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Commercial DVD Software Comes to Linux
timekillerj writes "Turbolinux launched a new version of it's Linux distribution today. The key feature is the first commercial DVD player, provided by Cyberlink. PowerDVD for Linux supports menu navigation, Dolby Digital sound, subtitles, and more."
Plonk!
I think I'd prefer non-commercial software, please...
So then what happens to DeCSS? IIRC, the main defense of DeCSS was that no Linux player existed. Well... now one exists, but I'm sure people don't want to give up their ability to use open-source alternatives. It will be interesting to see how this plays out.
Old and Busted: DeCSS
New Hotness: Commercial DVD software
Lindows (or Linspire) has one commercial DVD player. It was released more than a year ago. It cost 4.95 for CNR members.
DNA in your Linux: DNALinux
There are already some great players for Linux available (they've been around for ages) but they exist in a legal grey-area.
Remember, just because you bought the DVD and bought the hardware to play it back with doesn't mean you are neccesarily allowed to choose what software you use to play it back!
Ripping an new rectum in the fabric of spacetime.
So, which one is it?
/ LI CENSE
ftp://ftp.turbolinux.com/pub/TurboLinux/LICENSE
END USER LICENSE AGREEMENT
You should carefully read the following terms and conditions of this end user license agreement ("agreement") before installing any of the software stored on the enclosed cd-roms. By installing any of this software, you (and any entity on whose behalf you are acting) are consenting to be bound by this agreement. If you do not agree to all of the terms and conditions of this agreement, do not install any of the software and return all enclosed cd-roms together with their complete packaging to the place of purchase for a full refund.
http://www.turbolinux.com/about/returns.html
Turbolinux will offer an even exchange for damaged media within 30 days of purchase. We regret that we're unable to accept returns for all other opened software.
So, If I don't agree, I can't use the software AND I can't get my money back. I think I'll go rewrite the EULA myself and agree to my version instead.
Well, judging from the first few comments, this is a good thing and a bad thing. A good thing because a commercial company is bothering to support Linux in the first place - forget about the quality of the player (e.g. lack of DeCSS, etc.) but focus on the statement this makes. But it's of course a bad thing as well because this might be the beginning of a trend of having commercial software being stuffed down our throats with each distro. But you know guys - you can't have it both ways: Either Linux remains a 'geek OS' or we'll have to deal with the Macromedia's and RealPlayer's of this world. Always be careful what you wish for ;-)
In plain English, that's Samba.
So are Slashdotters going to thank the MPAA for addressing one of the Linux community's concerns? Nope, they're going to piss and moan about what's wrong with this particular piece of software.
I'd submit that this is a big reason why software companies don't want to embrace the Linux market. No matter how good the software they produce is, Linux users aren't going to be happy unless it's free (speech) and free (beer).
"Ask not what your country can do for you." --John F. Kennedy
You people who are whining that you actually have to pay for something need to get off your high horses. If you ever want to see anything supported in Linux in some fashion you need to pay for it.
It's this same stigma that causes companies to not build software for Linux because they think Linux users dont want to pay for anything.
If you really think it's such a bad thing to have to pay for a commercial dvd player. Think if you pay for it and Linux becomes very popular that you will see a free version shipped on the dvd's themselves so you can watch it on Linux. This is how it is for Windows. Most dvd's you buy come with free player software.
Can I just get the DVD software from CyberLink? I can't find a thing on their site on Linux PowerDVD. I don't really want a new OS, though I wouldn't mind having the legal DVD player.
Mathematics is made of 50 percent formulas, 50 percent proofs, and 50 percent imagination.
Its 69 dollar for Turbolinux not for PowerDVD.
It is like Acrobat Reader or Realplayer for Linux.
DeCSS was basically a reverse engineered copy of the decryption portion of a dvd player, not to mention using a key.
To join the group, besides paying $$$, you have to agree to all sorts of rules about player operation like listening to the force play flag, macrovision, and region coding. Oh, and not disclosing some of the specifications (they're a trade secret).
I don't read AC A human right
Linux users aren't going to be happy unless it's free (speech) and free (beer).
You're making no sense. Linux users don't want everything free, they just don't want to pay twice over.
I bought my DVDs, with hard-earned cash, and they most definitely weren't free. I'll be blowed if I'm going to pay again, just to be "allowed" to play them on my own computer.
"The question of whether machines can think is no more interesting than [] whether submarines can swim" - Dijkstra
PowerDVD was first announced on Linux in 2000. See this article in the Register:
y ba ck_on_linux_just/
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2000/08/18/dvd_pla
To my knowledge, they have never released it for end-users to buy/download.
However, in 2001 I purchased a ThinkPad T22 from IBM pre-loaded with Linux and it had PowerDVD installed. The software required some funky thinkpad driver to be installed or it could not playback. I long ago dumped that distribution (caldera) and now Xine/mplayer et al run just fine on the same thinkpad without any special drivers.
Most people don't buy their DVD software anyways, well, not directly at least. They get it from the OEM when they order a PC or DVD drive.
Cyberlink is (IMO) trying to position itself as the only choice for legitimate dvd software for those OEMs now offering Linux PCs. If they find this move profitable it could encourage other companies to produce linux software as well.
