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"We want this device to be in your TV, your stereo system, your DVD player.'"

Kinda like this?

It's not necessarily bad to be second. First-place sometimes gets the arrow in the chest. And you duck the incoming. But media server? In my DVD player? Well, maybe right after you make a remote that works, and we find a way past the CableCard fiasco. Until then, I welcome our alien Hulu-spewing overlords. That has promise.

ps - Sorry for the PDF. I'm feeling retro this weekend.

I've been on both sides of this argument. In the early days of the unixodbc effort, a programmer working at Borland released his code, but wasn't clear on the license or lack of license. A team of us who'd picked up his code - mainly Brian Jepson http://www.jepstone.net/ - asked which license he explicitly wanted to release his code. He elected to use GPL and give it to the FSF (Stallman). For a short period of time, very short, this seemed ok, until we actually read the GPL. I was using this code in an unreleased commercial product, so this wasn't good. We had to convince RMS to change the license from GPL to LGPL, which really made the most sense for an ODBC driver manager. After much though it was changed to LGPL and my product continued forward. This choice made many ODBC Driver providers nervous, so they created their own version, but remained backwards compatible with unixodbc. If we had to, we would have written our own ODBC driver manager from the specifications and ate the cost as part of our total development costs. This commercial product was used by less than 10,000 people world-wide.

I also own a TiVo - unhacked. The TivoToGo capabilities do mostly what I want, but it would be nice to not have to deal with DRM in the .tivo files at all. I suspect Tivo is used by over 1M people and if the DRM couldn't be circumvented, about 10% of them would be really mad. The other 90% are sheep and won't take the time/effort to bother with TTG. GPLv3 will help all the tivo users, should the tivo company elect to migrate to newer GNU/Linux code released under GPLv3. That is their choice.

I also own a Divx/DVD player. The company that released the product http://www.mecotek.com/ was caught violating the GPL (xvid) and rather than release the source code, they elected to go out of business - that's what it appears to me. The real problem began with Sigma Designs http://www.sigmadesigns.com/ using GPL code in their "reference implementation." I feel screwed - the product could be extended, except for the manufacturing company. That sucks.

In summary, any company that builds their business on GPL code shouldn't expect that many of the users wouldn't also desire to tinker or replace their code completely. That should be highly expected - I look for products that use GPL code for exactly that reason. All in all, I'm in favor of GPL-based products that I'm allowed to tweak. I'm also in favor of companies that chose not to support any product that has been taken beyond the original firmware. That is also their choice.

Hello,

I don't think TI did anything which hasn't already been done. I work at Sigma Designs and we have developed several DSP chipsets which run Linux. We use ARM/MIPS as host and DSP for video/audio decoding. Our chips are used in Set-top boxes and Digital Media Players. We have been one of the leaders in this field for over five years.

Check out http://www.sigmadesigns.com/

Thank you,
Michael Uman
Sr. Software Engineer, System tools
Sigma Designs

MPAA DVD FAQ

[quote]
Some computer users say they only want to use DeCSS to view their DVDs on computers that use the Linux operating system. Windows- and Macintosh-based computers can play DVDs, so is it fair to deprive the Linux community?

The Linux argument is a false issue. It has always been in the interest of the Motion Picture industry that there be as many legitimately licensed DVD players as possible, including those using non-Windows operating systems. However the argument that DeCSS was written for Linux players is simply false. The De-CSS utility was written for Windows-based software, not Linux.

Also, the development of two, separate, licensed DVD players for Linux systems - which use the CSS system - were recently announced. Sigma Designs (www.sigmadesigns.com) and InterVideo Inc. (www.intervideo.com) both announced the roll-out of LICENSED, LEGAL Linux-based DVD players.
[quote]

SO they claim the purpose of DeCSS is for copying movies on windows, not for simply viewing them on Linux, intersting..

