That's just abysmally STUPID. They're not going to sell me one! The only format I'll buy any book in is plain ASCII text.
PDF would suit me fine assuming it could reflow content to the screen reader / font settings. Alternatively HTML and / or XML with suitable layout would be perfectly adequate for 99% of books. Text just doesn't convey adequate information for presentation.
It should be totally possible for the industry to produce a standard around either PDF or HTML. I'm sure they would lose some sales to piracy, but then they save a bundle by not having to manage DRM as well as the resurgence in sales that a common format would bring. If they have to tag content, they can do so via HTML tricks that do not affect the visible layout.
I disagree. Ebooks are fantastically useful. I can pack 100 books onto a PocketPC and have something to read. It's just that so far book publishers and distributors have released their books in proprietary formats, slathered with DRM and that only play on devices they deign to release readers on. Consequently the whole ebook scene has been transformed into a wasteland of warring factions where no standards prevail and the attraction of the concept has fallen through the floor. Amazon Kindle is just an extension of this, choosing to implement yet another proprietary format and ensuring support for popular (free) file formats is minimal.
Publishers really need to pull their finger out and adopt a common book file format with no active DRM. The consequence of not doing so is ebooks languish. People who want books in an electronic format will just grab them them anyway through P2P, IRC or wherever and the publishers will get nothing at all. Once an industry standard format appears, the format has a good chance of taking off.
I also think the experience of ebooks and music should be a lesson for digital video downloads. People would have to be stupid to *buy* digital movies from Amazon, Sony, Microsoft, Apple, Netflix or whoever when the content is locked to a handful of supported devices and you are at the mercy of the provider to manage your collection. I don't want to have to own two or three software players, or only be able to play some movies on some devices. Just like with ebooks most people will just turn to P2P instead.
Drop the DRM. Piracy happens whether DRM is there or not. Dropping the DRM just means more people will buy their direct download videos rather than get it on P2P or copy it from DVD.
How can anybody claim that something that can tell if I'm wearing nipple rings or a Prince Albert, or a variety of medical devices from colostomy bags to artificial breasts "preserves privacy"?
I think the only manufacturer likely to build HD DVD functionality would be Toshiba. I doubt very others will bother unless they can do so for so little $ that it can be seen as a value added feature.
To be fair, I suspect Blu-Ray won't outlive plain old DVD. Unless Sony starts dumping $20 Blu-ray players with $9.99 movies, the rest of the world who can't afford Hi-Def TVs and Sound systems will probaly be satisfied with plain old DVDs for quite sometime.
You are wrong. Just go into an TV store and 90% of the sets will be HD ready. Some stores have gotten rid of CRT TVs entirely. Okay so there might be a few budget sets which are SD, but the kinds of people (cheapskates) who buy them are hardly relevant to a new format's success. The market as a whole is emphatically going HD.
If people can only buy HD sets, they are going to want HD content. It is inevitable that as people go HD and as the price of Blu Ray players drop that people will buy into the format. In fact its a no brainer since a Blu Ray player is backwards compatible. There is no downside to buying a player.
Anyway the prices do have a way to go. DVD was just as expensive in its day - my first player cost £550! The prices for hardware and software will drop over time just like they did for DVD.
As for downloads, I can't see them taking off until everyone has zero configuration, unlimited download, high speed broadband. If you think HD TVs are a barrier for entry, just consider what downloads entail. I do think downloads are attractive for rentals but I question the sanity of anyone who builds a collection of movies / shows purchased from Amazon, Apple, Sony, MS etc. Who the hell wants to pay near full price for a low quality (compared to physical media) digital collection which is locked to play on a handful of devices? If there were an industry wide DRM layer and standards for interoperability, or passive copy protection like watermarking then it might stand a chance. At the moment its degrading into the same hellscape of competing factions that destroyed ebooks from taking off.
BD-9/4.7 discs, i.e. DVDs containing Blu Ray structure can be burnt and played on a PS3 and probably other players. It would be possible right now to transcode movies from download or HD DVD and stick them on BD for cheap. Obviously the content might be non-optimal but it's the cheapest option right now.