Once upon a time, a gallant InterVideo boasted a proposition to release LinDVD. LinDVD, being a port of their WinDVD software for Linux, during a time when the legalities were clouded and MPAA stomped through the land.
If there was a time, to justify a commerical DVD player for the OpenSource community, InterVideo dropped the ball years ago. Why buy PowerDVD? Some might take this and use it as an example, right or wrong, to prove a point of how inefficient, slow, backwards and ignorant todays management techniques are. I firmly believe Xine is just as good as any of the highest priced DVD players for Windows/Mac. Why isn't it? It navigates DVD menus, it plays the movies well. For such a software package, that's it everything else will just sit infront of the movie and be annoying, like some child in the back seat asking "are we there yet?" over and over again.
All the money companies spend. It's a waste, they spend billions trying to keep up with social trends, billions trying to predict market progress, all down the toilet.
That most; if not all DVD playing software on any platform ; from any company; closed or open source. Insists on making their gui's look like the front of a set-top dvd player?Do they not always look ugly and out of place? No single dvd playing software seems to spend enough time on getting the gui right. I know stuff like Xine and MPlayer are skinnable (and others probably) but invariably they default to a nasty rendition of the front of a dvd player. Id like to see more time spent on a cleaner, simpler interface with buttons that are simple to understand. For example; take a look at the powerdvd screenshot. WTF are all those icons for ?
Nick...
Electronic Music Made Using Linux http://soundcloud.com/polyp
I think PowerDVD is fantastic, I use it under Windows.
speaking of which, Windows just lost its major feature for me - DVD playback. (I know about DeCSS, I want legal solutions and don't care about money)
if I weren't addicted to Virtual Pool 3 MS would be dead to me.
Let's be a bit more precise, since being precise is rather important in legal matters..
What the norwegian court found (in Norwegian) was:
"DVD-Jon" did not have the intention to promote piracy, but to enable playing on Linux, and enable making back-ups of his DVDs.
The court also found that there is a fair-use right to a backup copy. They also found that licenses voiding this right were unenforcable.
They also found that the reverse-engineering done by "the nomad" (not Jon himself) was done in order to obtain interoperability, and thus legal under Norwegian and European (91/250/EEC, article 6) law.
Hence, they found that decrypting DVDs using this information aquired through reverse-engineering in order to create backup-copies was legal.
Basically what I'm saying here, is that from the verdict, it is not clear that he would've been found innocent if the procecution had been able to prove he had created DeCSS with the intent to enable piracy.
So you can't generalize the ruling into "Decrypting DVD's is not illegal in Norway".
The wide availability of free open source software has spoiled a lot of us. I mean...when it comes down to it, I don't LIKE to pay for software, because I don't have a lot of money. However, if I see a product that I like, and also works well, I don't mind paying for it.
Case in point: I use FreeBSD, and I have a SBLive 5.1 sound card, with a SPDIF output. If I were in Windows, Creative's drivers allow me to use the SPDIF output without any trouble. However, FreeBSD's stock pcm driver, while adequate, doesn't support SPDIF output on the 4-STABLE kernel tree. I routinely had to switch between analog and digital output for sound.
I'd used oss in Linux a while back, so I downloaded the FreeBSD build and gave it a whirl. The trial copy worked great, so I bought a license.
Granted, I didn't want to spend any money, but it did exactly what I wanted it to do, and some. So I consider that a worthwhile investment.
I think it's understandable to have reservations about paying money for software owned by Big Evil Corporations(tm), because you don't want to feed the beast. However, when it comes to development on open source and free open source platforms, if the developers aren't getting paid, new features aren't going to be appearing magically. Having software that's free (in terms of beer and speech) may mean that you don't have to pay MONEY for it, but you still should be contributing something.
For my part, I can't write code for crap. I've made several attempts to learn C, but they generally result in disaster. Since I can't contribute patches back to developers, I don't mind buying boxed copies of the software, or books, to help pay for development.
Anyone else notice the OS requirements? Seems like bloated software to me.
Operating System hardware requirements:
PC/AT Compatible hardware
CPU: Pentium III, 1.0Ghz or greater recommended
Memory: 512MB recommended
Hard Drive: IDE / SCSI HDD (5GB available space (recommended)
Video Card: VGA or greater
Mouse: USB, PS/2 mouse
Misc: 3.5" floppy drive, CD-ROM drive (IDE ATAPI/SCSI), Ethernet card
Looks like my old PIII @ 500 Mhz and 512MB RAM might not be able to run this.
The last time I priced comercial DVD software, it cost more to buy it than the DVD players it comes with (around $50 for the software, I can find a cheap DVD player in town for $40). If the software used complex deinterlacing algorythyms that made the images looks as nice as it does on a good TV I wouldn't mind (I watch a lot of anime, and what's with all these movies I'm seeing interlaced lately?). But they don't look any better than Xine/mplayer (latest versions of both of cousre).
Offtopic side note: This is one of my Windows pet peaves. For $200 dollars, you'd think Microsoft could include a bloody DVD decoder. But to be fair, I guess they've got enough antitrust problems to deal with.
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