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I wonder if this will affect the existence of the Raspberry Pi's binary blob ? I remember Liz Upton saying "[MPEG2 licensing] is a reason we have to keep the bl

I wonder if this will affect the existence of the Raspberry Pi's binary blob ? I remember Liz Upton saying "[MPEG2 licensing] is a reason we have to keep the blob, unfortunately, or we’d be sued into a smoking hole in the ground by the MPEG LA" on this page: https://www.raspberrypi.org/blog/a-birthday-present-from-broadcom/ https://www.raspberrypi.org/blog/a-birthday-present-from-bro... Also does it mean that the Raspberry Fundation could provide the MPEG2 hardware decoder license key for free ? (currently: http://www.raspberrypi.com/mpeg-2-license-key/ http://www.raspberrypi.com/mpeg-2-license-key/)

gsnedders 9y ago
If the only license is involved is the patent license, then they could likely provide it for free. However, it's not implausible the manufacturer of the hardware decoder takes some of the fee.
userbinator 9y ago
I'm actually surprised that that hasn't been cracked yet --- or at least, a quick search didn't find anything (do let me know otherwise!); as we all know too well these days, Google isn't particularly neutral in terms of what search results it wants to show anymore. That said, the RPi being the closed system it is, it's not surprising that no real hacker/cracker types would bother with it and the community remains mainly docile. But given the publicity and popularity, it is a little surprising.
- mmozeiko 9y ago
  It is cracked. Here's a simple patch: https://www.reddit.com/r/raspberry_pi/comments/5x7xbo/patch_for_mpeg2_vc1_license/ https://www.reddit.com/r/raspberry_pi/comments/5x7xbo/patch_...
  - reacweb 9y ago
    Do you mean that enabling the Pi's hardware decoding of MPEG-2 and VC-1 video files without paying for a license key just requires to patch a single byte with this command ? cd /boot ; cp start.elf start.elf_backup && perl -pne 's/\x47\xE9362H\x3C\x18/\x47\xE9362H\x3C\x1F/g' < start.elf_backup > start.elf
    - q3k 9y ago
      Yes, it seems to patch a licensing function at 0xEC95FD4 [1] to always return 1, by patching the jump at 0xEC95FE2 (that should be only taken for the always-allowed H263 codec) to always be taken, thus always allowing all codecs. [1] - https://q3k.org/u/8e3173aef341df726e4f38f30e58417239423250f3e44f5b8b79acdc451d1553.png https://q3k.org/u/8e3173aef341df726e4f38f30e58417239423250f3...
monochromatic 9y ago
How does a binary blob get around a patent?
- ce4 9y ago
  You need to buy it, without license it won't load: http://www.raspberrypi.com/mpeg-2-license-key/ http://www.raspberrypi.com/mpeg-2-license-key/
akerro 9y ago
A comment from reddit where I asked the same question: No, even if patent expired those companies won't want to surrender their income. And there's nothing preventing them for charging for their decoder if people are willing to pay for it. And if raspberry would have to provide these keys they would have to break their security scheme which would still be like breaking DRM. What expired patent means is that anyone else can implement their encoder/decoder legally, so perhaps future raspberry pi will have different implementation of the decoder that doesn't require keys. This is very much the same thing as with medication, you have brand name medication which is pricy, patent expires and much cheaper versions enter the market, but even then you can still purchase the brand version and pay more. There might still be minor differences. https://www.reddit.com/r/linux/comments/7xjqy5/mpeg2_patents_have_expired_mpeg2_is_now_patent/du9y1uw/?context=3 https://www.reddit.com/r/linux/comments/7xjqy5/mpeg2_patents...
pjc50 9y ago
Don't forget that there are two hardware codec licenses, MPEG-2 and VC-1.

gsnedders 9y ago

If the only license is involved is the patent license, then they could likely provide it for free. However, it's not implausible the manufacturer of the hardware decoder takes some of the fee.

userbinator 9y ago

I'm actually surprised that that hasn't been cracked yet --- or at least, a quick search didn't find anything (do let me know otherwise!); as we all know too well these days, Google isn't particularly neutral in terms of what search results it wants to show anymore. That said, the RPi being the closed system it is, it's not surprising that no real hacker/cracker types would bother with it and the community remains mainly docile. But given the publicity and popularity, it is a little surprising.

mmozeiko 9y ago
It is cracked. Here's a simple patch: https://www.reddit.com/r/raspberry_pi/comments/5x7xbo/patch_for_mpeg2_vc1_license/ https://www.reddit.com/r/raspberry_pi/comments/5x7xbo/patch_...
- reacweb 9y ago
  Do you mean that enabling the Pi's hardware decoding of MPEG-2 and VC-1 video files without paying for a license key just requires to patch a single byte with this command ? cd /boot ; cp start.elf start.elf_backup && perl -pne 's/\x47\xE9362H\x3C\x18/\x47\xE9362H\x3C\x1F/g' < start.elf_backup > start.elf
  - q3k 9y ago
    Yes, it seems to patch a licensing function at 0xEC95FD4 [1] to always return 1, by patching the jump at 0xEC95FE2 (that should be only taken for the always-allowed H263 codec) to always be taken, thus always allowing all codecs. [1] - https://q3k.org/u/8e3173aef341df726e4f38f30e58417239423250f3e44f5b8b79acdc451d1553.png https://q3k.org/u/8e3173aef341df726e4f38f30e58417239423250f3...

monochromatic 9y ago

How does a binary blob get around a patent?

ce4 9y ago
You need to buy it, without license it won't load: http://www.raspberrypi.com/mpeg-2-license-key/ http://www.raspberrypi.com/mpeg-2-license-key/

akerro 9y ago

A comment from reddit where I asked the same question: No, even if patent expired those companies won't want to surrender their income. And there's nothing preventing them for charging for their decoder if people are willing to pay for it. And if raspberry would have to provide these keys they would have to break their security scheme which would still be like breaking DRM. What expired patent means is that anyone else can implement their encoder/decoder legally, so perhaps future raspberry pi will have different implementation of the decoder that doesn't require keys. This is very much the same thing as with medication, you have brand name medication which is pricy, patent expires and much cheaper versions enter the market, but even then you can still purchase the brand version and pay more. There might still be minor differences. https://www.reddit.com/r/linux/comments/7xjqy5/mpeg2_patents_have_expired_mpeg2_is_now_patent/du9y1uw/?context=3 https://www.reddit.com/r/linux/comments/7xjqy5/mpeg2_patents...

pjc50 9y ago

Don't forget that there are two hardware codec licenses, MPEG-2 and VC-1.