I hate being told by my computer what I need to do, especially when I know its advice is wrong so I prefer not to use a system that does that.
You must be using the Strawman OS. Windows is the only OS that comes close to telling the user what they need to do "Your desktop is cluttered...plug your device in to a faster USB port...turn on a firewall")
The Mac gets out of your way. It doesn't pop up balloons every time a peripheral is connected, like it's shocked that it worked. It's also not a cut rate UNIX with a GUI mimicking a cut rate Windows...spend some money and get a mature OS.
I can beat Bark at the Moon on Expert. I can't for the life of me do hammer-ons and pull-offs consistently. I'm one of the thousands who didn't even bother because the feature DOES NOT WORK in the first Guitar Hero.
If the majority of people who beat the game can't hammer on and pull off (which is introduced after beating "Medium" difficulty), then it is broken.
And no, I don't have any problems doing it in Guitar Hero II...
Either everything looks choppy and digitized, or things look terribly washed out, or you have to look at them directly (90 degree angle) to see anything.
These are problems inherent to fixed-pixel displays. What you want is a Sony (!) XBR960, or if you can't get that, an XBR970 (brand new). $999 for the finest CRT direct view HDTV. I saw one stuck in the corner at Fry's the other day, far away from the other HDTV's. Asked the guy about it and he said, "Nobody wanted to buy the other HDTV's because they look so bad compared to this one, but no one wants to buy this one because it weighs 200 pounds!"
If you're rich, go with the Barco CRT projectors...now that's a picture.
LCD/DLP are getting better than ever, but they'll always have the problem where a non-native resolution just doesn't look right.
The real hardcore AV types are still using CRT, since the color is better and you don't have to worry about the horribly cheap scalers that make fixed-pixel displays look like crap when they're fed SDTV.
The only reason TV remains superior to the Internet, especially in the days of simple rich-media ability in the hands of most anyone, is that the high barrier to entry and the limited spectrum available makes fewer overwhelming choices for the viewer, and presents distinct definitive sources for information.
"Distinct definitive sources" between ABC, CBS, NBC news? Pardon me if I can't tell the difference. I know stuff like Fox is supposed to be "conservative" and CNN "liberal," but they all seem to exhibit the same oversimplification of the issues and cheerleading and fearmongering.
Perhaps you are worried about the fragmentation of culture, too many choices creating a sort of neo-provincialism, eroding societal consensus. It's a worthy point to consider, but I'm still convinced that the disease (top-down, autocratic communication through mass media) is still worse than the cure.
You are correct, public radio gets "handouts" from Congress.
All the other TV and radio conglomerates get from the government is a license to broadcast in perpetuity on public airwaves at no expense. They get to copyright the "intellectual property" that goes over the public airwaves. In addition, they are permitted to charge others to broadcast commercial messages, without giving any cut back to the taxpayers who own the airwaves (nominally of course, if you actually try to broadcast something you're a 'pirate' and the FCC goons will shut you down in a heartbeat.)
This is the ultimate form of corporate welfare: a massive spin machine that's beaming into every American's household 24/7. It may be the biggest scam perpetrated by the government against its own people in history. Of course, we don't teach media literacy in this country until the college level, and even then, only in specific degree programs, so few people understand the free ride that commercial stations get.
What could be done to fix this problem?
Libertarian: Sell off the spectrum, as they do with cell phone communication lines. Make the groups who are using the airwaves pay for them.
Left wing: Revoke FCC licenses, tighten media ownership laws and start awarding grants for use of the spectrum.
Technological: Get rid of old modulation systems and come up with a digital system that makes it easy to broadcast without stepping on anyone else. The TV becomes more like the Internet.
Just a few suggestions of mine, but please understand that Corporation for Public Broadcasting is not the biggest beneficiary of these government handouts. The corporate media is, and they will never publicize this fact.
I have had varying results with 1366x768 machines...720p on my Xbox connected via component seems to run in the correct native resolution.
