The BBC receives its funding from people in the UK paying an annual license fee mandatory for anyone with a TV. It's programming is funded by the people, for the people, so I think you can see the problem people are having when access to that content through a new channel places proprietary restrictions on access to said content. So yes, the whole furor is that this is NOT just a private TV company, it's a public institution.
so why must you authenticate for 10, 20, even 60 seconds every single time?
OK, if your delays were running that long I can understand getting seriously pissed, when I start up a game the authentication usually takes me about 5-10 seconds, occasionally going a bit over but 20 seconds tops.
Also, I've never had troubles doing the alt-tab thing, do it all the time if I'm stuck somewhere and need to hit up a walkthrough. Maybe it's a Vista thing, I'm still on XP.
Well personally I find the interface just fine, of course I use the cursor keys to navigate it and I imagine if I tried using the mouse exclusively I'd probably be as annoyed as you seem to be. If you know the exact game you're looking for you can go to the search section to type in what you're looking for, or if you've played it before it'll show up in your 'recently played' playlist (the first list you get dropped into when switching to the game Vault section). Browsing works well for when you don't have a specific title in mind, broken down by console or genre as well as offering hotlists of top games the GameTap staff recommend.
As for the delay you mention between entering the 'play' menu and being able to click the 'play' button to start the game this is an unavoidable delay, the client is checking with the server to authenticate your right to play the game. Also, I do not share your annoyance with the in-client video ads. I'd be annoyed if they were selling ad space to outside services looking to make more money off me, but what those videos are is one more means of promotion trying to keep people interested in the service they're already paying for by highlighting different games and services your subscription is already getting you or certain titles "comes soon." Quite often I find lately I'll be authenticated and ready to go well before the video even starts playing and I'm behind a 10megabit connection with decently low latencies, I've sometimes purposely waited a bit to check out what's playing.
You're gripe with the interface is one of simply not having used the service long enough to figure out that cursor keys are your friend. You're gripe with the videos and the pause due to server authentication is I would say is probably due to a less-than-stellar internet connection. That's the one thing with GameTap, if you don't have a BIG internet pipe you're not gonna be as happy with it as you could be.
FairPlay on videos not cracked
on
The DRM Scorecard
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
What annoys me is that while current versions of QTFairUse strip the DRM off audio files just fine, nobody as of yet has put out a simple tool to strip off FairPlay from Apple's video files. If it's the same DRM scheme you'd think they'd just extend FairUse to do video files as well, but they've just not done that. I guess there must be some issue with the exploit they use that precludes using that hole for video as well I suppose...
It's been what, 2+ years since Apple started selling videos and still no crack?
at least 30 minutes of video in one go, with a resolution of 800x600 pixels or higher at 23 frames per second or higherReally h/blockquote>
How many digital cameras will this effect if this is the baseline requirements to get hit by the tax? I know digital cameras have been getting better with their video recording support but most cameras I've looked at top out at 640x480. Of course, I'm in Canada where that matches up with NTSC resolution fairly well, whereas I suppose across the pond the higher resolution might be more common as being closer to PAL video... Still at the very least this probably wont affect the lower end of the market much at all because of these minimums and if you're going for mid to high end kit you're already committed to spending a small fortune anyway, if you can afford it now then you can probably afford another few % tacked on anyway.
It appears to be included but to me the voice over was key to the movie, it let us in his head. I couldn't agree more. I couldn't DIS-agree more. While I certainly like the idea of having the voiceovers, the actual execution I personally find to be the most grating piece of voiceover work in the history of cinema. It just grates on me to no end whenever I hear Ford droning on in that bored humdrum monotone. Neither Ford or Ridley Scott wanted the voiceover to begin with, the studio forced their hands to put it in (some say Ford tried his absolute worst when recording it to try to force them to leave it out), and it IS NOT in the "Final Cut" version. Both the US and International theatrical cuts will be in the special edition box set, so yes you will get your voiceover in the special edition box set, just don't get you're hopes up for it being in the new "Final Cut" version that'll be in theaters this year.
I don't know what prices you've been seeing, but personally I recently upgraded my RAM because I saw the prices had dropped off quite a bit the past few months in my local shops.
Actually at my university I've had a couple classes where we the students had to submit our papers to the site, and in the printed cover sheet for the hard copy we submitted we'd have to include the ID code TurnItIn assigned to our submission for the TA to then check. No code, no mark.
The revamped episodes start wekly syndication TOMORROW people, it's been all over the 'net for weeks. Check your local listings, it'll typically be where Enterprise was for weekly syndication up till now. Balance of Terror airs tomorrow, tune in THEN decide whether or not to go up in arms. Just remember, they're not gonna stop selling DVDs of the original versions any time soon so it's not like they're pulling a George Lucas on us.