I have no idea what the story is with physical BDs, but I imagine that if AACS is required (which I doubt), that it would be seamlessly done by the burning software.
Besides being a (former) talking head on Fox's Red Eye, Rachel Mardsen has been accused of harassment in the past. You might also note from the same article that she has falsely accused a man of sexual harassment. Ms. Mardsen target in the sexual harassment case claimed she sent him sexual e-mails and photographs.
The moral of this story appears to be don't schtupp a bunny boiler.
Personally I don't think he has done anything wrong except not take heed of what the woman's previous history. The separate expenses issue sounds more worrisome.
As an outsider, the Clinton administration looked successful so I'm not sure why anyone would hate on it. Certainly Clinton had his faults (e.g. the sex scandal) but he was smart, articulate, managed the country well, didn't start any major wars, was well respected internationally and left the country in better shape than he found it. The Bush administration on the other hand was and still is a total disaster.
Until such time as everyone has unlimited fast broadband and the wherewithal to set it up, I don't think physical media has much to worry about from Apple TV or the other similar services.
If VOD is to succeed it will have to become a no brainer to set up and install by mere mortals. It's going to have to be installed by a service provider and the bandwidth / service guaranteed by the service provider.
Even then I see VOD more suitable for rental. I have to wonder why anyone would actually *buy* digital movies for DD while there are so many issues about doing so. e.g. Why should I buy a movie from iTMS if its locked and only plays on Apple devices? The same goes for all the other fiefdoms that are popping up around Tivo, Sony, Amazon, Microsoft etc. The industry really needs to sort itself out and either adopt an industry wide DRM or do away with it entirely so that people can play their files wherever they like.
Two doors are much faster for disembarking at one. I occasionally fly between an airport where you board through steps at the front and rear and one which is usually a single boarding walkway / gate system. The steps are always faster.
The first airport has just been rebuilt with walkways but no planes are using them! I would hazard a guess that the airlines told the airport to get lost because it was faster to board / unboard with steps instead.
Considering a scientologist is lead to believe that certain knowledge they aren't ready for can kill them. I could totally see CoS getting on board with this and blocking xenu.net to 'protect their children'.
Scientology already encourages its members to install some kind of filtering proxy to do that very thing. Google for "ScenioSitter". After all, heaven forbid CoS members accidentally discover what crazy antics their religion has in store for them when they stump up the $$$ for the next level of training.
A case could be made that Microsoft dreaded a dead video format stinking up their console. So they produced an add on that could be discarded if it came to it but never produced consoles with an internal HD DVD player. They didn't even stick an HD DVD player in the Elite where it would have made sense. Now that Blu Ray is the winner of this war, the concern of backing the wrong horse should no longer be an issue.
I think you are right about digital downloads though and they only saw HD DVD as a means to an end. They're probably in an interesting quandary right now - ignore Blu Ray and risk suffering by comparison to the PS3 (it's already happening) or embrace it and risk diluting their digital download message.
I don't discount the money hat idea. Indeed, it would be odd if there weren't incentives on the table from both camps for exclusivity. It's just these reports all appear to be recycling the same unattributed stories with no verifiable source to say if they're true or not. I also don't understand the GP's issue with the BDA doing it when the HD DVD camp had already pulled a similar stunt with Paramount and Dreamworks.
Concerning downloads... In the short term I see DLC being mainly for rentals. There is a lot of potential amongst those who know how to hook up their PC / console to the network and have the broadband to do it. And I don't see DLC taking off in the general population while the broadband requirements and practicality of DLC are still as they are.
I don't see DLC movie ownership taking off any time soon. Even among people who might rent via DLC. After all, who really wants to buy a digital movie which is locked to a single device (or a even a handful), costs near to DVD / BD price, has zero features and less quality to the comparable DVD / BD. I think it would be insane to buy movies in this way.