This may go the way of the MPEG accelerator card of the mid-90s

Ok, but during that 2 year window of opportunity, when every gamer wants a physics processor add-on to eek out another 5 FPS, I think they'd still want to milk it for every dollar they can get... Just ask the people who invented the Hollywood DVD PCI card... It almost quadrupled their stock value back in 1994, you have to believe they made some money off of it.

I have hundreds of DVD discs lying around. For a while I've been pondering what it would take to build a networked video server, Audiotron for video, recently I finally got it working. The objective was to be able to play DVD's seamlessly from a server share, by seamlessly I mean complete with menus, extras etc., with high quality video and digital sound. Several STB DVD players play files over ethernet but this is usually mpeg4 or DivX, not DVD quality mpeg2. In theory a 100Mbit LAN should have enough bandwidth since DVD's video stream is at most 9Mbit, the most difficult part was putting together a quiet client machine capable of generating a good quality analog video signal. I ended up buying a cheap ($400) Dell Poweredge machine on ebay, it's practically silent, this is important since it sits beside the TV. For DVD decoding I'm using something called the XCard (http://www.sigmadesigns.com/products/xcard.htm), it decodes video and outputs digital audio. On the software side I am using TVedia (http://www.8dim.com/default.asp?linkid=vcdhelp), it generates menus on the TV to access media on the LAN. It also works quite well with the XCard, which comes with a serial port IR remote sensor. I can play DVD's by picking the title from a menu or search previously entered metadata such as director/genre etc. When I select a movie the DVD starts as if it were in the drive, the only real difference is it is much faster to jump between chapters and menus.

The system is limited only by storage. So far I have over 100 DVD's on the server. It's very cool to be able to pick a movie using the remote and play it instantly, no discs, no jewel cases and most importantly no exhausting roundtrips from the armchair to the DVD player. The system also decodes DivX (in hardware) and a few other formats, which means I can download clips/movies and display them on the big screen.

It seems that in the race to support more formats and features, quality is forgotten. A lot of my friends that bought players that play DivX, XviD and other permutations complain that their playback quality of regular MPEG-2 DVDs is lower than their older players.

Let's hope that the upcoming players based on the Sigma Designs' new EM8620L chip will be better than the current bunch.

I have hundreds of DVD discs lying around. For a while I've been pondering what it would take to build a
networked video server, recently I finally got it working. The objective
was to be able to play DVD's seamlessly from a server share, by seamlessly I
mean complete with menus, extras etc., with high quality video and digital
sound. In theory a 100Mbit LAN should have enough bandwidth since DVD's
video stream is at most 9Mbit, the most difficult part was putting together
a quiet client machine capable of generating a good quality analog video
signal. I ended up buying a cheap ($400) Dell Poweredge machine on ebay,
it's practically silent, this is important since it sits beside the TV. For
DVD decoding I'm using something called the XCard
(http://www.sigmadesigns.com/products/xcard .htm), it decodes video and
outputs digital audio. On the software side I am using TVedia
(http://www.8dim.com/default.asp?linkid=vc dhelp), it generates menus on the
TV to access media on the LAN. It also works quite well with the XCard,
which comes with a serial port IR remote sensor. To make a DVD playable from
the network I use DVDDecrypter to create an iso image and daemon tools to
mount the image on a virtual drive, TVedia can then play the "disc" as if it
was in the local machine's drive. The system is pretty neat if I do say so
myself. I picked up a couple of Maxtor 250G drives from Frys, that's about
50-100 DVDs online. In theory I could stick another cheap PC in the bedroom
and have access to the movie collection there also.

Anyone using any of the Kiss Technology DivX/DVD players. These and all other Sigma Designs reference platforms based DVD/DivX players run uCLinux. So there are lots of people watching DVD's at their home who have no idea that their DVD player is running uCLinux. There is nothing "amazing" about uClinux, It's just Linux running on CPU's without MMU. ...And without MMU, any application can crash the system. Therefore you have to write every app as carefully as you would write a kernel module.

There seems to be no indication of this on Sigma's website, but I filled out an inquiry on their site a few days ago, just to see. No response yet...