Yeah, I've had the "Expendability" red-shirt poster as my desktop background and the Kirk and Mudd posters as the background for my livejournal for a few days now. There's some great stuff there, although quality varies greatly I find.
CCE is extremely expensive ($1950) for a regular consumer.
There's a basic version available priced much more affordably at US$ 58.00. Misses some of the more advanced features of the full version, but still quite good.
The Doom9 site is simply one of the best sites you could go to for anything video-encoding related. Read through some of their DVD encoding guides, they'll walk you through how to get decent encodes and point you to the software you'll need.
That threw me for a loop for a moment myself till I read the article. That block is just copy & pasted nd talking about one company's catalog in particular.
I keep hearing this "nintendo is going to sweep the market" line from fanboys.
What market are you referring to? Because I don't know anyone in my circle of friends, online and off, that could care less about the Rev.
Well I can tell you what market, me for one. I'm barely a gamer at all nowadays. I mooch times off my friends' machines for what console gaming I'm interested in, but haven't actually owned one myself since the old 2600 I had as a kid. I've been planning on picking up a used Xbox at some point, but moreso to mod it into a media hub than for use as an actual gaming machine.
Well, for the first time in almost 2 decades for a console, the very first time ever for actually buying a console new, I am planning on picking up a Revolution.
It's not about the controller for me, it's all about the back catalogue. As long as they have a reasonable selection in their online download service, and they don't try to gouge people on the prices for classic title downloads, then I'm in. The expected lower price-point for hardware is definitely a factor for me as well. As I said, I haven't actually owned anything since Atari (and even that was aquired second-hand), but as I've still been playing the latest and greatest for an hour or two here and there over the years there's a fairly large catalogue of now-older titles in the Nintendo library that I'd be very interested in having (ROMs sitting on my hard drive just don't quite cut it for me).
I've looked at games over the years, and looked at the price tags. Back when I was begging my folks they never forked over the cash one, and when I was the one with the money I just couldn't justify spending that much on it either, as even though I hadn't taken economics back then I could still appreciate the principle of opportunity cost. The chance to get a soon-to-be current-gen system at a more reasonable price point for both hardware and new games, while offering a potentially* wider scope of backwards compatibility than anything else on the market, it's all good. For someone like me who's been on the edge of gaming but holding back from really buying in because the prices have just been higher than you feel it's worth, this will be the console to get if you're ever going to get one.
*dependant on how wide the selection of downloadable games turns out to be in the long run
Or if you want to be literal, looking at the time-stamp on the original comment then technically Australia would have celebrated New Years ~4-5 hours prior to the post being made...
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Actually I'd say "Great Canadian" is more central, I can assure you out here in Nova Scotia at least I'm a 5 minute walk from one of several "Real Atlantic Superstore" locations in and around Halifax.
Slashdot Mirror
The BBC receives its funding from people in the UK paying an annual license fee mandatory for anyone with a TV. It's programming is funded by the people, for the people, so I think you can see the problem people are having when access to that content through a new channel places proprietary restrictions on access to said content. So yes, the whole furor is that this is NOT just a private TV company, it's a public institution.
OK, if your delays were running that long I can understand getting seriously pissed, when I start up a game the authentication usually takes me about 5-10 seconds, occasionally going a bit over but 20 seconds tops.
Also, I've never had troubles doing the alt-tab thing, do it all the time if I'm stuck somewhere and need to hit up a walkthrough. Maybe it's a Vista thing, I'm still on XP.
Well personally I find the interface just fine, of course I use the cursor keys to navigate it and I imagine if I tried using the mouse exclusively I'd probably be as annoyed as you seem to be. If you know the exact game you're looking for you can go to the search section to type in what you're looking for, or if you've played it before it'll show up in your 'recently played' playlist (the first list you get dropped into when switching to the game Vault section). Browsing works well for when you don't have a specific title in mind, broken down by console or genre as well as offering hotlists of top games the GameTap staff recommend.
As for the delay you mention between entering the 'play' menu and being able to click the 'play' button to start the game this is an unavoidable delay, the client is checking with the server to authenticate your right to play the game. Also, I do not share your annoyance with the in-client video ads. I'd be annoyed if they were selling ad space to outside services looking to make more money off me, but what those videos are is one more means of promotion trying to keep people interested in the service they're already paying for by highlighting different games and services your subscription is already getting you or certain titles "comes soon." Quite often I find lately I'll be authenticated and ready to go well before the video even starts playing and I'm behind a 10megabit connection with decently low latencies, I've sometimes purposely waited a bit to check out what's playing.
