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"Play it on Panasonic"

http://panasonic.com/consumer_electronics/home/def ault.asp

Cool little Flash game also.

Why doesn't the ruggedized PC hit the mainstream market?

Panasonic seems pretty mainstream. They have the ToughBook line of computers. My girlfriend stumbled across one at a bargain price, and I've been drooling over it ever since.

It has an IP rate of 67, meaning it's capable of lying under water for hours, and it can put up with a fall of 1.5 meters against concrete.

Does anyone remember the Panasonic Toughbook - they had similar toughness (though I don't think they could sit underwater). You get a whole real computer and some of the models even have built in wireless/GPS capabilities. Granted they cost upwards of 5 grand and probably only have about 4 hours of battery life (though 8 hours doesn't seem like much for a PDA to me), but still sweet.

I'd be interested to see what an IP Rate of 100 (or zero, whichever is better, also assuming a 100 point scale) could handle. Elephants can sit on it while you work maybe?

BTW, whats with the random "number of physicial machines hosted on windows" bit at the end of the post there? Do all slashdot articles now automatically include a little MSFT bashing - hidden in the PERL soup somewhere? :)

Panasonic's Toughbooks claim (and look) to be pretty tough. I'm not sure if they're worth the expense for your dad though. There are a few less-rugged options that I've heard of, but I don't have the links handy. Check /.'s archive, I think there's something recently about them.

Panasonic Toughbook" is a heavy duty laptop that looks like a suitcase. As mentioned in previous Slashot articles, it is spill, shock, and dust resistant.

Personally, I intend to buy this standalone unit, which not only records DVD-R, but also has DVD-RAM functionality, and can be connected to a computer for use as well. I watch most of my DVDs in the living room, and most of what I want to record is either on TV, or available from other equipment that is part of my A/V, not my office, setup.

That link has old info. The Panasonic CF-72 is out, and it's nice. The ones I've played with are P3 700's with 384 MB RAM. Good shiznit.

See http://www.panasonic.com/computer/notebook/html/01 a_s7.htm for the current model specs. They are available with faster CPU's than the models I get to beat on.

Panasonics "ToughBook" series is a _tough_ notebook, made for outdoor and industrial use..
Doesn't look too bad either..

Some features:
* Shock-restistance
* Spill-resistance
* Vibration-resistance
* Dust-restistance
* Magnesium casing

http://www.panasonic.com/computer/notebook/Default .asp

The smaller discs seem to be getting all the luvin' lately. Nintendo is using the same sized disc, but DVD, for the GameCube. Matsushita (better known was Panasonic to us Yankee's) developed the technology for them. It can hold 1.8 gig's. I sure wouldn't mind getting ahold of portable MP3 player that could use one of them :)

Panasonic makes a line of "ruggedized" laptops called ToughBooks. They have shock-mounted drives, flexible mounts between case and MoBo, sealed keyboards (liquid resistant), and a magnesium case. A lot have built-in wireless (CDPD) and a few are built-in their own case. THe 37 is 1" thick, under 5lbs and has a touchscreen.

You will pay a bit more, but that is the price form a more rugged machine...

I know that Panasonic has fax machines that can send documents that are scaned in as .tif files. But that is outgoing. DX 2000
Besides that I really cant think of anything.

They should use a Panasonic Toughbook ... I used to use one out in the field, and would occasionally drop the thing 3 feet onto concrete...those things are TOUGH.

One issue though is that ReplayTV/Panasonic doesn't offer a toll-free number if you happen to be long distance from one of their dial-in numbers.

"I challenge someone here to rough up some specs for a US$140,000 general purpose PC rig, running whatever OS is appropriate for its purpose."

Alright, I'm bored, I've got some time to kill...let's see how close I can get.

[A couple hours pass]

Alright, I suppose I could keep adding things onto this, but I won't. I got it up to $10,103.46, though. It's a multimedia workstation designed for graphics and digital video editing, high-performance gaming, DVD playback, and DVD authoring, with all the accessories.