I've been researching chipsets for digital TV. Here are my links to current hardware products:

STMicroelectronics System on Chip (2) Get Linux here
ATI Xilleon 220 (Products)
Sigma Designs Digital Media Processors (Products)
IBM PowerPC405 STBxx (Zarlink [2], Araneo)
Texas Instruments DM642 DSP (i3 Mood Box , X-Designs Flikit + Softier MediaLinux)
NEC EMMArchitecture2 (Galaxis + LinuxTV , PRISMIQ + Linux)
Equator Technologies BSP-15 boards
Via CN400 (Mini-ITX Board), PM800 and PM880 (w/ HDTV for Pentium 4) , ShowShifter HMN, Soyo Multimedia Ready Motherboard (with TV Tuner, $129.99)
Toshiba TX System RISC (MontaVista Linux)
Windows chipsets:
Intel 815 VisionPlus terrestrial box (Korean OEM)
AMD Geode (CoCom)
ARM (Samsung, etc.)
Digeo X-Stream (Paul Allen company)

does it matter if the codec isn't used commercially?

It doesn't matter.

In fact at one point, Sigma Designs was caught stealing Xvid code for their hardware players

Sunny Dubey

If you're not terribly worried about price (which I'd assume you aren't, since you're willing to invest in 1TB worth of storage just for movies), I may have a solution. The Sigma Designs Xcard is an MPEG decoder card that A) delivers superb picture quality over compsite, component, and S-Video B) can decode MPEG4 video such as Divx and Xvid in hardware and C) With the help of a piece of software called JovePlayer it can playback DVD image files, and can also act as a PVR system.

Assuming he doesn't mind running Windows:

Buy the XCard - it will playback divx and mpg, but it does it in hardware so even a slow computer can serve movies(Specifically it plays Plays DVD-Video, Superbit DVD, Super VideoCD (SVCD), and VideoCD (VCD) 1.x, 2.0, DivX , MPEG-4, MPEG-2 and MPEG-1 files, Play NTSC titles on PAL televisions, PAL titles on NTSC televisions )
Composite, s-video, scart rgb, s/Pdif outputs.

Then you should buy JovePlayer - this is a player dedicated to work with the Xcard. Your basic "Home Theater Software", it displays its menu interface on the TV screen (and is skinnable btw, so if you want it to look like StarTreks LCARS, you probably could) - if you have a faster machine it offers the ablity to reencode video formats that the XCard doesn't support nativly (such as RealAudio, Windows media - and straight from web pages if you like).

Then you just fit your "home theater" machine, with harddrives with your content, pop in CD's, or mount network shares and navigate with JovePlayer (and the remote) to the desired folder and click on the relevant IFO file. It will play back as a normal DVD, (because in essense it is a normal DVD, you might just have relocated it) -via the remote you can navigate the DVD Menus, change soundtracks, page through subtitles etc. You can bookmark specific places and make playlists as well :)

They WILL be at CES. Have at 'em. Don't rant and rave at them, just point out their errors in a kind and gentle but stern tone.

They WILL be at CES. Have at 'em. Don't rant and rave at them, just point out their errors in a kind and gentle but stern tone.

>DVD don't have processors as such

Exactly. Instead, the logic for the DVD menus and the MPEG decoding are handled by cheerful little hedgehogs that live inside the DVD player.

From http://www.sigmadesigns.com/news/press_releases/03 0521.htm:
"The EM8500 is designed around the system-on-chip concept with an internal 150 Mhz RISC CPU"

In this context, of course, RISC stands for "Rodents in Spiny Coats."

This is probably a good player. But it's just another incarnation of the Sigma Designs DVD kit.
See: Sigma Designs DVD Kits
And remember that Sigma Designs hasn't been too forthcoming with the OSS Community?
DivX Networks Press Release
XVID also has comments (look for "Sigma")
Anyway, there are several players out there already using these kits.
KISS Technology
Revoy -- to name a couple.
I bought one of these players myself (the KISS DP-500) and they are great, but still full of little bugs and the community is just building now to get into the GPL part of the source - just not sure how much of it we will be able to modify and now much will remain closed-source.
Here is a community of KISS owners so you can see what types of issues people are dealing with on these Sigma players.

