He said limited beta, as in not making a lot of advertisement and cartoons and whatnot. They tried to make it sound like the best since sliced bread, and when people found flaws and problems the hype died down.
Besides, Google DOES seem to have another meaning of beta than you do. See e.g. Google Earth (beta), Google mail (beta) (which is over 4 years and most definitely in production use through the Google Apps product).
Keep in mind that ATI:s development cycle for a given driver spans over 2-3 months, with the last month for testing (i.e. no new features). 2.6.23 was released less than two weeks ago. I think it is better they say that they don't support 2.6.23, wait to the 8.43 driver and make things correct right away, instead of rushing support and testing which would remove resources from other stuff.
Just because someone releases a new version of a software it doesn't mean that all those that use it must support it right away.
It could also be that the size of the antenna needed for AM would require an increase in the size of the iPod.
Yeah, that is probably part of the reason since AM requires quite long antennas to give good reception. Usually the cable for the headphones double as an FM antenna in portable devices, which is sufficient. But in small AM receivers there has usually been a ferrite bar antenna which would take a lot of precious room in an iPod.
But I couldn't care less for AM support, since I don't know a single station here, but FM support could be useful.
I was under the impression that the receivers didn't handle 1080p, since no receiver has ever claimed it in the specs. However, when I now look at one of the specs for one set-top box, it says "MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 HP@L4" which would mean it could support 1920x1080 in 30 fps at max 25 Mbps if I read Wikipedia correctly. But it would output it in 1080i probably. So probably I was wrong then.
Sure. We may have DVB across most of Europe, but try to find a box which supports pay-tv all over Europe (except Dreambox perhaps, but they are not licensed). Many program distributors lock down the box to only work with their own network, even if there exists CI (Common Interface, kinda like Cablecard) modules that support the competitors encryption. I bet the PS3 won't handle pay-tv because of that. Even freeview may not work in all countries because of small differences in transmissions.
Also we have the MPEG-2/H.264 debacle. Many countries started with only MPEG-2. Then HDTV came along and with that H.264. Now some countries which are about to start transmissions will use ONLY H.264 (e.g. Norway). Almost all tv:s with built in DVB-T are only capable of MPEG-2 though.
So it's not just Utopia over here all the time (although GSM was a Really Good Thing).
Here in Sweden a PS3 is selling for about 6300 SEK, which translates to about $940 USD. WITHOUT GAMES!
That is however including our 25% VAT, which means that without tax it costs about $752 USD. That's STILL $150, or 25%, more than the US price BEFORE the price drop. And I guess we won't see this pricedrop here until earliest around christmas.
No wonder that there has never been any problems getting a PS3 in a store here since it was released, but the Wii was sold out for about 6-7 months.
something like Europe's DVB CAM standards which are a better trade-off between allowing broadcasters to encrypt copyrighted material+ and allowing consumers to watch the material as they please once they've paid for it.
Actually, some content providers (at least in Sweden) are starting to screw us consumers by implementing their specific encryption algorithms in only "approved" boxes. So, a DVB-S (satellite) box sold by one program distributor is no longer able to receive programs from another distributor, although they are using the exact same transmission standard. Up until recently this was solved by purchasing a CA module that you put in your box to handle the other distributors encryption system, but now they refuse to sell those (even though they previously agreed to the NORDIG agreement to provide CI slots and CA modules to all boxes). Having two different boxes to be able to watch channels from both providers is not very practical, but that is how it is now.
To make matters worse, the smart cards are now also locked to a SPECIFIC receiver, which means that you cannot have, for example, one box at home, and one in the summer house, and only take the card with you. You must now bring the whole box!
I hope the European Commision will bring this up soon, since it has been threatening to create rules for interoperability if the industry did not achieve this themselves within the last few years, if I remember correctly.
Strange, since the record low in Calgary is -45C (-49F) in 1893.
On the other hand, we have had -52.6C (-62.68F) in Sweden in 1966 and it is not uncommon to dip down to around -30 to -40C in the northern parts of the country in mid winter. Strangely enough, diesels work perfectly fine here. Granted though, it is less common here than in rest of Europe.
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He said limited beta, as in not making a lot of advertisement and cartoons and whatnot. They tried to make it sound like the best since sliced bread, and when people found flaws and problems the hype died down. Besides, Google DOES seem to have another meaning of beta than you do. See e.g. Google Earth (beta), Google mail (beta) (which is over 4 years and most definitely in production use through the Google Apps product).
Then we need robotic mongooses for when the snakes get out of control.
Keep in mind that ATI:s development cycle for a given driver spans over 2-3 months, with the last month for testing (i.e. no new features). 2.6.23 was released less than two weeks ago. I think it is better they say that they don't support 2.6.23, wait to the 8.43 driver and make things correct right away, instead of rushing support and testing which would remove resources from other stuff.
Just because someone releases a new version of a software it doesn't mean that all those that use it must support it right away.
Yeah, that is probably part of the reason since AM requires quite long antennas to give good reception.
Usually the cable for the headphones double as an FM antenna in portable devices, which is sufficient.
But in small AM receivers there has usually been a ferrite bar antenna which would take a lot of precious room in an iPod.
But I couldn't care less for AM support, since I don't know a single station here, but FM support could be useful.
...and it's still perfectly legal to unlock it to use it with another provider.
Which you apparently cannot do in the US without getting hassled by lawyers (thanks to DMCA).
I was under the impression that the receivers didn't handle 1080p, since no receiver has ever claimed it in the specs.
However, when I now look at one of the specs for one set-top box, it says "MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 HP@L4" which would mean it could support 1920x1080 in 30 fps at max 25 Mbps if I read Wikipedia correctly. But it would output it in 1080i probably.
So probably I was wrong then.
Sure.
We may have DVB across most of Europe, but try to find a box which supports pay-tv all over Europe (except Dreambox perhaps, but they are not licensed). Many program distributors lock down the box to only work with their own network, even if there exists CI (Common Interface, kinda like Cablecard) modules that support the competitors encryption. I bet the PS3 won't handle pay-tv because of that.
Even freeview may not work in all countries because of small differences in transmissions.
Also we have the MPEG-2/H.264 debacle. Many countries started with only MPEG-2. Then HDTV came along and with that H.264. Now some countries which are about to start transmissions will use ONLY H.264 (e.g. Norway). Almost all tv:s with built in DVB-T are only capable of MPEG-2 though.
So it's not just Utopia over here all the time (although GSM was a Really Good Thing).
Yeah, if you want to have a total of one channel per multiplex, and make all existing HDTV set-top boxes obsolete.
Here in Sweden a PS3 is selling for about 6300 SEK, which translates to about $940 USD. WITHOUT GAMES!
That is however including our 25% VAT, which means that without tax it costs about $752 USD. That's STILL $150, or 25%, more than the US price BEFORE the price drop. And I guess we won't see this pricedrop here until earliest around christmas.
No wonder that there has never been any problems getting a PS3 in a store here since it was released, but the Wii was sold out for about 6-7 months.
To make matters worse, the smart cards are now also locked to a SPECIFIC receiver, which means that you cannot have, for example, one box at home, and one in the summer house, and only take the card with you. You must now bring the whole box!
I hope the European Commision will bring this up soon, since it has been threatening to create rules for interoperability if the industry did not achieve this themselves within the last few years, if I remember correctly.