• Case: PC 60 Aluminum w/3 Case Fans and Window Kit, $229.99
• Power supply: Antec PP403X 400W Power Supply $84.10
• Motherboard: ASUS CUV4X-DLS w/SCSI $333.62
• Processors: 2 x Intel Coppermine PIII 933mhz $398.00 ($199.00 ea)
• Processor fans (x2): Antec Heavy Duty CPU Fan $33.54 (16.77 ea)
• RAM: 256mb Kingston PC133 DIMM $156.64
• IDE cable (x2): Rounded $25.98 ($12.99 ea)
• Floppy drive: Compaq LS-120 internal IDE $127.99
• DVD/CD-RW Drive: HP CD-Writer 9900ci 12x10x32x DVD 8x $349.99
• DVD Decoder: Creative Labs Dxr3 $79.99
• CD Drive: Creative Labs CD-ROM Blaster 52x $49.99
• DVD-RAM Drive: Panasonic LF-D201U SCSI-2 $649.00
• SCSI Cable (x3): Rounded $38.97 ($12.99 ea)
• SCSI Hard drive (x2): Seagate Cheetah73 73GB U160 $1576.00 ($788.00 ea)
• RAID Controller: Asus PCI-DA2100 SCSI RAID $609.00
• IEEE 1394 Card: Belkin F5U501 PCI $79.95
• Video: VisionTek GeForce3 64mb AGP $389.99
• Monitor: Samsung 18" Syncmaster TFT LCD $1891.00
• Sound: Creative Labs SBLive X-Gamer $99.99
• Speakers: Creative Labs/Cambridge SoundWorks DTT3500 Dolby 5.1 Digital $299.99
• Printer: Epson Stylus 2000P Inkjet Printer $869.99
• Scanner: HP ScanJet 6300Cxi 1200dpi $387.36
• Mouse: Razer Boomslang 2000 $82.99
• Mouse Pad: 3m Precise Mousing Service $8.49
• Keyboard: IBM Preferred 104-key Black $59.00
• Joystick: Microsoft SideWinder Force Feedback 2 $109.00
• Steering Wheel: Microsoft SideWinder Force Feedback Wheel USB $159.00
• Game Pad: Gravis Eliminator GamePad Pro $26.99
• UPS: APC Smart-UPS 1000 XL $577.92
• Operating System: Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional $319.00

That's right, Win2K. I know we all love linux in here, Win2K is actually a decent OS, especially for all of the tasks I've specced this out for.

--

If you don't like the TiVo service, you could always buy one of these.

More expensive, naturally.

--

"I'm surfin the dead zone

If I recall right, Panasonic used to sell (maybe still does) a three panel wrap-around display that was completely wild. It was even written up here in Slash one or two times.

I can't find that one right now, but there is this 42" plasma display for a mere 10,000 usa dollars. Maybe when I hit the lottery.

Check out the Vinny the Vampire comic strip

Those two things aren't mutually exclusive. As I mentioned in another post above, witness this flat screen CRT television.

...and since someone is going to ask for an example, here ya go: Tau Series PureFlat(TM), Wide-Screen HDTV-Compatible Monitor

Besides LRP and Freesco, how about digital cameras? Let's see - Panasonic manufactures the only digital camera that can store hundreds of thousands of images on a single floppy. Sounds pretty cool to me! Of course, you have to have a compatible drive in your computer to read the disk, so Panasonic makes sales in both areas.

Besides LRP and Freesco, how about digital cameras? Let's see - Panasonic manufactures the only digital camera that can store hundreds of thousands of images on a single floppy. Sounds pretty cool to me! Of course, you have to have a compatible drive in your computer to read the disk, so Panasonic makes sales in both areas.

Why does he want to have an MP3 gadget to record the sounds? I'd recommend a plain old music cassette recorder ("Walkman"-type, e.g. http://www.prodcat.panasonic.com/shop/product.asp? sku=RQ-L30&CategoryID=223). You have 45 or 60 minutes recording for each side, media is EXTREMELY cheap (compared to any digital portable). Plus the recorder itself is cheap enough (~ $40) to be replaced easily in case is is dropped accidentally into the swamp. Some of these things even have voice-activated recording, so you can set it near the frogs, go away and just wait. Transfer to PC is done with any cheap soundcard.

I am afraid I just assumed that it would play the CD-R(W) formats.(I had bought it to replace the 10 year old Yamaha 5 CD changer that played damn near anything shiny and flat I could jam into it) It never mentioned the lack of support for these formats on the box. It wasn't until I RTFM that I saw the extensive list of unsupported formats.

Needless to say, this one is now earmarked as the spare/bedroom unit and the plans for its replacement are in progress.