But 720p with my Mac Mini looks horrible, and is clearly NOT running in native resolution. This is a very important issue with any fixed-pixel display, and the writer of this article should be ashamed for not mentioning it.
All console add-ons have failed. The only one to even come close to succeeding is the Sega CD with 500,000 sold.
It's very doubtful any games, besides a few technology demos, will ever be released for the Xbox 360 HD-DVD. Why? Because it will increase the already astronomical development costs of the platform, yet it will significantly shrink the possible market since a very small percentage of Xbox 360 users will buy it. It's sort of a chicken and egg problem.
You should see people's faces when I show them what the PS2 Linux kit can do.
I see them...looking away. Checking their watches. Making a mental note never to mention this "Linux" thing again. A few minutes later, adding a mental note never to visit your house again. As they ride their bike home, they wonder how they will avoid you at junior high the next day.
A $15 HDMI cable (digital signal) looks better or at least as good as your "nice set" of component cables (analog signal), but way to put him in his place.
It depends on the color space...on my friend's HDTV, component looks much better than HDMI because of funky things the TV does with HDMI's RGB colorspace, that it doesn't do with component's YPrPb colorspace. Check your display.
scientifically-based governments have stifled religion. The soviets and Nazi governments both were quite efficient at imprisoning, killing priests & destroying churches. It was unfortunate that governments came to be that both laid foundational claims to science and then also persecuted the religious.
The phrase "scientifically-based government" is meaningless. If you mean that the Nazis and Soviets had scientists in their regime; well, so did every government in the 20th century. The ugly truth is that a great deal of the violence and genocide perpetrated by both regimes was done by those who professed Christianity (the "grunts" in both armies). People in those societies had a long tradition of obeying authority figures. Religion, which was invented to justify earthly power (in the hands of a monarch) prepared them for their bloody work, even if it was carried out in the name of Pagan or atheist regimes.
I don't mean to suggest that the genocide perpetrated by the Hitler is the fault of religion. But let's not pretend we don't know what religion is for: to get the little people to obey their rulers. As such, it is a means of oppression and should be treated accordingly.
Many people enjoy immersing themselves in a game that focuses on emotion.
What, like Anger Wars? Obsession Fortress? Infatuation of Steve? I'm not sure that any game focuses on emotion (although I will buy Infatuation of Steve the day it comes out). Do you mean immersion? If English isn't your first language, I'll forgive you for this mistake. I don't know about you, but I would probably feel more immersed in a baseball game if I had to "swing" the controller rather than pressing a button. Thus, I feel that the Wii could potentially offer a more immersive experience.
While it might be light in strategy and gameplay, the graphics and "feeling" of the game are unmatched. It is more of a self-driven movie than a game. The 360 and PS3 will dominate these gamers. Sports games, Doom, Quake, etc.
Doom? A self driven movie? No. Movies have plots. If you're looking for Madden, Doom, or Quake with better graphics, you can have them today. Just get a PC with a high-end graphics card.
PS3 and Xbox360 are priced out of most consumers' reach right now. Better graphics can only move so many units, especially with prices higher than ever. I don't know if this will translate to success for Nintendo, it might simply mean that PS2 and original Xbox have a longer life.
"enough people" FOR WHAT? Nobody here said highdef formats would replace DVDs in a month. This isn't the videogame console market!
The question is, will people adopt either HD-DVD or Blu Ray quickly enough for studios to displace DVDs as the "release everything" market? No, because HDTV adoption rates are too slow. If they survive at all, they will be high end, videophile products like Laserdisc. DVD is entrenched, and will be for the next 5-10 years. What will replace it? I don't think either of these new standards will, to be honest with you.
Why are people so fixated on LCD, DLP, and worst of all, Plasma TVs (or is it just when they want to try and discount HDTV)? Not only are CRT HDTVs plentiful, far less expensive, and far more capable, but they are also just as big, with most projection HDTVs being based on CRTs. In fact, I can't even find Plasma TVs anymore... Big retailers have completely removed them from their shelves.
