Myp2p is a site specialized in schedules for all kind of Sports. You can watch Live Sports by using our schedules. On top, browse to Live Sports. The information we give is fully free. You only need some clients to download and then you're ready to go. Prepare to watch alot of Football, MLB, NHL, NBA, Cricket, Tennis and many more.

here is the link if you are interested. MyP2P.eu :: Free Live Sports on your PC, Live Football, MLB, NBA, NHL and more...

and yes, I do know that it is copyrighted material i am streaming for free. sorry.

 

[Clemsonpablo]

Even if it will output the quality will be terrible. Its already questionable on a 4.3" screen, you think its going to look good 8-10 times larger?

 

[brownhornet]

I dont know about Verizon.. but I know Sprint ALWAYS found a way to block it when we had it. You could only do it on the phone.. I dont think sprint tv has ever been hacked to work over hdmi out either.

 

[ottscay]

there must be a way around this

There is, go complain to Motorola. There's no good reason why we shouldn't be able to play out content (especially content like the NFL app, which isn't even HD) that we are paying for. There's not a shred of legal basis, and on their official support forums they have already said they are evaluating at least letting individual apps make the call rather than a UI-level block.

Companies need to understand that they are not just being anti-consumer jerks when they do this stuff, they are encouraging customers to get ripped versions of their media (so they can use the HDMI) and to skip purchasing from the legitimate sources that supposedly want this protection.

 

[jdbower]

There's no good reason why we shouldn't be able to play out content (especially content like the NFL app, which isn't even HD) that we are paying for.

Actually, you may want to talk to the NFL about that. It's the content owners who place undo restrictions on HDMI output because it's purely digital. Right or wrong, without those restrictions Motorola could become the target of a lawsuit by the content providers. Whether they'd win or not is irrelevant, it could cost millions in legal fees if the NFL decides they need to build a new stadium.

 

[ottscay]

Actually, you may want to talk to the NFL about that. It's the content owners who place undo restrictions on HDMI output because it's purely digital. Right or wrong, without those restrictions Motorola could become the target of a lawsuit by the content providers. Whether they'd win or not is irrelevant, it could cost millions in legal fees if the NFL decides they need to build a new stadium.

Well, if they streamed true unadulterated digital out without asking that may be true, depending on the visictidudes of their contract. Had they simply left it up to the people making the app, the NFL could still choose to be corporate thugs and not let you watch the content you're paying for on a TV...and other companies could have decided to let you use the content you pay for in lawful ways, and the market could decide which products customers would pay for. That Moto decided to make the (wrong) call for every case should get plenty of ire (and as I mentioned, it has been on their forums, and they've already said they are reviewing it).

Otoh, they could also enable an HDCP handshake; then DRM-based content should work with all modern HDTVs, and there would be no way to copy it. The NFL, Blockbuster, and other sources would have no more reason to block it then than with a DVR or blocking output on a Blu-ray player.

This sort of decision actually robs both Moto and content providers of revenue; I'm totally ripping all of my DVDs that I want to watch (which is totally legal...I paid for and own them) and will simply not be buying any online movies or other content that I can't play out the HDMI...and if they don't hurry, it's unliked I'll even buy ones when they finally do fix it as I'll already have my digital library made and not controlled by wannabe DRM that gets in the way of legitimate customers.

Plain and simple, if consumers want to keep the few protections we are already afforded, we need to stand up and make some noise when companies try to strong-arm them away from us.

 

[jdbower]

The tricky thing is the change in value. The value of watching a movie or sporting event on a 4" handheld screen is $x. The value of watching the same content at the same low quality on a 60" TV is $y and y >> x. Content providers are about extracting as much money as possible out of their eyeballs, and dramatically changing the value from "I can watch this on the train to work" to "I can invite my friends over and we can all watch on my TV" may mean that the price of the content will rise for everyone.

I'm all for opening up the HDMI API, not only will that allow them to be more ubiquitous but it also may allow video apps to have a two-tier subscription rates if they feel it's necessary - they can choose whether to enable HDMI rather than to negotiate between the content provider, Verizon, Motorola, possibly Google and the app developer (granted, the dev is usually paid by one of the prior parties).

 

[ottscay]

Content providers are about extracting as much money as possible out of their eyeballs, and dramatically changing the value from "I can watch this on the train to work" to "I can invite my friends over and we can all watch on my TV" may mean that the price of the content will rise for everyone.

I get that...although honestly it's not like you are getting a hi-def stream, so the value added to stream out the webcast to your TV is not really much higher in this case (although perhaps that's the kind of thing that could be built in to a tiered pricing structure).

My point isn't that content providers won't restrict access, it's that by Motorola locking up the HDMI altogether they have made the choice already. Worse, that means that there is no down side to content providers; Blockbuster (for example) is certainly charging for their movies as if you could watch them on a 60" screen with your friends; now, in theory even if the HDMI were open Blockbuster could choose to not support it, perhaps reasoning that allowing HDMI streaming could cut into their physical stores revenue. But if there were a choice then Netflix, Amazon streaming, etc could easily choose to do so to differentiate them from the Blockbuster policy (most likely just the possibility would have been enough for BB to allow streaming out). But instead there's an artificial lack of market pressure that just rewards screwing customers out of using their content a priori, since everyone is (currently) forced into not letting customers stream content.

And that's just wrong.

 

[Rhody]

Content providers have different contracts with different service providers. Time Warner Cable, DirecTV, Dish Network, etc. all pay to provide NFL Network, for example. The same goes for Verizon, except Verizon probably pays less because they are only providing it to cell phones. If Verizon and the phone manufacturer allowed you to display the content on your television, then it weakens the value for the television service providers. Therefore, I bet the Verizon contract is LIMITED to the cell phone, and the deal with the manufacturers also must comply with that limitation. I'm sure Motorola has no choice. If they want to make phones for Verizon, then they have to turn HDMI off for DRM content.

 

[steve0423]

There is an app called "real hdmi" that enables you to use your hdmi cable to plug your phone into your hdtv and basically use your tv as a monitor for your phone. Anything you do on your phone will render on the tv. The only catch with regards to the nfl app and the real hdmi app is that the nfl network doesn't render just right. Hopefully someone will find a remedy for this.

 

[bor999]

There is an app called "real hdmi" that enables you to use your hdmi cable to plug your phone into your hdtv and basically use your tv as a monitor for your phone. Anything you do on your phone will render on the tv. The only catch with regards to the nfl app and the real hdmi app is that the nfl network doesn't render just right. Hopefully someone will find a remedy for this.

Can't find this app anymore on the market?