Reciever:

• Denon AVR-2800. Very good, clean sound. It does both DTS and DD decoding, and I can bi-wire my main speakers. ($1300)

• Panasonic A-120. It's a little older than most (1 1/2 years old...it's not even on the web site anymore), but it does the job nicely. It passes a DTS bitstream, which is all I was really looking for at the time.($500)

• Toshiba TW40X81 A good T.V. is something that you definately shouldn't scrimp on. I agonized for 8 months over this purchase, but it's the best thing I've ever bought Widescreen baby, YEAH! ($3600)

• All my speakers are by
• Sound Dynamics. RTS-11's for mains ($1000), RTS-7's for rears ($600), and an RTS-C2 for a center ($300). They kick ass, and compare favourably to similar sounding speakers in the price area too.

• A Sub is
• essential to quality movie-watching. It's not only about base you hear, it's about the rumbling you can feel. Mine is a Velodyne CT-100 with a 10" driver. ($750)

Looking back, I guess I spent quite a bit of money, but I don't regret a cent of it. I routinely enjoy watching DVD's at home more than going to the theater. I guess that's what it's all about, eh? :)

These hybrid systems are currently only slated for a Japanese release, with no US release planned (where US release = anywhere outside Japan). At the moment, Nintendo is trying to go down the 'games only' road (which I personally believe in), so I doubt they'll make a big push for the hybrid to be released outside Japan.

There are heaps of news stories around on Matsushita and their somewhat hazy Gamecube plans, and instead of me putting in heaps of effort and actully making heaps of links, I'll make you all a special link today ;)

Google search for 'Matsushita Gamecube dvd movies'.

Heaps of articles there, enjoy. :)

(Offtopic rant: The best thing happening in the gaming world in the next week is the US release of The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask. Nothing else worthwhile is happening.)

My roommate works at Panasonic and brought home one of their Plasma Displays. There's nothing quite as cool as playing Quake 3 Arena on a 42" 16x9 aspect screen. :)
For our Y2K party we set it up to use Ryan Geiss' Winamp Plugin as a nice conversion piece.

Of course it costs around $13999.95... :)

---

My roommate works at Panasonic and brought home one of their Plasma Displays. There's nothing quite as cool as playing Quake 3 Arena on a 42" 16x9 aspect screen. :)
For our Y2K party we set it up to use Ryan Geiss' Winamp Plugin as a nice conversion piece.

Of course it costs around $13999.95... :)

---

Ever thrashed a titanium computer?

Has anybody ever made such a beast?

I want a titanium cased laptop now though. :)

I thought the Panasonic Toughbook might've been such a thing, but it uses a magnesium case, not a titanium case. It's still an unusual feature, though...back in the day, NeXT clothed its boxen in magnesium, and that's the only other computer I know about that uses any kind of "exotic metal" as a case material. As for titanium, RhinoSkin has titanium cases for Palm organizers.

_/_
/ v \
(IIGS( Scott Alfter (remove Voyager's hull # to send mail)
\_^_/

If you're miffed, try using ShowStopper : a free PTV system for your computer. And it works well, even in its beta state.

Hey cool, it's the Website of the Future!.

Both the .net and .org are also placeholder sites.

Check those URLs, people.

Oh, and on the other hand, Panasonic has a ReplayTV/TiVo style box (isn't it a clone of one of them?) called the Showstopper.

If you're miffed, try using ShowStopper : a free PTV system for your computer. And it works well, even in its beta state.

Hey cool, it's the Website of the Future!.

Both the .net and .org are also placeholder sites.

Check those URLs, people.

Oh, and on the other hand, Panasonic has a ReplayTV/TiVo style box (isn't it a clone of one of them?) called the Showstopper.

...another comment from Michael Tandy.

...another comment from Michael Tandy.

Prepare to witness the most concerted and massive engineering effort -- both social and technical -- ever undertaken by mankind: The digital equivalent of damming the ocean.

I wrote about this on Slashdot almost a year ago, in the vague hope it might become a featured article: The music and movie industies are working very hard to prevent you from using your lawfully-obtained material in any way they don't want. To that end, they have formed the Copy Protection Technical Working Group (CPTWG), which is working hand-in-hand with a ton of high-tech companies to bring pervasive copy protection measures to your PC.

I saved my original screed on the subject, and it's reproduced below, with appropriate updates. Bottom Line: Do not let them sneak this garbage past you or your friends. If you find that a product contains copy protection, don't buy it, and encourage others to do likewise.

____________________

Recent stories on Slashdot have told of the ongoing "tennis match" between digital content providers versus consumers and technically skilled people. The recent cracking of DVD's Content Scrambling System (CSS) lent ammunition to the opinion held by computing professionals and users that copy protection systems are doomed to fail. The effort has been likened to building a dam against the ocean; a foolish and useless exercise. In Slashdot discussion fora, the point has often been raised, "If you can perceive it, you can copy it. What are they going to do, encrypt the bits all the way to the speaker/electron gun?" If the Copy Protection Technical Working Group gets its way, that is precisely what's going to happen.

