Many Sony DVDs are badly broken. Take Freedomland. Not the best movie, I don't know what I was thinking. Fortunately, part way through my player refused to play the movie further. I was wondering if it was developing good taste, but no, examining the disk on the computer revealed: 9 bad sector areas, corrupt menu and track metadata, a bunch of invalid VOBUs scattered around. The Sony website brags that this deliberate brokeness is a feature. So I returned it as defective, which it is. This is not the first time I've had to do this. The ones I can remember are all Sony disks. Surprise.
The other day there was a/. story -- forget exactly which one -- which led to a roundtable where a Sony executive was complaining that Apple's DRM wasn't a standard, wasn't something everyone (read: Sony) could access. Sony, wanting standards. DVD structure is a standard, WTF?? Hypocrisy is best served in your face, I guess.
In the future I may "purchase" Sony DVDs just to return them as defective, to try to exert what pressure I can on the merchant, almost certainly futile as I'm sure Sony executives roast marshmellows over burning bricks of g-notes regardless of consumer sentiment.
If Sony is an example I'm not holding my breath that we will be able to avoid years and years of DRM foolishness... a digital dark age.
Slashdot effect, or did someone pull the plug at Server Central? Where did I put my tinfoil? % whois arstechnica.com Domain servers in listed order: NS1.SERVERCENTRAL.NET 64.202.100.113 NS2.SERVERCENTRAL.NET 64.202.96.102 % host arstechnica.com 64.202.100.113;; connection timed out; no servers could be reached % host arstechnica.com 64.202.96.102;; connection timed out; no servers could be reached % traceroute-nanog -A -O -U 64.202.100.113
1...
2...
3...
4 dist4-vlan60.irvnca.sbcglobal.net (67.114.50.66) [AS7132] postmaster@pbi.net 14 ms
5 bb2-g2-0.irvnca.sbcglobal.net (151.164.41.239) [AS7132] postmaster@swbell.net 45 ms
6 bb1-p3-0.irvnca.sbcglobal.net (151.164.191.205) [AS7132] postmaster@swbell.net 12 ms
7 151.164.42.77 (151.164.42.77) [AS7132] postmaster@swbell.net 16 ms
8 core1-p8-0.cranca.sbcglobal.net (151.164.241.225) [AS7132] postmaster@swbell.net 13 ms
9 core2-p11-0.crscca.sbcglobal.net (151.164.242.81) [AS7132] postmaster@swbell.net 44 ms 10 bb1-p8-0.crscca.sbcglobal.net (151.164.40.62) [AS7132] postmaster@swbell.net 27 ms 11 ex2-p5-0.eqsjca.sbcglobal.net (151.164.41.109) [AS7132] postmaster@swbell.net 33 ms 12 unknown.sjc.scnet.net (66.225.245.237) [AS23352] root@manage.scservers.com 29 ms 13 ge0-3-0.j1.sjc.scnet.net (64.202.104.230) [AS23352] root@manage.scservers.com 26 ms 14 ge-3-0-1.3940.j2.ord.scnet.net (205.234.205.97) [AS23352] root@manage.scservers.com 66 ms 15 * * * 16 * * * 17 * ^C % whois scnet.net Administrative Contact:
Server Central Network
Customer Owned Domain (hostmaster@servercentral.net)
+1.3128291111
Fax: +1.3128291110
2002 West Chicago Ave
PMB 101 / Hostmaster
Chicago, IL 60622-5548
US % whois scservers.com Administrative Contact:
Server Central
Domain Customer Owned (admin@servercentral.net)
+1.3128291111
Fax: +1.3128291110
2002 W Chicago Ave PMB 101
Chicago, IL 60622
US
And I'll go to my grave remembering the comments and experiences of people like you at the front lines but there will be confort in the knowledge that I was able to, through my technical knowledge and contacts, help in the fight against the radical towel-heads.
