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The Fandango at Home Forums are designed to help viewers get the most out of their Fandango at Home experience. Here, Fandango at Home customers may post information, questions, ideas, etc. on the subject of Fandango at Home and Fandango at Home -related issues (home theater, entertainment, etc). Although the primary purpose of these forums is to help Fandango at Home customers with questions and/or problems with their Fandango at Home service, there are also off-topic areas available within the Fandango at Home Forums for users to chat with like-minded people, subject to the limitations below.

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Vudu & Open Source?

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    Vudu & Open Source?

    Some suggested that the Vudu software stack is in part based on or uses some part of either Linux or open source software. Is this true? Does it use a linux OS? If so, what kernel? Or is it totally proprietary OS? If it uses Open Source, where is the acknowledgement-I dont see it anywhere on the website or in the documentation. And the sources dont seem to be made avaliable anywhere.

    Maybe it is based on WindowsCE?

    Another article mentions that it uses the same security system that the cable companies use... So I take that to mean it uses Digicypher II?

    Understanding how it works is fascinating.

    It would be really cool to yank the 250 out of it and swap in a 1 TB Seagate drive! (Even if it voids the warranty)

    Thank You

    #2
    Re: Vudu & Open Source?

    My experiance with VUDU is that they do not disclose their software or hardware technologies other than the standards they are following such as H.264 for video compression. From what I understand that the hardware and OS is propriatary. The data is encrypted all the way down to the hard drive from its source.

    In the terms of service it states (http://images.vudu.com/v4/VUDU_Terms_of_Service.pdf):

    You agree to only configure
    VUDU Equipment in accordance with the user manual
    located at http://www.vudu.com/userguide.html. You
    will not, and will not allow anyone else to open, tamper
    with, or reverse engineer, decompile, or disassemble
    your VUDU Equipment (or any software contained
    within), or make any modifi cations, additions,
    attachments, or alterations to the VUDU Equipment
    (or any software contained within). Additionally, you
    agree not to, or attempt to, disclose or circumvent
    any security measures utilized as part of the VUDU
    Service or VUDU Equipment (or the software contained
    within). You understand and acknowledge that the
    VUDU Service and VUDU Equipment (or the software
    contained within) incorporates and utilizes propriety
    technologies, materials, and content of VUDU, Inc. or
    our licensors that are protected by copyright, patent,
    trade secret, and other laws and that any use or
    disclosure of the VUDU Service, content, or VUDU
    Equipment (or the software within) contrary to these
    Terms of Service or any copying of the materials and/
    or content residing in the VUDU Equipment will result
    in substantial damages to us or our licensors and
    subject you to civil liabilities and/or criminal penalties.
    Last edited by MaxH; 12-21-2007, 02:17 PM. Reason: Enlarged the font for the TOS

    Comment


      #3
      Re: Vudu & Open Source?

      Point is that IF they do in fact use ANY open source software, THEN they appear to not be following the copyright/license. So, if the comments in some of the articles are correct, then maybe they need to practice what they preach. If it is all proprietary, then OK.

      Dont network packets identify the operating system?

      I'm about to order my Vudu-should have done it Monday as I probably could have had it in my grubby hands over Christmas.

      Comment


        #4
        Re: Vudu & Open Source?

        Originally posted by qz3fwd View Post
        Point is that IF they do in fact use ANY open source software, THEN they appear to not be following the copyright/license. So, if the comments in some of the articles are correct, then maybe they need to practice what they preach. If it is all proprietary, then OK.
        You're muddying the waters here.

        Open source means just that, that the source is available to anyone. You mention Linux and having to provide the source if the OS is based on Linux. What you meant to refer to is the GPL, and you are correct, any software derived from code subject to the GPL must make the source code available for all derivative works. However, I don't know if the OS for the VUDU is proprietary, based on software subject to the GPL, or based on the code to an old Atari 2600. Someone from VUDU will have to answer that.

        I'm in way over my head on this part, but I'd guess that the OS is in absolutely no way identified in packets. That's unnecessary overhead, especially since the OS can be irrelevant to some network traffic. Protocols are the only important architecture.

        Comment


          #5
          Re: Vudu & Open Source?

          Originally posted by qz3fwd View Post

          Dont network packets identify the operating system?
          Not by default. Your application will have to put that info into the network packet. Networking only standardizes to layer 3 in the kernel, layer 4 to 7 are the responsbility of the application.

          Now if you are using an open source or copyrighted server such at FTP, HTTP, or SSH, those applications will sometimes identify their information in the packet.

          Comment


            #6
            Re: Vudu & Open Source?

            Originally posted by qz3fwd View Post
            ....snip... It would be really cool to yank the 250 out of it and swap in a 1 TB Seagate drive! (Even if it voids the warranty)

            Thank You
            Go for it! What's the worst that can happen? You'll have a really cool looking $400 door stop.