I received a piece of email spam today, which actually turned out to be useful (probably the only time that's ever happened anywhere). It directed me to a flat panel display industry group. Among others, one of the links pointed to the California Display Network, which had a link pointing to technical info on flat panel technology. Since I currently earn my living writing graphics card and display drivers, I clicked through to see what I could learn.

I found an entry for an overview of digital visual interfaces, provided by Silicon Image. As I reviewed the headings of the slides, one entry stopped me cold: Conten t Protection Status. Content protection? In a flat panel?? Yup: "Implementation of DVI content protection is suitable for PCs and monitors." [emphasis mine]

Thus began an evening of link clicking and Google searches to find out what this off-handed remark could mean. The slide made mention of the 'CPTWG'. This is the Copy Protection Technical Working Group, a consortium of content providers (movie companies), consumer electronics manufacturers, and players in the IT industry. This is the same group that developed CSS for DVD players.

One paragraph from the above page is particularly disturbing:

CPTWG has focused until now only on "casual piracy [sic]", characterized as what a grandmother can do in her home with her DVD. Piracy [sic] requiring even the level of expertise (and equipment) of her grandson, who might be an EE student, has been excluded from consideration. There is a growing awareness that a broader content protection effort may be necessary.

The most recent meeting of the CPTWG was yesterday, 8 December, 1999. Their meeting announcements may be found here. It costs $100 to attend. According to the site, their last meeting was on 11 April 2000. It's not clear if additional meetings have been held at regular intervals.

The attendance roster from the April meeting (RTF file) lists a very interesting, and possibly worrying, mix of organizations. A partial list of representatives included:

• MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America),
• AFMA (American Film Marketing Association),
• Sony Pictures Entertainment,
• Universal Studios,
• Warner Bros.,
• Disney,
• Paramount,
• CEMA (Consumer Electronics Manufacturers Association),
• MEI (parent company to Panasonic), makers of consumer electronics,
• Pioneer, makers of consumer electronics,
• JVC, makers of consumer electronics,
• Philips, makers of consumer electronics and VLSI components (including video encoders),
• Sony, makers of consumer electronics, computers, and displays,
• Toshiba, makers of consumer electronics, computers, flat panels, disk drives, digital cameras, copiers, and laser printers,
• NEC, makers of computers, displays, printers, and telecomm equipment,
• Hewlett Packard, makers of computers, printers, and testing/measuring equipment (oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, etc.),
• Quantum, makers of disk drives,
• IBM, makers of computers, disk drives, and bunches of other stuff,
• Compaq, makers of computers,
• Apple Computer, makers of computers,
• ATI Technologies, makers of PC graphics cards,
• Dolby Labs, creators and licensors of audio enhancement technologies,
• Intel, makers of microprocessors, motherboard controllers, and graphics and peripheral chips,
• Microsoft, software market monopolists,
• Dow Chemical (I have no idea why they're here),
• DVD-CCA, licensors of CSS, and currently in court trying to prevent the spread of DeCSS,
• A number of law firms.

If you download the roster and read closely, you'll see every major piece of your computer represented. There is no doubt that at least one part of your computer -- your CPU, your RAM, your disk drive, your graphics card, your monitor -- is manufactured by one of these companies.

If you look further still, you'll see there are no consumer advocacy groups listed.

What are they all working toward? Quite simply, to prevent you from using your lawfully obtained digital material in any way they don't want.

Here's one example of how they'll do it: If you've visited Fry's or CompUSA recently, you'll notice that full-size flat panel displays are starting to appear. Currently, most of these displays are based on the old VGA analog signals, which are converted into the digital signals needed by the panels. The Digital Display Working Group is working on a new connector and signalling standard called Digital Visual Interface (DVI) that will allow computer displays to go all-digital. You won't need a DAC on the video card; the digital signals will be fed straight through to the display. Image fidelity will be much higher, since there won't be any intervening DAC/ADC conversions. Version 1.0 of the standard has been published and is available for download (PDF format). The DVI spec currently does not stipulate copy protection measures. However, plans are in the works to incorporate it.