The PS3 was attractive before (wifi, free networking, browser, bluetooth support, swapable HDD, AVC/H264 playback, DIvx etc. etc. etc.). It is a great console and a great multimedia player. Being one of the best players of the defacto HD video format certainly can't hurt it any.
I'm not saying Sony didn't money hat studios, but do you have evidence they actually did? The last/. story alleging $400m payoff didn't present any evidence at all. It was just speculation of a bidding war, which if true meant both sides were at it..
And even if they did pay off studios how is this any different at all from what Toshiba / Microsoft already did for Paramount & Dreamworks? The doctrine of unclean hands etc.
Uh, HD-DVD's are: 1) region free 2) not a rushed to market technology (no customer screwing profile x.x limitations) 3) half the price 4) has more interactive features in contrast blu-ray store more space. Are you guys that obtuse?
To answer your points:
True. Sadly for HD DVD studios such as Disney LIKE region encoding. Titles like Ratatouille and No Country for Old Men were/are still showing in cinemas in Europe when they were/are released on Blu Ray in US. Studios also like stronger copy protection which is another strike against HD DVD.
Profiles are confusing, but I don't see how you can say customers are being screwed. You buy a box on what it does, not on what future boxes will do. Doubly true for early adopters who I assume are not stupid and read the box. You certainly don't bitch and moan that your box doesn't magically grow local storage and an ethernet port to support a new profile's requirements. All discs will be backwards compatible so even if you got a 1.0 disc it's not the end of the world - you still get to play the main content. Anyway cutting peripheral features is a pragmatic and sensible thing to do when you have many manufacturers trying to implement the same spec.
Half the price because Toshiba took a massive financial hit on its players. It's probably one of the few things it could do to make its players more attractive but its still a fact that they cost far more to make than they sold for. On the other hand members of the BDA were out to make a profit so their boxes are priced accordingly. From a technical standpoint HD DVD and Blu Ray players would have virtually identical hardware and software requirements.
Not entirely true. All profiles support BD-J which is capable of things that you couldn't do in HDi without extreme difficulty. e.g. arcade games. HDi is probably far easier to work with for content authors though. Perhaps what you meant to say is HD DVDs can fetch content from the internet whereas Blu Ray 1.x players cannot. Is this really a big deal? Perhaps you can cite a HD DVD where the network features were so compelling that it justified hooking up the player? Anyway if you want network connectivity in Blu Ray buy a PS3 and wait for the firmware update or wait for standalone players that do the same. Personally I really couldn't give a damn if some disc embeds a generic studio portal / store or other fringe features and frankly I find it quite scary that studios know when I'm watching their content.
On that last point I mentioned BD-J is more powerful but would be great merit Blu Ray offering something like HDi to bridge HDMV (simple DVD-like menus) and raw BD-J. I doubt the BDA would ever incorporate HDi but MS should seriously consider reworking their tools so authors can write away with HDi like they do now and the tool spits out the equivalent BD-J classes. It would mean the best of both worlds for authors and might keep MS in the game.
That depends how much space you have, how many movies you have and how many HDMI ports your TV has. Do you clutter up your TV with an additional device for the sake of a dozen movies for example?
I didn't say DVD quality. You can transcode a 25Gb HD movie into a 4 or 8Gb HD movie (depending on single / double layer DVD) and it would still be watchable quality. Indeed, Apple is talking of 4Gb downloads for its HD movies.
Would it look as good as a 25Gb file? Of course not but it would be quite acceptable and preferable to digging out the HD DVD from the garage just to play the one movie you want to watch.
Another alternative to burning discs is buy a large HDD and backup the entire movie to that. Then you can either stream the movie from a PC or transfer it the PS3 to play the content.
I suppose in theory it could watch the content though I doubt it would go anywhere near the HDi. I doubt any player would though except the hybrids.
In theory any computer equipped with a DVD player could too. Think of Videolan or similar. I don't know if it plays.evo files (the HD DVD file format) but I don't see why it couldn't.