Just ignore the flash if you can't view it

I'm not trying to "FUD" you around with region codes. It was extremely UNCLEAR as to what didn't work for you (in your statement from your post) and I thought you might be referring to the DRM in the program (PowerDVD) causing the problem.

I have never had any problems with PowerDVD playing store-bought DVD's (I've never had the chance to try any copied ones so I was curious if its DRM somehow detects them and crashes on purpose) on any systems I've used... personally, I've switched primarily to a hardware DVD decoder by Sigma Systems...

My computer is more than quick enough to do the software DVD decoding but I get almost no processor hit using the hardware DVD decoder (I've actually rendered 3D video at the same time as watching a DVD (or two) with no additional time taken in the rendering process... since my PC is my only DVD player, I prefer not to lose that functionality when rendering 3D video projects (that takes many hours)).

A compromise might be Sigma Designs REALmagic XCard it's a 'multimedia playback card' - you can watch it on your PC if you like, but you don't have to. The point is to watch stuff on the tv. It can play DVD's, Divx, Mpeg4, Mpeg3,mpeg2, mpeg1. For outputs it has S/PDIF, S-Video, RGB, VGA and Composite. You run a player on the computer which sends the movie to the card, ie, you are not sending your computer picture, but the movie directly, so you can use your computer for something else while its playing. Included is a little infrared detector and a remote, so if you don't want to sit at the computer and control playback (using the player app), you can lounge around in your sofa and remote control it. Kinda a nifty.

Uhh...you realize that you just described a DVD decoder card, right? They've been around for at least 5 years. try Creative's DxR3 or Sigma Designs' Hollywood cards.

Well firstly your solution presumes that one's time is free: If you put a value on the hours you spend putting the system together, configuring all of the software, etc, suddenly it isn't economical. Rather than seeing it as a hobbyist, think "If I were to go into business making these for other people, what would I charge?". I suspect that you'd be surprized. Of course on top of all of that is the expense and availability issues in finding a "stereo component" sized computer case that integrates into an AV system (no dropping a giant beige case sputtering away with a dozen fans isn't viable).

Secondarily, it's highly likely that they're using one of the new Sigma Designs chipsets, the new one which includes some Divx support. Indeed if I were to build a PC based playback device (the only thing holding me back is the case, as previously mentioned. For fans I'd reduce that by using a Via C3 with passive cooling), I'd base it around a Sigma Designs XCard.

Well firstly your solution presumes that one's time is free: If you put a value on the hours you spend putting the system together, configuring all of the software, etc, suddenly it isn't economical. Rather than seeing it as a hobbyist, think "If I were to go into business making these for other people, what would I charge?". I suspect that you'd be surprized. Of course on top of all of that is the expense and availability issues in finding a "stereo component" sized computer case that integrates into an AV system (no dropping a giant beige case sputtering away with a dozen fans isn't viable).

Secondarily, it's highly likely that they're using one of the new Sigma Designs chipsets, the new one which includes some Divx support. Indeed if I were to build a PC based playback device (the only thing holding me back is the case, as previously mentioned. For fans I'd reduce that by using a Via C3 with passive cooling), I'd base it around a Sigma Designs XCard.

Releasing the affected code under the GPL is lip service?
No, it's exactly what is supposed to happen.

They are probably referring to other things than the actual release. They don't give any credit to XVID. From the press release:

"We are pleased to provide the development community with an open source MPEG-4 CODEC, and anticipate that this will accelerate technical improvements and enhance the proliferation of MPEG-4 content," stated Ken Lowe, Sigma Designs' vice president of business development. (emphasis mine)

It makes you think they did all the work. The download page acknowledges that they "had utilized some routines posted by XVID as open source," but the tone is that they did all the hard work. Which isn't what I came to understand when reading the evindence.