Intel is one of the primary contributors to this effort. On Intel's developer site, they have some papers on copy protection for IEEE 1394 (Firewire) digital streams. In two separate articles, 1394-based Digital Content Protection: an Intel Proposal, and Content Protection for IEEE 1394 Serial Buses (the latter being a Powerpoint presentation masquerading as a PDF file), Intel outlines its proposal for protecting digital content over Firewire. By using cryptographic authentication techniques, a device offering digital content will "handshake" with other devices on the bus to assure that digital data is only received by, "compliant devices." In a revised overview of the proposal, IDF Talk: Content Protection for the IEEE 1394 Bus, Intel offers concrete implementation details, including:

• DSS (Digital Signature Standard)
• Diffie-Hellman key exchange for device authentication,
• Blowfish cipher for content encryption, with a keylength of 32-128 bits,
• Digital watermarking techniques to declare "rights" (right to playback, right to copy, etc.) to the receiving device.

The full proposal (currently version 0.91), with lots of technical detail, is mirrored on CPTWG's site (the links to Intel's site don't work).

Intel's proposal also recommends that the copy protection system be field-upgradeable to thwart ongoing attacks, and that it should be possible to revoke (read: disable) a device determined to be "compromised." (The tone of the proposals is also interesting. It's previously been thought that, because of USB, Intel is hostile to IEEE 1394. Yet these proposals suggest that Intel's quite enthusiastic about 1394... Once copy protection is incorporated.)

Intel's proposal mentions only IEEE 1394. However, it also mentions that there's nothing preventing the technique being applied generally to any bi-directional link. So for all occurrences of '1394', substitute 'DVI', and you've got an idea of what to look forward to in your new digital monitor. And your new DVD player. And your new HDTV set. And your new USB speakers.

Intel goes even further in their paper, A Framework for DVD-Audio Content Protection. In it, the author suggests that DVD-Audio recorders permanently remember the IRSC (International Standard Recording Code) of every song the device is asked to copy, so that it may only be copied once, period. They go on to suggest that the recorder could have a modem built-in to authorize (read: purchase) the ability to make additional copies.

In short, through this industry consortium, Hollywood proposes to exert control over every link in the digital chain, from the digital camera, to the disk drive, to the CPU, to the graphics card, to your display. They will decide what rights you have. Even if a court decides Fair Use includes multiple copies for personal use (such as assembling a video montage), it won't matter. Your computer will still refuse to make the copies (and probably fink on you, as well).

This coordinated effort is ostensibly to combat unsanctioned copying (which the industry chronically refers to incorrectly as 'theft' and 'piracy'). However, no one has ever been able to provably quantify the value of unrealized sales due to such copying. All dollar estimates that have been published are just that: estimates, based on idealized extrapolations of what-if scenarios. Moreover, although the industry claims to "lose" billions every year, they continue to post record profits. Finally, despite the proliferation of CDR drives and the Internet, most unrealized sales are the result of organized mass counterfeiting rings, not casual copying. None of the proposed methods I've seen appear to thwart mass counterfeiting at all. So clearly there's some other reason for all this.

The thing that puzzles me most is why the computer and consumer electronics industries haven't told Hollywood to take a hike. Intel's copy protection proposals state, in bold letters, "No content protection = No Hollywood content." This belief is taken as axiomatic by all the players, and appears to be the driving force behind the entire effort. This belief is also false.

Audio on CDs are recorded as plaintext, and the music industry continues to earn rapacious profits. Even the with the advent of CDRs, no music industry executive in his right mind would suggest dropping CD sales and going strictly with cassettes and vinyl. If nothing else, the manufacturing costs for CDs are lower than those for cassettes and vinyl. Likewise, DVDs are tremendously cheaper to produce than videotapes. Videotape duplication is a labor-intensive process; DVDs can be stamped out automatically. The savings in cost-of-goods alone would more than balance against any unrealized sales from casual copying. Corporate shareholders, always mindful of the bottom line, will also demand that the studios move to the cheaper, higher-quality process, copy protected or not.

The fact is that the computer and electronics firms are in the driver's seat, and are free to dictate how the new digital formats will work. Hollywood will use whatever format becomes popular, whether it has copy protection or not. They may grumble about it, but they'll use it. The economics afford them little choice.

We are only now beginning to explore the social and ethical consequences of a Star Trek-like universe where everything can be infinitely duplcated at zero cost. We have no idea where things will end up. But now is not the time to start erecting electronic walls and imposing artificial scarcity. The ignoble and richly-deserved death of DIVX showed -- fairly unequivocally, I thought -- that consumers want to make free, fair use of their digital media, without interference from outside. I believe its death reinforces the future toward which we've been pushing for centuries: Increased abundance at reduced cost. We can only hope that the lesson of DIVX will be repeated until it is learned.