Dead wrong. CRT-based RP HDTVs are the ones disappearing from the shelves. My cousin recently got a 54" Mitsubshi CRT RP HDTV for $1200-they are slowly discontinuing this line. Why? Joe Consumer equates HDTV with the "slim and sexy" LCD and Plasma units. These are much more expensive than front-firing or projection CRT TVs, so big box retailers and manufacturers accept this. I wish it wasn't the case, but that's the way it is.
I noticed you snipped out the part where I mentioned that HD DVD was expensive, poorly marketed, and difficult for the consumer to configure. Maybe because you don't have a counter argument?
I'm getting oh-so-tired of repeating the same facts over and over again. It's like people refuse to hear anything that doesn't happen to support the opinions they've already established.
Irony alert! Maybe we're not all hanging on your every word, you twit.
People aren't going to go out and buy an HDTV so they can use their HD-DVD/Blu-ray player. Quite the opposite. People are already buying HDTVs for many reasons, and that number will steadily increase.
If we're talking about 5-10 years from now, then I agree with you. If we're talking about now, then no, there not are enough people out there that 1)Have HDTVs 2)are savvy enough to hook them up to get actual HD resolution. This is unlikely to change as long as an LCD or Plasma HDTV costs 3x as much as a flat tube CRT of the same size. (CRT HDTVs are woefully undermarketed, but that's another discussion).
There's a fundamental difference here. Anybody can see a 6X increase in resolution. Few if anyone can actually HEAR the difference between 44.1Khz 16bit PCM and DVD-Audio/SACD.
I wonder why DVHS wasn't so successful then, I mean, anyone can see the resolution change. Why wouldn't they go out any buy it right away? Maybe because it was expensive, poorly marketed, and difficult for normal people to connect and configure. Exactly like both HD-DVD and Blue Ray!
Amen. I wish I could mod this comment up. The Sega CD was the most successful console add-on in history, and it only moved 500,000 units. The whole point of a console is to give you access to games. If you have to start worrying about system requirements, you may as well get a PC (and get slowly raped by stuttering framerates, alpha quality software and incredibly expensive graphics hardware) instead of getting raped all at once with expensive peripherals.
Right, the 6X increase in resolution from DVDs to HighDef isn't nearly as compelling as the 3X increase in resolution from VHS to DVD.
DVDs work with your current TV; most people did not purchase a DVD player until they were $200 or less. In contrast, a 42" HDTV and a BlueRay player will require a complete upgrade. Most people also don't know how to hook up the player so that they get the best signal.
So no, I don't think people will care about these HD formats any more than they care about Super Audio CD or DVD Audio, which is to say, not much at all...
I suggest that you actually play the PS3 on the system you want to buy before purchasing it. I've noticed that many HD displays, particularly DLP, have a noticeable lag in image processing which is unacceptable for quick twitch games. Also, I don't know about you, but I can definitely see the "rainbow effect" that is the bane of DLP. Be sure to research thoroughly before doing anything rash!
If some young "cranker" released this type of virus out in the wild, he or she would be looking at serious jail time. But as is normally the case with corporations, no one is expected to be personally responsible. Just a few dollars that amounts to jack shit for a huge corporation.
Just like when Ford and Bridgestone decided to go ahead and release the exploding tires. Sure a few people got killed, but we can't press criminal charges! These are our captains of the industry! Reason #122,234 that this country is seriously messed up.
Slashdot Mirror
LOL
U HAVE NO PENIS
I hate being told by my computer what I need to do, especially when I know its advice is wrong so I prefer not to use a system that does that.