Of course, now we have the source, it'll be interesting to make a more detailed study on how much code was copied.

Releasing the affected code under the GPL is lip service?
No, it's exactly what is supposed to happen.

They are probably referring to other things than the actual release. They don't give any credit to XVID. From the press release:

"We are pleased to provide the development community with an open source MPEG-4 CODEC, and anticipate that this will accelerate technical improvements and enhance the proliferation of MPEG-4 content," stated Ken Lowe, Sigma Designs' vice president of business development. (emphasis mine)

It makes you think they did all the work. The download page acknowledges that they "had utilized some routines posted by XVID as open source," but the tone is that they did all the hard work. Which isn't what I came to understand when reading the evindence.

Of course, now we have the source, it'll be interesting to make a more detailed study on how much code was copied.

They do appear to have made the source code available anyways. Much ado about nothing. That'll teach them to allow their employees to have any interactions with GPL code in the future, as now their own code has been infected. :-) Okay, that was just a troll, but there is a kernel of truth in it.

From their Investor Relations Contact page:

Brenda Balingit
Manager, Investor Relations
Sigma Designs, Inc.
ir@sdesigns.com
Tel: 408.957.9891
Fax: 408.957.9729

In any case, they didn't changed the licence for the binaries:

You may NOT modify, prepare derivative works of, rent, lease, distribute, sublicense, sell or transfer the Software or any part thereof

Actually, Sigma Designs is a Gook company.

Blockquoth the poster:

what the hell are you gonna use the cpu cycles for? CPUs are getting faster and faster, and since processor intensive tasks are getting exported to cards what the hell do you need your cpu for.

The point is not to free up CPU cycles, it's to make video playable on older systems that have slower CPUs. This is one thing I object to in the review: they used a Duron 650 system, which is still pretty decent -- sure, it's not top of the line by a long shot, but Durons pack some decent power. I've got a couple of Duron 700 systems, both of which play back DivX perfectly without one of these cards. That's only 50 Mhz faster than the test system in the review.

The reviewer says in the conclusion, "Even with an Intel Pentium II/300 it is now possible to play a Divx-MPEG-4 film in full-screen mode smoothly." I'd like to see some actual tests to back that up. If true, it could be a boon to many people. My brother, for example, claims that his P II 266 does everything he wants it to -- except play back DivX smoothly. He's been thinking of getting a new box, but he can't really afford it right now. If this card could let him squeeze another year or two out of his aging comp, that would be a sound investment, since he doesn't really want or need a whole new system.

As it stands, however, the review doesn't really test out the card's usefulness on aging hardware. There are some other reviews listed on Sigma's Xcard website, but Tom's is the only English-language web-accessible one. There are several citations for reviews in hardcopy magazines, but the only other web-accessible reviews are in Japanese. (Handy if you speak Japanese.) The specifications say that it'll work with any Intel or AMD processor with a clock speed of 200 Mhz or higher. Anybody know of some other reviews?

Blockquoth the poster:

what the hell are you gonna use the cpu cycles for? CPUs are getting faster and faster, and since processor intensive tasks are getting exported to cards what the hell do you need your cpu for.

The point is not to free up CPU cycles, it's to make video playable on older systems that have slower CPUs. This is one thing I object to in the review: they used a Duron 650 system, which is still pretty decent -- sure, it's not top of the line by a long shot, but Durons pack some decent power. I've got a couple of Duron 700 systems, both of which play back DivX perfectly without one of these cards. That's only 50 Mhz faster than the test system in the review.

The reviewer says in the conclusion, "Even with an Intel Pentium II/300 it is now possible to play a Divx-MPEG-4 film in full-screen mode smoothly." I'd like to see some actual tests to back that up. If true, it could be a boon to many people. My brother, for example, claims that his P II 266 does everything he wants it to -- except play back DivX smoothly. He's been thinking of getting a new box, but he can't really afford it right now. If this card could let him squeeze another year or two out of his aging comp, that would be a sound investment, since he doesn't really want or need a whole new system.