Schwab

Actually Panasonic already makes notebooks. Check out the Toughbook

Really nice products, if a little pricey.

Ender

So you need to back up 60 or 80 gigs? D-VHS tapes can hold about 44GB of data (so get two). Looks like all you'd need is to get a deck (about $700 these days for the best-in-category PV-HD1000), connect it with 1394, and dump out all that data onto tape ($15 a pop -- less than 50 cents a gigabyte). Plus, it's a VHS-compatible VCR. Nifty, yes/no?

• weighs less
• costs less
• stores slightly less
• let's you delete crap pictures

There is the Panasonic that writes to a SuperDisk. The camera also serves as an external SuperDisk drive. If you are looking for mega storage, try the Casio with a 340 MB IBM Microdrive.
It seems to me that burning to a small disk would be quite slow compared to these two methods.

(Why is Slashdot forcing a space before my end-anchor tag?)

I read an article on the same camera the other day. I want that camera so bad. This thing can take 1500 pictures because it uses the SuperDisk which holds 120 megabytes. The camera is also an external drive for your computer through an USB interface. So just hook it up and transfer over the files. Also incase you cant afford a new disk or something it will read the good ol 1.44 floppies as well. It will do 1280x960 resolution. This thing will do a crapload more stuff including very very short videos made with Quicktime and still images that have 5 sec audio. Take a look at everything it will do on the website.

Panasonic make a SuperDi sk digital camera, which also takes regular floppy discs and can also be connected to your PC via USB.

Here's the good bit: when connected to your PC it becomes a SuperDisk drive!

Panasonic make a SuperDi sk digital camera, which also takes regular floppy discs and can also be connected to your PC via USB.

Here's the good bit: when connected to your PC it becomes a SuperDisk drive!

Available today are:
Panasonic CX-DV1500
Alpine DVA-5200

Available today are:
Panasonic CX-DV1500
Alpine DVA-5200

Hullo.
I recently bought myself Panasonic's very very amazing Shockwave Metal RQ-SW99V Stereo Radio Cassette Player and it is a very amazing piece of technology. It runs off of ONE AA BATTERY for 30 HOURS and has Panasonic's amazing VMSS technology (aka Brainshaker) that MOVES to the music. Also, no skipping (!) with a 120 minute cassette for $1.50. Some people may not like this, but it suits me perfectly as I can record episodes of Off the Hook and listen to them over and over, and just set up a 2-hour MP3 playlist for ambient listening during travel.
Another feature some may like (I do) called TPS, where you press the + button to go to the next "track" on the tape. it looks for the next period of silence and resumes playing. Also, it has a remote control on the headphones, complimenting it's lightweight and perfect size for a pocket. I really like this player and think it was an incredibly excellent value for only $100. If you don't mind using cassettes again, I would very much recommend this player.
Thank you.

Progressive scan DVD (currently only being put to market by panasonic - although it was first attempted by toshiba way back in 98) is a format that produces a picture resolution of 480 scan lines (non interlaced, as current dvd's are) - you will need a digital tv to take advantage of it. (i believe upscales it to 1080 lines to make it compatible with digital tv's.)

More information can be found on one of the million hometheatre sites on the net, or at Panasonic Themselves.

----------------------------

I submitted this to Slashdot's Your Rights Online section some weeks ago, but it was rejected. I think the article is pertinent here.

Recent stories on Slashdot have told of the ongoing "tennis match" between digital content providers versus consumers and technically skilled people. The recent cracking of DVD's Content Scrambling System (CSS) lent ammunition to the opinion held by computing professionals and users that copy protection systems are doomed to fail. The effort has been likened to building a dam against the ocean; a foolish and useless exercise. In Slashdot discussion fora, the point has often been raised, "If you can perceive it, you can copy it. What are they going to do, encrypt the bits all the way to the speaker/electron gun?" If the Copy Protection Technical Working Group gets its way, that is precisely what's going to happen.

I received a piece of email spam today, which actually turned out to be useful (probably the only time that's ever happened anywhere). It directed me to a flat panel display industry group. Among others, one of the links pointed to the California Display Network, which had a link pointing to technical info on flat panel technology. Since I currently earn my living writing graphics card and display drivers, I clicked through to see what I could learn.