You must be using the Strawman OS. Windows is the only OS that comes close to telling the user what they need to do "Your desktop is cluttered...plug your device in to a faster USB port...turn on a firewall")
The Mac gets out of your way. It doesn't pop up balloons every time a peripheral is connected, like it's shocked that it worked. It's also not a cut rate UNIX with a GUI mimicking a cut rate Windows...spend some money and get a mature OS.
I can beat Bark at the Moon on Expert. I can't for the life of me do hammer-ons and pull-offs consistently. I'm one of the thousands who didn't even bother because the feature DOES NOT WORK in the first Guitar Hero.
If the majority of people who beat the game can't hammer on and pull off (which is introduced after beating "Medium" difficulty), then it is broken.
And no, I don't have any problems doing it in Guitar Hero II...
You know what? Y-Pr-Pb looks pretty damn good. Don't think you can get 1080p on it, but
There's no technical reason why it can't. There may be a Hollywood reason, however...
Either everything looks choppy and digitized, or things look terribly washed out, or you have to look at them directly (90 degree angle) to see anything.
These are problems inherent to fixed-pixel displays. What you want is a Sony (!) XBR960, or if you can't get that, an XBR970 (brand new). $999 for the finest CRT direct view HDTV. I saw one stuck in the corner at Fry's the other day, far away from the other HDTV's. Asked the guy about it and he said, "Nobody wanted to buy the other HDTV's because they look so bad compared to this one, but no one wants to buy this one because it weighs 200 pounds!"
If you're rich, go with the Barco CRT projectors...now that's a picture.
LCD/DLP are getting better than ever, but they'll always have the problem where a non-native resolution just doesn't look right.
The real hardcore AV types are still using CRT, since the color is better and you don't have to worry about the horribly cheap scalers that make fixed-pixel displays look like crap when they're fed SDTV.
Such an addition is worthy of further study.
Why I think that the something like movies in high definition might be DVHS/OTA HD/QPM HD/4GSB HD.
Suddenly a latent market is exposed as it is for the moment of maturity.
Exciting it is, why the PlayStation 3 integrates!
The only reason TV remains superior to the Internet, especially in the days of simple rich-media ability in the hands of most anyone, is that the high barrier to entry and the limited spectrum available makes fewer overwhelming choices for the viewer, and presents distinct definitive sources for information.
"Distinct definitive sources" between ABC, CBS, NBC news? Pardon me if I can't tell the difference. I know stuff like Fox is supposed to be "conservative" and CNN "liberal," but they all seem to exhibit the same oversimplification of the issues and cheerleading and fearmongering.
Perhaps you are worried about the fragmentation of culture, too many choices creating a sort of neo-provincialism, eroding societal consensus. It's a worthy point to consider, but I'm still convinced that the disease (top-down, autocratic communication through mass media) is still worse than the cure.
You are correct, public radio gets "handouts" from Congress.
All the other TV and radio conglomerates get from the government is a license to broadcast in perpetuity on public airwaves at no expense. They get to copyright the "intellectual property" that goes over the public airwaves. In addition, they are permitted to charge others to broadcast commercial messages, without giving any cut back to the taxpayers who own the airwaves (nominally of course, if you actually try to broadcast something you're a 'pirate' and the FCC goons will shut you down in a heartbeat.)
This is the ultimate form of corporate welfare: a massive spin machine that's beaming into every American's household 24/7. It may be the biggest scam perpetrated by the government against its own people in history. Of course, we don't teach media literacy in this country until the college level, and even then, only in specific degree programs, so few people understand the free ride that commercial stations get.
What could be done to fix this problem?
Libertarian: Sell off the spectrum, as they do with cell phone communication lines. Make the groups who are using the airwaves pay for them.
Left wing: Revoke FCC licenses, tighten media ownership laws and start awarding grants for use of the spectrum.
Technological: Get rid of old modulation systems and come up with a digital system that makes it easy to broadcast without stepping on anyone else. The TV becomes more like the Internet.
Just a few suggestions of mine, but please understand that Corporation for Public Broadcasting is not the biggest beneficiary of these government handouts. The corporate media is, and they will never publicize this fact.