In practice I only know of one reason for using BD9 on a disk - apparantly BD9 supports 7.1 surround whereas a raw H264 container file doesn't. Otherwise I think I'd be happier to just rip to H264 and open it like a file.
Blu Ray supports 9 & 4.7 Gb DVDs with the proper disc structure. So in theory you could transcode an HD DVD to a DVD. Quality wouldn't be as good as the original but its probably watchable. Alternative just store the movie data on a removable USB drive and watch it on a PS3.
If MS were really sharp, they'd produce a new model with Blu Ray built-in. Their lineup is looking distinctly whiffy at the moment and with the PS3 costing less than an Elite they'd better do something quick to revamp the lineup if they want to keep their sales lead in the only territory where they have one over Sony.
The solution here is to set sane release dates for stuff (both in cinema and on disc) instead of locking out your customers (also, there are a lot of suggestions that region coding is an illegal restriction on free trade... shame no one's sued the studios yet).
That might suit some studios more than others. Disney appears to prefer staggered releases. Perhaps it allows them to fine tune their marketing based on the response they got in other regions. In any respect it's their perogative if they prefer that model.
Honestly, if you release stuff in one country before another, you really can't complain when people take it upon themselves to import it (through legal or illegal means).
Hence the reason for region encoding. Personally I would have preferred if Sony / Disney et al implemented no encoding at all, or at least some kind of time release encoding that unlocked disks some time after their release but it's hard to see how they could make it foolproof.
The reasons HD DVD lost are many but one of the was lack of region encoding. As a consumer region locking sucks big time, but it's important for studios. Just consider a movie like Ratatouille or No Country for Old Men. Both of these appeared on Blu Ray in the US while they were still showing in cinemas in Europe. It suited Disney's model to encode the disks. Other titles might have different distributors in different regions so lack of region coding could cause all sorts of issues. I know as a consumer these concerns seem pretty lame, but clearly some studios think different. One marginal benefit for users is that you get the release as soon as possible in your region rather than it being delayed by its release elsewhere. And some disks are not region encoded at all and there are websites where you can find out which disks are and which aren't.
I got my PS2 as part of a phone package but I really appreciated the DVD player for a couple of reasons - 1) I spent 6 months contracting away and the PS2 acted as a DVD player and console hooked up to a portable in my rented accomodation. 2) DVD has undeniably meant better games for the PS2 than if it shipped with a CDROM.
Concerning the PS3, the thing is widely recognised as an excellent blu ray player. Lots of AV enthusiasts and gamers have bought one and put it to multiple uses. And games are clearly putting the extra capacity to use, if only to have multiple locales available on the same disk, saving on QA, certification, distribution and support.
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PDF would suit me fine assuming it could reflow content to the screen reader / font settings. Alternatively HTML and / or XML with suitable layout would be perfectly adequate for 99% of books. Text just doesn't convey adequate information for presentation.
It should be totally possible for the industry to produce a standard around either PDF or HTML. I'm sure they would lose some sales to piracy, but then they save a bundle by not having to manage DRM as well as the resurgence in sales that a common format would bring. If they have to tag content, they can do so via HTML tricks that do not affect the visible layout.
Publishers really need to pull their finger out and adopt a common book file format with no active DRM. The consequence of not doing so is ebooks languish. People who want books in an electronic format will just grab them them anyway through P2P, IRC or wherever and the publishers will get nothing at all. Once an industry standard format appears, the format has a good chance of taking off.
I also think the experience of ebooks and music should be a lesson for digital video downloads. People would have to be stupid to *buy* digital movies from Amazon, Sony, Microsoft, Apple, Netflix or whoever when the content is locked to a handful of supported devices and you are at the mercy of the provider to manage your collection. I don't want to have to own two or three software players, or only be able to play some movies on some devices. Just like with ebooks most people will just turn to P2P instead.
Drop the DRM. Piracy happens whether DRM is there or not. Dropping the DRM just means more people will buy their direct download videos rather than get it on P2P or copy it from DVD.