I found an entry for an overview of digital visual interfaces, provided by Silicon Image. As I reviewed the headings of the slides, one entry stopped me cold: Conten t Protection Status. Content protection? In a flat panel?? Yup: "Implementation of DVI content protection is suitable for PCs and monitors." [emphasis mine]

Thus began an evening of link clicking and Google searches to find out what this off-handed remark could mean. The slide made mention of the 'CPTWG'. This is the Copy Protection Technical Working Group, a consortium of content providers (movie companies), consumer electronics manufacturers, and players in the IT industry. This is the same group that developed CSS for DVD players.

One paragraph from the above page is particularly disturbing:

CPTWG has focused until now only on "casual piracy [sic]", characterized as what a grandmother can do in her home with her DVD. Piracy [sic] requiring even the level of expertise (and equipment) of her grandson, who might be an EE student, has been excluded from consideration. There is a growing awareness that a broader content protection effort may be necessary.

The most recent meeting of the CPTWG was yesterday, 8 December, 1999. Their meeting announcements may be found here. According to the December meeting announcement, the next meetings will occur on 11 January, 2000, and 9 February, 2000. It costs $100 to attend.

The attendance roster from the November meeting (PDF file, sorry) lists a very interesting, and possibly worrying, mix of organizations. A partial list of representatives included:

• MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America),
• AFMA (American Film Marketing Association),
• Sony Pictures Entertainment,
• Universal Studios,
• Warner Bros.,
• Disney,
• Paramount,
• CEMA (Consumer Electronics Manufacturers Association),
• MEI (parent company to Panasonic), makers of consumer electronics,
• Pioneer, makers of consumer electronics,
• JVC, makers of consumer electronics,
• Philips, makers of consumer electronics and VLSI components (including video encoders),
• Sony, makers of consumer electronics, computers, and displays,
• Toshiba, makers of consumer electronics, computers, flat panels, disk drives, digital cameras, copiers, and laser printers,
• NEC, makers of computers, displays, printers, and telecomm equipment,
• Hewlett Packard, makers of computers, printers, and testing/measuring equipment (oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, etc.),
• Quantum, makers of disk drives,
• IBM, makers of computers, disk drives, and bunches of other stuff,
• Compaq, makers of computers,
• Apple Computer, makers of computers,
• ATI Technologies, makers of PC graphics cards,
• Dolby Labs, creators and licensors of audio enhancement technologies,
• Intel, makers of microprocessors, motherboard controllers, and graphics and peripheral chips,
• Microsoft, software market monopolists,
• Dow Chemical (I have no idea why they're here),
• A number of law firms.

If you download the roster and read closely, you'll see every major piece of your computer represented. There is no doubt that at least one part of your computer -- your CPU, your RAM, your disk drive, your graphics card, your monitor -- is manufactured by one of these companies.

If you look further still, you'll see there are no consumer advocacy groups listed.

What are they all working toward? Quite simply, to prevent you from using your lawfully obtained digital material in any way they don't want.

Here's one example of how they'll do it: If you've visited Fry's or CompUSA recently, you'll notice that full-size flat panel displays are starting to appear. Currently, most of these displays are based on the old VGA analog signals, which are converted into the digital signals needed by the panels. The Digital Display Working Group is working on a new connector and signalling standard called Digital Visual Interface (DVI) that will allow computer displays to go all-digital. You won't need a DAC on the video card; the digital signals will be fed straight through to the display. Image fidelity will be much higher, since there won't be any intervening DAC/ADC conversions. Version 1.0 of the standard has been published and is available for download (PDF format). The DVI spec currently does not stipulate copy protection measures. However, plans are in the works to incorporate it.

Intel is one of the primary contributors to this effort. On Intel's developer site, they have some papers on copy protection for IEEE 1394 (Firewire) digital streams. In two separate articles, 1394-based Digital Content Protection: an Intel Proposal, and Content Protection for IEEE 1394 Serial Buses (the latter being a Powerpoint presentation masquerading as a PDF file), Intel outlines its proposal for protecting digital content over Firewire. By using cryptographic authentication techniques, a device offering digital content will "handshake" with other devices on the bus to assure that digital data is only received by, "compliant devices." In a revised overview of the proposal, IDF Talk: Content Protection for the IEEE 1394 Bus, Intel offers concrete implementation details, including:

• DSS (Digital Signature Standard)
• Diffie-Hellman key exchange for device authentication,
• Blowfish cipher for content encryption, with a keylength of 32-128 bits,
• Digital watermarking techniques to declare "rights" (right to playback, right to copy, etc.) to the receiving device.