            For now I don't think we'll be allowing any detailed Vudu hacking threads here that violate the Vudu Terms Of Service. I hope you can understand this position.

            Comment


              #7
              Re: Vudu & Open Source?

              Also, since the Vudu drive is completely encrypted and since the OS is likely on the drive and not in ROM, how pray tell would you get the Vudu OS on to your new Terabyte drive? Go ahead, swap it out and void your warranty. But it won't boot so then what?

              Please, leave and enjoy the box as is. Part of the reason all the studios signed up is that the box is secure and virtually non-hackable. I agree - any posts or threads regarding hacking or circumventing the TOS will be removed promptly.

              Comment


                #8
                Re: Vudu & Open Source?

                True-But a bit for bit drive copy might still boot, then the next step is to figure out how to expand the partition. Alternatively, depending on the partition layout, the box MAY utilize the remaining drive space. It sure would void the warranty and you could end up with an expensive doorstop for sure.

                Someone will eventually do it.

                Just intrested in how the system works.

                Also, since the Vudu drive is completely encrypted and since the OS is likely on the drive and not in ROM, how pray tell would you get the Vudu OS on to your new Terabyte drive? Go ahead, swap it out and void your warranty. But it won't boot so then what?

                Comment


                  #9
                  Re: Vudu & Open Source?

                  I understand. Didnt expect such a negative response though.

                  Originally posted by Nded View Post
                  Go for it! What's the worst that can happen? You'll have a really cool looking $400 door stop.

                  For now I don't think we'll be allowing any detailed Vudu hacking threads here that violate the Vudu Terms Of Service. I hope you can understand this position.

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Re: Vudu & Open Source?

                    Originally posted by qz3fwd View Post
                    True-But a bit for bit drive copy might still boot, then the next step is to figure out how to expand the partition. Alternatively, depending on the partition layout, the box MAY utilize the remaining drive space. It sure would void the warranty and you could end up with an expensive doorstop for sure.

                    Someone will eventually do it.

                    Just intrested in how the system works.
                    Well, I don't know all the details, but it's possible that the box can report back the amount of drive space available to Vudu. So based on the box ID, Vudu could know how much space you are "supposed" to have. If the box has 600 Gig of free space when it's supposed to be a 250 Gig box, they could simply deactivate it...

                    I don't know if they would do this, but given the capabilities, it's possible to do..

                    Comment


                      #11
                      Re: Vudu & Open Source?

                      Originally posted by qz3fwd View Post
                      I understand. Didnt expect such a negative response though.
                      Please don't take this as negative, just practical. I was one of the original hackers of the ReplayTV back in the 20th century. I understand what your thinking, and how interesting it can be.

                      Understand that this forum is for supporting the Vudu and Vudu users within the boundaries of the terms of service, which specificially prohibits you from doing what you are likely to try. If you do this, despite being advised to not do so, it has to be at your own risk. The last thing Vudu needs is a thread that tells folks how to violate the term of service, and may possibly destroy their system.

                      You might want to open a project on Sourceforge or some other place. I would not object to you letting like minded Vudu owners know where you are conducting your experiment. We'll just make it clear right up front that it is not Vudu authorized, and you do so completely at your own risk. So feel free to tinker, just understand that nobody from Vudu is going to give you direct answers to some questions. Think of it as a challenge, and have fun (at your own risk of course)!

                      Comment


                        #12
                        Re: Vudu & Open Source?

                        Originally posted by qz3fwd View Post
                        Some suggested that the Vudu software stack is in part based on or uses some part of either Linux or open source software.
                        Can you please point to your source for this statement? I'd like to see a link to the reference. If you can't provide a valid source, we pretty much have to reject your premise.

                        Comment


                          #13
                          Re: Vudu & Open Source?

                          This is an interesting thread from an open source licensing and software business perspective. I'm not saying that I think Vudu has done anything wrong, but how does one know that a claimed proprietary piece of software is not actually encumbered by an open source or other license? Is everyone to be given the benefit of doubt?

                          I know how real these issues are, I'm an engineering manager at a Fortune 100 company in a group that primarily produces software. Sticky questions....

                          Comment


                            #14
                            Re: Vudu & Open Source?

                            Yeah, how do you prove a negative? Anything less than showing your complete proprietary source code will not satisfy the sceptic. At that point, your intellectual property is lost because the sceptic is in a position to steal your code! So, who are the software police, and how do we know they weren't bribed to say that no Open Source was used?

                            Then again, we could just trust most people to do the right thing.

                            Comment


                              #15
                              Re: Vudu & Open Source?

                              I was just now thinking about those stupid whistle blower commercials run by the Software Piracy Association. The gist of the message was that if your company has any current or former employees, you can not expect to get away with software piracy. The same theory would seem to apply to Open Source violations. Any company scuzy enough to break the rules will eventually get exposed.

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