As it stands, however, the review doesn't really test out the card's usefulness on aging hardware. There are some other reviews listed on Sigma's Xcard website, but Tom's is the only English-language web-accessible one. There are several citations for reviews in hardcopy magazines, but the only other web-accessible reviews are in Japanese. (Handy if you speak Japanese.) The specifications say that it'll work with any Intel or AMD processor with a clock speed of 200 Mhz or higher. Anybody know of some other reviews?

Not sure about the server side of things. Doesn't have a DVD drive or CD player, but hey consumer DVD/VCD players are cheap. Most do mp3 as well.

Put a (or three) tunner card at the back end on the file server and your got something to replace your Tivo.

I guess the main issue to sort out with this is how the IR/ keyboard control interface would interact with the server backend. Since the unit is running linux it might be easily configable.

• Celeron 900, 40x cdrom, 19" case: $200
• Decent mobo: $120
• 40 gig 7200 rpm Maxtor: $140
• Liteon DVD drive: $100
• TNT2 w/ TV out: $40
• Realmagic Xcard for 5.1 DVD, DIVX, VCD and SVCD playback: $170
• S-video cable from radioshack: $12
• Creative Inspire 5.1 speakers/remotecontrol/receiver setup: $450
• Hotrod Se for mame Street Fighter: $200
• Two Thrustmaster USB gamepads for snes/nes/genesis emulation: $70
• SB Live 5.1 value: $45
• Sony Wega 27" TV (no hdtv): $900

Time spent putting it together and tweaking the hardware: 20 or so hours.

Am I happy/satisfied? Fuck yeah.

You want the Sigma Designs Hollywood plus Shaky drivers, can't handle shared IRQs at all, but very nice performance once it's set up properly. It was the only affordable option I found after quite a lot of searching. I got mine on ebay for $30. Makes watching buffy season 3 a lot nicer than FX ;-)

I've been looking for something similar.

Basically: ethernet in, audio/video out (Dolby Digital 5.1 audio and progresive scan component video would be nice), from a streamed MPEG2 source.

The problem is the "oomph" required to do MPEG2 decoding -- this usually dictates a CPU with enough horsepower to need active cooling. However, if you look at the RealMagic Netstream 2000 by Sigma Designs, you'll find a PCI MP@ML MPEG2 TS and ES decoder card that does not require active cooling and works with a lowly P133.

One can imagine a settop box based on this combination that would fit the bill. It gets better... there is such a beast, and it runs on Linux: The VIP30306n. This little puppy uses the Sigma Designs em8400 MPEG2 chip... the same one as in the RealMagic Netstream2000.

The downside is price: the Netstream2000 runs around US$220, and I'd expect that the GCT Allwell box would be US$500 or so.

It is from Sigma Designs. They make PC cards, too, but none yet with this particular chip. And, oh, yes, they support Linux. Read the specs, though.

No official player on any platform will perform a screenshot.

Secondly, the Netstream2000 is over $2000 and is for commercial use only. You probably couldn't get one even if you had the money to burn.

Wrong! The Netstream2000 is $240.00 not $2000.00, I know I bought mine from insight.com. It is fully supported, t.v. out & video overlay, it is based on the EM8400 chip which does all decoding in hardware. The EM8300 (H+/DXR3)only decodes video, audio & css are done in software. Plus the Netstream2000 is not a commercial use only product just commercial grade.

you should know what you are talking about before you open your mouth and stick your foot into it. DVD decoder that works in linux and it legal.

Does NTSC/PAL/SECAM conversion to NTSC/PAL/SECAM (A multisystem DVD! A GREAT way to watch unapproved MPAA versions of movies!) Oh, and all the little apps to set region free or of your choice, Macrovision disabling, etc.

Only downside is I have to use Windows 98, but a Linux driver is in beta (altough Windows is amazingly stable when you only install the DVD software and Winamp on it...)