The full proposal (currently version 0.91), with lots of technical detail, is mirrored on CPTWG's site (the links to Intel's site don't work).

Intel's proposal also recommends that the copy protection system be field-upgradeable to thwart ongoing attacks, and that it should be possible to revoke (read: disable) a device determined to be "compromised." (The tone of the proposals is also interesting. It's previously been thought that, because of USB, Intel is hostile to IEEE 1394. Yet these proposals suggest that Intel's quite enthusiastic about 1394... Once copy protection is incorporated.)

Intel's proposal mentions only IEEE 1394. However, it also mentions that there's nothing preventing the technique being applied generally to any bi-directional link. So for all occurrences of '1394', substitute 'DVI', and you've got an idea of what to look forward to in your new digital monitor. And your new DVD player. And your new HDTV set. And your new USB speakers.

Intel goes even further in their paper, A Framework for DVD-Audio Content Protection. In it, the author suggests that DVD-Audio recorders permanently remember the IRSC (International Standard Recording Code) of every song the device is asked to copy, so that it may only be copied once, period. They go on to suggest that the recorder could have a modem built-in to authorize (read: purchase) the ability to make additional copies.

In short, through this industry consortium, Hollywood proposes to exert control over every link in the digital chain, from the digital camera, to the disk drive, to the CPU, to the graphics card, to your display. They will decide what rights you have. Even if a court decides Fair Use includes multiple copies for personal use (such as assembling a video montage), it won't matter. Your computer will still refuse to make the copies (and probably fink on you, as well).

This coordinated effort is ostensibly to combat unsanctioned copying (which the industry chronically refers to incorrectly as 'theft' and 'piracy'). However, no one has ever been able to provably quantify the value of unrealized sales due to such copying. All dollar estimates that have been published are just that: estimates, based on idealized extrapolations of what-if scenarios. Moreover, although the industry claims to "lose" billions every year, they continue to post record profits. Finally, despite the proliferation of CDR drives and the Internet, most unrealized sales are the result of organized mass counterfeiting rings, not casual copying. None of the proposed methods I've seen appear to thwart mass counterfeiting at all. So clearly there's some other reason for all this.

The thing that puzzles me most is why the computer and consumer electronics industries haven't told Hollywood to take a hike. Intel's copy protection proposals state, in bold letters, "No content protection = No Hollywood content." This belief is taken as axiomatic by all the players, and appears to be the driving force behind the entire effort. This belief is also false.

Audio on CDs are recorded as plaintext, and the music industry continues to earn rapacious profits. Even the with the advent of CDRs, no music industry executive in his right mind would suggest dropping CD sales and going strictly with cassettes and vinyl. If nothing else, the manufacturing costs for CDs are lower than those for cassettes and vinyl. Likewise, DVDs are tremendously cheaper to produce than videotapes. Videotape duplication is a labor-intensive process; DVDs can be stamped out automatically. The savings in cost-of-goods alone would more than balance against any unrealized sales from casual copying. Corporate shareholders, always mindful of the bottom line, will also demand that the studios move to the cheaper, higher-quality process, copy protected or not.

The fact is that the computer and electronics firms are in the driver's seat, and are free to dictate how the new digital formats will work. Hollywood will use whatever format becomes popular, whether it has copy protection or not. They may grumble about it, but they'll use it. The economics afford them little choice.

We are only now beginning to explore the social and ethical consequences of a Star Trek-like universe where everything can be infinitely duplcated at zero cost. We have no idea where things will end up. But now is not the time to start erecting electronic walls and imposing artificial scarcity. The ignoble and richly-deserved death of DIVX showed -- fairly unequivocally, I thought -- that consumers want to make free, fair use of their digital media, without interference from outside. I believe its death reinforces the future toward which we've been pushing for centuries: Increased abundance at reduced cost.

Nevertheless, the CPTWG and the organizations supporting it are blindly moving forward. It may turn out it's impossible to dam the ocean, but they're gearing up to give it one hell of a try. We can only hope that the lesson of DIVX will be repeated until it is learned.

Schwab

http://www.panasonic.com/industrial_oem/computer/s torage/dvd-ram/prods/drivers.htm

According to the specs, this DVD-RAM drive doesn't even have a digital out. That sucks, even my CDROM drive has this useful feature.

apparently they withstand tornados and being run over by trucks ..

panasonic's tough book


--

>You can get a 366mhz laptop but I doubt you'll find a 366mhz ruggedised laptop.

http://www.pana sonic.com/computer/notebook/products/toughbook71.h tm