You're gripe with the interface is one of simply not having used the service long enough to figure out that cursor keys are your friend. You're gripe with the videos and the pause due to server authentication is I would say is probably due to a less-than-stellar internet connection. That's the one thing with GameTap, if you don't have a BIG internet pipe you're not gonna be as happy with it as you could be.
What annoys me is that while current versions of QTFairUse strip the DRM off audio files just fine, nobody as of yet has put out a simple tool to strip off FairPlay from Apple's video files. If it's the same DRM scheme you'd think they'd just extend FairUse to do video files as well, but they've just not done that. I guess there must be some issue with the exploit they use that precludes using that hole for video as well I suppose...
It's been what, 2+ years since Apple started selling videos and still no crack?
Already happening.
I don't know what prices you've been seeing, but personally I recently upgraded my RAM because I saw the prices had dropped off quite a bit the past few months in my local shops.
Actually at my university I've had a couple classes where we the students had to submit our papers to the site, and in the printed cover sheet for the hard copy we submitted we'd have to include the ID code TurnItIn assigned to our submission for the TA to then check. No code, no mark.
Re-read the list, Doom's there.
Actually, (and this is legit) this was shot in HD, so I imagine it'll get a re-release soon enough. ;')
Don't think yours would be worth much, it's kinda high. Well if he's too high to cash in, guess I'd be just right out.
D'oh, guess I'd be just totally right out then
The revamped episodes start wekly syndication TOMORROW people, it's been all over the 'net for weeks. Check your local listings, it'll typically be where Enterprise was for weekly syndication up till now. Balance of Terror airs tomorrow, tune in THEN decide whether or not to go up in arms. Just remember, they're not gonna stop selling DVDs of the original versions any time soon so it's not like they're pulling a George Lucas on us.
wonder what a smoosh-faced wax lion goes for...
Like, say, the comments feature in emule?
And don't forget the "music videos are available in the U.S. only" message. Guess I'll be looking for a decent proxy right about now then...
Yeah, I've had the "Expendability" red-shirt poster as my desktop background and the Kirk and Mudd posters as the background for my livejournal for a few days now. There's some great stuff there, although quality varies greatly I find.
There's a basic version available priced much more affordably at US$ 58.00. Misses some of the more advanced features of the full version, but still quite good.
The Doom9 site is simply one of the best sites you could go to for anything video-encoding related. Read through some of their DVD encoding guides, they'll walk you through how to get decent encodes and point you to the software you'll need.
That threw me for a loop for a moment myself till I read the article. That block is just copy & pasted nd talking about one company's catalog in particular.
Well I can tell you what market, me for one. I'm barely a gamer at all nowadays. I mooch times off my friends' machines for what console gaming I'm interested in, but haven't actually owned one myself since the old 2600 I had as a kid. I've been planning on picking up a used Xbox at some point, but moreso to mod it into a media hub than for use as an actual gaming machine.
Well, for the first time in almost 2 decades for a console, the very first time ever for actually buying a console new, I am planning on picking up a Revolution.
It's not about the controller for me, it's all about the back catalogue. As long as they have a reasonable selection in their online download service, and they don't try to gouge people on the prices for classic title downloads, then I'm in. The expected lower price-point for hardware is definitely a factor for me as well. As I said, I haven't actually owned anything since Atari (and even that was aquired second-hand), but as I've still been playing the latest and greatest for an hour or two here and there over the years there's a fairly large catalogue of now-older titles in the Nintendo library that I'd be very interested in having (ROMs sitting on my hard drive just don't quite cut it for me).
I've looked at games over the years, and looked at the price tags. Back when I was begging my folks they never forked over the cash one, and when I was the one with the money I just couldn't justify spending that much on it either, as even though I hadn't taken economics back then I could still appreciate the principle of opportunity cost. The chance to get a soon-to-be current-gen system at a more reasonable price point for both hardware and new games, while offering a potentially* wider scope of backwards compatibility than anything else on the market, it's all good. For someone like me who's been on the edge of gaming but holding back from really buying in because the prices have just been higher than you feel it's worth, this will be the console to get if you're ever going to get one.
*dependant on how wide the selection of downloadable games turns out to be in the long run
Aw yeah, a few rounds of old school Duck Hunt with that thing'll be sweet ;')
Or if you want to be literal, looking at the time-stamp on the original comment then technically Australia would have celebrated New Years ~4-5 hours prior to the post being made...
Looks familiar there Down8.
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Actually I'd say "Great Canadian" is more central, I can assure you out here in Nova Scotia at least I'm a 5 minute walk from one of several "Real Atlantic Superstore" locations in and around Halifax.