How can anybody claim that something that can tell if I'm wearing nipple rings or a Prince Albert, or a variety of medical devices from colostomy bags to artificial breasts "preserves privacy"?
I think the only manufacturer likely to build HD DVD functionality would be Toshiba. I doubt very others will bother unless they can do so for so little $ that it can be seen as a value added feature.
You are wrong. Just go into an TV store and 90% of the sets will be HD ready. Some stores have gotten rid of CRT TVs entirely. Okay so there might be a few budget sets which are SD, but the kinds of people (cheapskates) who buy them are hardly relevant to a new format's success. The market as a whole is emphatically going HD.
If people can only buy HD sets, they are going to want HD content. It is inevitable that as people go HD and as the price of Blu Ray players drop that people will buy into the format. In fact its a no brainer since a Blu Ray player is backwards compatible. There is no downside to buying a player.
Anyway the prices do have a way to go. DVD was just as expensive in its day - my first player cost £550! The prices for hardware and software will drop over time just like they did for DVD.
As for downloads, I can't see them taking off until everyone has zero configuration, unlimited download, high speed broadband. If you think HD TVs are a barrier for entry, just consider what downloads entail. I do think downloads are attractive for rentals but I question the sanity of anyone who builds a collection of movies / shows purchased from Amazon, Apple, Sony, MS etc. Who the hell wants to pay near full price for a low quality (compared to physical media) digital collection which is locked to play on a handful of devices? If there were an industry wide DRM layer and standards for interoperability, or passive copy protection like watermarking then it might stand a chance. At the moment its degrading into the same hellscape of competing factions that destroyed ebooks from taking off.
I have no idea what the story is with physical BDs, but I imagine that if AACS is required (which I doubt), that it would be seamlessly done by the burning software.
The moral of this story appears to be don't schtupp a bunny boiler.
Personally I don't think he has done anything wrong except not take heed of what the woman's previous history. The separate expenses issue sounds more worrisome.
As an outsider, the Clinton administration looked successful so I'm not sure why anyone would hate on it. Certainly Clinton had his faults (e.g. the sex scandal) but he was smart, articulate, managed the country well, didn't start any major wars, was well respected internationally and left the country in better shape than he found it. The Bush administration on the other hand was and still is a total disaster.
Until such time as everyone has unlimited fast broadband and the wherewithal to set it up, I don't think physical media has much to worry about from Apple TV or the other similar services.
If VOD is to succeed it will have to become a no brainer to set up and install by mere mortals. It's going to have to be installed by a service provider and the bandwidth / service guaranteed by the service provider.
Even then I see VOD more suitable for rental. I have to wonder why anyone would actually *buy* digital movies for DD while there are so many issues about doing so. e.g. Why should I buy a movie from iTMS if its locked and only plays on Apple devices? The same goes for all the other fiefdoms that are popping up around Tivo, Sony, Amazon, Microsoft etc. The industry really needs to sort itself out and either adopt an industry wide DRM or do away with it entirely so that people can play their files wherever they like.
His d20 saving throw wasn't good enough
The first airport has just been rebuilt with walkways but no planes are using them! I would hazard a guess that the airlines told the airport to get lost because it was faster to board / unboard with steps instead.
Scientology already encourages its members to install some kind of filtering proxy to do that very thing. Google for "ScenioSitter". After all, heaven forbid CoS members accidentally discover what crazy antics their religion has in store for them when they stump up the $$$ for the next level of training.
I think you are right about digital downloads though and they only saw HD DVD as a means to an end. They're probably in an interesting quandary right now - ignore Blu Ray and risk suffering by comparison to the PS3 (it's already happening) or embrace it and risk diluting their digital download message.
Concerning downloads... In the short term I see DLC being mainly for rentals. There is a lot of potential amongst those who know how to hook up their PC / console to the network and have the broadband to do it. And I don't see DLC taking off in the general population while the broadband requirements and practicality of DLC are still as they are.