It depends on the display, I think. And yes, I am using DVI to HDMI on the Mac mini, running to a brand new Sharp 720p display.
I have had varying results with 1366x768 machines...720p on my Xbox connected via component seems to run in the correct native resolution.
But 720p with my Mac Mini looks horrible, and is clearly NOT running in native resolution. This is a very important issue with any fixed-pixel display, and the writer of this article should be ashamed for not mentioning it.
Now that would be pretty cool.
All console add-ons have failed. The only one to even come close to succeeding is the Sega CD with 500,000 sold.
It's very doubtful any games, besides a few technology demos, will ever be released for the Xbox 360 HD-DVD. Why? Because it will increase the already astronomical development costs of the platform, yet it will significantly shrink the possible market since a very small percentage of Xbox 360 users will buy it. It's sort of a chicken and egg problem.
You should see people's faces when I show them what the PS2 Linux kit can do.
I see them...looking away. Checking their watches. Making a mental note never to mention this "Linux" thing again. A few minutes later, adding a mental note never to visit your house again. As they ride their bike home, they wonder how they will avoid you at junior high the next day.
A $15 HDMI cable (digital signal) looks better or at least as good as your "nice set" of component cables (analog signal), but way to put him in his place.
It depends on the color space...on my friend's HDTV, component looks much better than HDMI because of funky things the TV does with HDMI's RGB colorspace, that it doesn't do with component's YPrPb colorspace. Check your display.
Anyone gives a fuck
You must not be familiar with the phrase "nature abhors a vacuum."
scientifically-based governments have stifled religion. The soviets and Nazi governments both were quite efficient at imprisoning, killing priests & destroying churches. It was unfortunate that governments came to be that both laid foundational claims to science and then also persecuted the religious.
The phrase "scientifically-based government" is meaningless. If you mean that the Nazis and Soviets had scientists in their regime; well, so did every government in the 20th century. The ugly truth is that a great deal of the violence and genocide perpetrated by both regimes was done by those who professed Christianity (the "grunts" in both armies). People in those societies had a long tradition of obeying authority figures. Religion, which was invented to justify earthly power (in the hands of a monarch) prepared them for their bloody work, even if it was carried out in the name of Pagan or atheist regimes.
I don't mean to suggest that the genocide perpetrated by the Hitler is the fault of religion. But let's not pretend we don't know what religion is for: to get the little people to obey their rulers. As such, it is a means of oppression and should be treated accordingly.
Many people enjoy immersing themselves in a game that focuses on emotion.
What, like Anger Wars? Obsession Fortress? Infatuation of Steve? I'm not sure that any game focuses on emotion (although I will buy Infatuation of Steve the day it comes out). Do you mean immersion? If English isn't your first language, I'll forgive you for this mistake. I don't know about you, but I would probably feel more immersed in a baseball game if I had to "swing" the controller rather than pressing a button. Thus, I feel that the Wii could potentially offer a more immersive experience.
While it might be light in strategy and gameplay, the graphics and "feeling" of the game are unmatched. It is more of a self-driven movie than a game. The 360 and PS3 will dominate these gamers. Sports games, Doom, Quake, etc.
Doom? A self driven movie? No. Movies have plots. If you're looking for Madden, Doom, or Quake with better graphics, you can have them today. Just get a PC with a high-end graphics card.
PS3 and Xbox360 are priced out of most consumers' reach right now. Better graphics can only move so many units, especially with prices higher than ever. I don't know if this will translate to success for Nintendo, it might simply mean that PS2 and original Xbox have a longer life.
"enough people" FOR WHAT? Nobody here said highdef formats would replace DVDs in a month. This isn't the videogame console market!
The question is, will people adopt either HD-DVD or Blu Ray quickly enough for studios to displace DVDs as the "release everything" market? No, because HDTV adoption rates are too slow. If they survive at all, they will be high end, videophile products like Laserdisc. DVD is entrenched, and will be for the next 5-10 years. What will replace it? I don't think either of these new standards will, to be honest with you.