Slashdot Mirror
Many Sony DVDs are badly broken. Take Freedomland. Not the best movie, I don't know what I was thinking. Fortunately, part way through my player refused to play the movie further. I was wondering if it was developing good taste, but no, examining the disk on the computer revealed: 9 bad sector areas, corrupt menu and track metadata, a bunch of invalid VOBUs scattered around. The Sony website brags that this deliberate brokeness is a feature. So I returned it as defective, which it is. This is not the first time I've had to do this. The ones I can remember are all Sony disks. Surprise.
/. story -- forget exactly which one -- which led to a roundtable where a Sony executive was complaining that Apple's DRM wasn't a standard, wasn't something everyone (read: Sony) could access. Sony, wanting standards. DVD structure is a standard, WTF?? Hypocrisy is best served in your face, I guess.
The other day there was a
In the future I may "purchase" Sony DVDs just to return them as defective, to try to exert what pressure I can on the merchant, almost certainly futile as I'm sure Sony executives roast marshmellows over burning bricks of g-notes regardless of consumer sentiment.
If Sony is an example I'm not holding my breath that we will be able to avoid years and years of DRM foolishness... a digital dark age.
Slashdot effect, or did someone pull the plug at Server Central?
;; connection timed out; no servers could be reached ;; connection timed out; no servers could be reached ... ... ...
Where did I put my tinfoil?
% whois arstechnica.com
Domain servers in listed order:
NS1.SERVERCENTRAL.NET 64.202.100.113
NS2.SERVERCENTRAL.NET 64.202.96.102
% host arstechnica.com 64.202.100.113
% host arstechnica.com 64.202.96.102
% traceroute-nanog -A -O -U 64.202.100.113
1
2
3
4 dist4-vlan60.irvnca.sbcglobal.net (67.114.50.66) [AS7132] postmaster@pbi.net 14 ms
5 bb2-g2-0.irvnca.sbcglobal.net (151.164.41.239) [AS7132] postmaster@swbell.net 45 ms
6 bb1-p3-0.irvnca.sbcglobal.net (151.164.191.205) [AS7132] postmaster@swbell.net 12 ms
7 151.164.42.77 (151.164.42.77) [AS7132] postmaster@swbell.net 16 ms
8 core1-p8-0.cranca.sbcglobal.net (151.164.241.225) [AS7132] postmaster@swbell.net 13 ms
9 core2-p11-0.crscca.sbcglobal.net (151.164.242.81) [AS7132] postmaster@swbell.net 44 ms
10 bb1-p8-0.crscca.sbcglobal.net (151.164.40.62) [AS7132] postmaster@swbell.net 27 ms
11 ex2-p5-0.eqsjca.sbcglobal.net (151.164.41.109) [AS7132] postmaster@swbell.net 33 ms
12 unknown.sjc.scnet.net (66.225.245.237) [AS23352] root@manage.scservers.com 29 ms
13 ge0-3-0.j1.sjc.scnet.net (64.202.104.230) [AS23352] root@manage.scservers.com 26 ms
14 ge-3-0-1.3940.j2.ord.scnet.net (205.234.205.97) [AS23352] root@manage.scservers.com 66 ms
15 * * *
16 * * *
17 * ^C
% whois scnet.net
Administrative Contact:
Server Central Network
Customer Owned Domain (hostmaster@servercentral.net)
+1.3128291111
Fax: +1.3128291110
2002 West Chicago Ave
PMB 101 / Hostmaster
Chicago, IL 60622-5548
US
% whois scservers.com
Administrative Contact:
Server Central
Domain Customer Owned (admin@servercentral.net)
+1.3128291111
Fax: +1.3128291110
2002 W Chicago Ave PMB 101
Chicago, IL 60622
US
And I'll go to my grave remembering the comments and experiences of people like you at the front lines but there will be confort in the knowledge that I was able to, through my technical knowledge and contacts, help in the fight against the radical towel-heads.