I don't see DLC movie ownership taking off any time soon. Even among people who might rent via DLC. After all, who really wants to buy a digital movie which is locked to a single device (or a even a handful), costs near to DVD / BD price, has zero features and less quality to the comparable DVD / BD. I think it would be insane to buy movies in this way.
The PS3 was attractive before (wifi, free networking, browser, bluetooth support, swapable HDD, AVC/H264 playback, DIvx etc. etc. etc.). It is a great console and a great multimedia player. Being one of the best players of the defacto HD video format certainly can't hurt it any.
I'm not saying Sony didn't money hat studios, but do you have evidence they actually did? The last /. story alleging $400m payoff didn't present any evidence at all. It was just speculation of a bidding war, which if true meant both sides were at it..
And even if they did pay off studios how is this any different at all from what Toshiba / Microsoft already did for Paramount & Dreamworks? The doctrine of unclean hands etc.
To answer your points:
On that last point I mentioned BD-J is more powerful but would be great merit Blu Ray offering something like HDi to bridge HDMV (simple DVD-like menus) and raw BD-J. I doubt the BDA would ever incorporate HDi but MS should seriously consider reworking their tools so authors can write away with HDi like they do now and the tool spits out the equivalent BD-J classes. It would mean the best of both worlds for authors and might keep MS in the game.
That depends how much space you have, how many movies you have and how many HDMI ports your TV has. Do you clutter up your TV with an additional device for the sake of a dozen movies for example?
Would it look as good as a 25Gb file? Of course not but it would be quite acceptable and preferable to digging out the HD DVD from the garage just to play the one movie you want to watch.
Another alternative to burning discs is buy a large HDD and backup the entire movie to that. Then you can either stream the movie from a PC or transfer it the PS3 to play the content.
In theory any computer equipped with a DVD player could too. Think of Videolan or similar. I don't know if it plays .evo files (the HD DVD file format) but I don't see why it couldn't.
In practice I only know of one reason for using BD9 on a disk - apparantly BD9 supports 7.1 surround whereas a raw H264 container file doesn't. Otherwise I think I'd be happier to just rip to H264 and open it like a file.
Blu Ray supports 9 & 4.7 Gb DVDs with the proper disc structure. So in theory you could transcode an HD DVD to a DVD. Quality wouldn't be as good as the original but its probably watchable. Alternative just store the movie data on a removable USB drive and watch it on a PS3.
If MS were really sharp, they'd produce a new model with Blu Ray built-in. Their lineup is looking distinctly whiffy at the moment and with the PS3 costing less than an Elite they'd better do something quick to revamp the lineup if they want to keep their sales lead in the only territory where they have one over Sony.
That might suit some studios more than others. Disney appears to prefer staggered releases. Perhaps it allows them to fine tune their marketing based on the response they got in other regions. In any respect it's their perogative if they prefer that model.
Honestly, if you release stuff in one country before another, you really can't complain when people take it upon themselves to import it (through legal or illegal means).
Hence the reason for region encoding. Personally I would have preferred if Sony / Disney et al implemented no encoding at all, or at least some kind of time release encoding that unlocked disks some time after their release but it's hard to see how they could make it foolproof.
The reasons HD DVD lost are many but one of the was lack of region encoding. As a consumer region locking sucks big time, but it's important for studios. Just consider a movie like Ratatouille or No Country for Old Men. Both of these appeared on Blu Ray in the US while they were still showing in cinemas in Europe. It suited Disney's model to encode the disks. Other titles might have different distributors in different regions so lack of region coding could cause all sorts of issues. I know as a consumer these concerns seem pretty lame, but clearly some studios think different. One marginal benefit for users is that you get the release as soon as possible in your region rather than it being delayed by its release elsewhere. And some disks are not region encoded at all and there are websites where you can find out which disks are and which aren't.
Concerning the PS3, the thing is widely recognised as an excellent blu ray player. Lots of AV enthusiasts and gamers have bought one and put it to multiple uses. And games are clearly putting the extra capacity to use, if only to have multiple locales available on the same disk, saving on QA, certification, distribution and support.