Why are people so fixated on LCD, DLP, and worst of all, Plasma TVs (or is it just when they want to try and discount HDTV)? Not only are CRT HDTVs plentiful, far less expensive, and far more capable, but they are also just as big, with most projection HDTVs being based on CRTs. In fact, I can't even find Plasma TVs anymore... Big retailers have completely removed them from their shelves.
Dead wrong. CRT-based RP HDTVs are the ones disappearing from the shelves. My cousin recently got a 54" Mitsubshi CRT RP HDTV for $1200-they are slowly discontinuing this line. Why? Joe Consumer equates HDTV with the "slim and sexy" LCD and Plasma units. These are much more expensive than front-firing or projection CRT TVs, so big box retailers and manufacturers accept this. I wish it wasn't the case, but that's the way it is.
I noticed you snipped out the part where I mentioned that HD DVD was expensive, poorly marketed, and difficult for the consumer to configure. Maybe because you don't have a counter argument?
I'm getting oh-so-tired of repeating the same facts over and over again. It's like people refuse to hear anything that doesn't happen to support the opinions they've already established.
Irony alert! Maybe we're not all hanging on your every word, you twit.
People aren't going to go out and buy an HDTV so they can use their HD-DVD/Blu-ray player. Quite the opposite. People are already buying HDTVs for many reasons, and that number will steadily increase.
If we're talking about 5-10 years from now, then I agree with you. If we're talking about now, then no, there not are enough people out there that 1)Have HDTVs 2)are savvy enough to hook them up to get actual HD resolution. This is unlikely to change as long as an LCD or Plasma HDTV costs 3x as much as a flat tube CRT of the same size. (CRT HDTVs are woefully undermarketed, but that's another discussion).
There's a fundamental difference here. Anybody can see a 6X increase in resolution. Few if anyone can actually HEAR the difference between 44.1Khz 16bit PCM and DVD-Audio/SACD.
I wonder why DVHS wasn't so successful then, I mean, anyone can see the resolution change. Why wouldn't they go out any buy it right away? Maybe because it was expensive, poorly marketed, and difficult for normal people to connect and configure. Exactly like both HD-DVD and Blue Ray!
Amen. I wish I could mod this comment up. The Sega CD was the most successful console add-on in history, and it only moved 500,000 units. The whole point of a console is to give you access to games. If you have to start worrying about system requirements, you may as well get a PC (and get slowly raped by stuttering framerates, alpha quality software and incredibly expensive graphics hardware) instead of getting raped all at once with expensive peripherals.
Right, the 6X increase in resolution from DVDs to HighDef isn't nearly as compelling as the 3X increase in resolution from VHS to DVD.
DVDs work with your current TV; most people did not purchase a DVD player until they were $200 or less. In contrast, a 42" HDTV and a BlueRay player will require a complete upgrade. Most people also don't know how to hook up the player so that they get the best signal.
So no, I don't think people will care about these HD formats any more than they care about Super Audio CD or DVD Audio, which is to say, not much at all...
I suggest that you actually play the PS3 on the system you want to buy before purchasing it. I've noticed that many HD displays, particularly DLP, have a noticeable lag in image processing which is unacceptable for quick twitch games. Also, I don't know about you, but I can definitely see the "rainbow effect" that is the bane of DLP. Be sure to research thoroughly before doing anything rash!
If some young "cranker" released this type of virus out in the wild, he or she would be looking at serious jail time. But as is normally the case with corporations, no one is expected to be personally responsible. Just a few dollars that amounts to jack shit for a huge corporation.
Just like when Ford and Bridgestone decided to go ahead and release the exploding tires. Sure a few people got killed, but we can't press criminal charges! These are our captains of the industry! Reason #122,234 that this country is seriously messed up.