I have the Netstream2000 from sigmadesigns, and yes it does do streaming video, but when you download the linux drivers, they come with a few apps to acually watch a DVD movie on your computer, the bunk part is to use it in linux you MUST buy the remotecontrol. The video overlay is very nice, and the tv out is very nice as well. The program miniplayer that comes with the drivers is the program that allows video overlay otherwise the default is tv-out. If you want DVD in linux and you want an awsome picture, this is defenitly the card to buy!

There is quite a lot of specialized hardware out there, but you'll likely need to write your own drivers in most cases. Sigma does offer some kind of Linux compatibility - they have a workstation/reference design that claims to support Linux.

Sigma Designs
Darim
Optibase


Good luck.

Anyway, for those who can afford the card, the beta player is available for download right from Sigma Designs. It's primitive so far, and only supports piping out to a TV set, not direct on-monitor play, and I haven't actually had the chance to get it working so I can't say much about whether it actually does--but it is a true licensed Linux DVD solution.
--

Sigma Designs has a DVD player for Linux that is available right now. You can get it at:

http://www.sigmadesigns.com/d ownload_ns2000_linux.htm.

The FAQ is at http://www.sigmadesigns.com/faq_linux.htm .

However, this driver only works for the NetStream 2000 card, not their popular Hollywood Plus card (which is very similar to the Creative Labs DXR3). Also, it is pretty much a command-line thing at the moment, but I'm sure somebody could make nice graphical wrappers for it.

The important bits are closed source, because of the CSS issue, but they include sample code for interfacing with the MPEG2 driver and some other useful things.


Torrey Hoffman (Azog)

Sigma Designs has a DVD player for Linux that is available right now. You can get it at:

http://www.sigmadesigns.com/d ownload_ns2000_linux.htm.

The FAQ is at http://www.sigmadesigns.com/faq_linux.htm .

However, this driver only works for the NetStream 2000 card, not their popular Hollywood Plus card (which is very similar to the Creative Labs DXR3). Also, it is pretty much a command-line thing at the moment, but I'm sure somebody could make nice graphical wrappers for it.

The important bits are closed source, because of the CSS issue, but they include sample code for interfacing with the MPEG2 driver and some other useful things.


Torrey Hoffman (Azog)

Sigma Designs (makers of the Hollywood+ DVD decoder cards) has released a driver for their NetStream 2000 card for Linux here. These drivers apparently include source code according to their FAQ. Of course, this is not a big deal because the "interesting" parts of a DVD player are implemented in hardware. Someone is also working on a DVD player application built around this driver, though it is not clear how far along that project is.

Sigma Designs (makers of the Hollywood+ DVD decoder cards) has released a driver for their NetStream 2000 card for Linux here. These drivers apparently include source code according to their FAQ. Of course, this is not a big deal because the "interesting" parts of a DVD player are implemented in hardware. Someone is also working on a DVD player application built around this driver, though it is not clear how far along that project is.

Then why hasn't the MPAA/DVDCCA authorized any Linux/OSS developers to use CSS?

Actually if you read the DVDCCA FAQ you'll find that Sigma Designs has plans and a license to make a Linux DVD player. Non open-source, but it's something anyway.

God bless america, land of the free.

The platform doesn't matter... by buying a DVD I have the legal right to view the DVD, period. They don't mince words about platforms, and I don't care if they happen to have a problem with watching them on Linux.

Unfortunately, you're wrong. You do not have the legal right to view the DVD "period." You only have the right to view it on licensed players. There are two licensed players under developement for Linux, (Sigma Designs and Intervideo) but in the meantime playing it on unlicensed players, on any platform, is illegal. Read the MPAA Press Releases under the FAQ.

It doesn't matter to me whether it is legal or not. I pay for a DVD, I am going to watch it. Are they going to lock me up for that?

No, I highly doubt it. It sounds very dramatic when you say that, but I suspect the most they would do is fine you. I don't blame you, I just want you to realize that it is illegal. I don't claim that it's immoral.