How many countries in North and South America end with "America"?
Considering the USA is the only one and by definition of communication you got the message, I find it very childish for people to once again scream "those selfish, uncultured americans..."
In almost every other business, there are limits as to when copyrights or patents will expire. Music may be something like 50 years, but I don't really think that is true.
My point is that I have no problem with a company discovering a band, paying for marketing (obviously only horrible music needs marketing), etc and charging a premium on their brand new CD or whatever. However, after a few years, why can't some other company now come in and make that same damn CD and actually compete with the music company on price? The artist can still get their $0.01 or how ever little money the do get. This would actually allow competitin among the same product. Britney Spears is not competing against Dream Theater and therefore these copyrights have turned into a monopoly...
For example, after 5 years, the song is "owned" by the writer. The "rights" to distribute it can haded out to different people if the own so chooses. Obviously this is not how the industry works, but I'm not going to pay for DRM to support their monopolies and BS!
Keep in mind that a lot of rebates are offered by the manufacture, not the store you're buying it at. If they want to weed out their inventory because a new product is coming out, this can help find a balance of the lowest price prior to the new product release. Companies do report inventory status things in their earning reports (book to bill, etc).
Although I hate rebates, only once have I had to call up the rebate center. I probably average a few hundred a year in rebates. I'm at about $200 this year alone. I am careful with which rebates I go after and from what stores.
I have the single tuner Motorola HD DVR and it is horrible. I get constant glitches unless it is either a recording or I have paused it for 5 sec and playing back it like a delayed live. The box does not have a progress bar during play back. If you decide to start watching a program that had to turn itself on to do the scheduled recording, the box will shut off when the show ends and it will NOT save the spot you were watching. The 4 levels of fastforward are NOT nearly as fast as other boxes. I did get a firmware update (I believe) becuase it is faster now.
Mine is a single tuner so I have a HTPC with firewire connected to a second Motorola HDTV box (no DVR feature). This allows me to record two things at once. Although they can do it with MythTV, I use WinXP and cannot change channels with it just yet.
The Guide menu shows only 1 hours worth. I would say about 40-50% of the screen is full of ads.
Repeating recordings are completely deleted if you decide not to record one week's edition of a show. How annoying is that?
The software cannot figure out the show playing during a time slot. There's no "record only this show during this time slot" So if the network plays something else from 8-11 and you have a recording from 9-10, you get 1 hour of crap. It also cannot find the show on other channels.
Those listed above (except the single tunner) are all features I think a minimum PVR/DVR should have. I hate the box and I hate my cable company for picking it (not that they really had a choice).
Well, I want a power book with a two button mouse input because I do not feel I should have to plug/carry another item to get this feature.
Try playing some games... Maybe my problem is I am not coordinated enogh for a Mac!
I agree completely. One minor detail you overlooked is time and money. I have the desire to do all of the above, but our wonderful marketing/leadership team decides the first hint silicon works means release to production.
Why? The quicker we can sell it, the faster our "time to profit" is. Doesn't that just sound like a coporate metric that promotes quality?
Thankfully we do not work on life critical systems.
I did attack HDCP when I commented on comparing 15in LCD monitors and LCD TVs.
I don't think I'm jumping the gun because look at all the things you cannot do already. I pay $160 a month for cable and there are only about 4 HDTV channels I can output on my firewire port from cable box to computer to record. I *pay* for HDTV and I pay for HBO. It is one thing to pay for content, but c'mon already. I should be able to do what I want with it as long as I am not making a *PROFIT* off of it. As usual, it boils down to fair use. Knowing companies want to squeeze every last dime out of their customers, I'd rather jump the gun now than regret it later.
I have HDMI and DVI for my home theater. My projector has both inputs so naturally one is cable box and the other is the computer. DVD is component - if I'm not using the computer. Therefore, HDMI audio makes absolutely no sense to me. These digital video signals never make it to my receiver and no one in their right mind would rely on their HDTV to play audio. If you can afford a few thousand dollars for a HDTV, you can buy a $199 Dolby digital/DTS receiver to better handle the audio.
I see the new Denon 58xx series receiver has HDMI and DVI switching, but does it actually grab the audio out of the HDMI port? I don't know, but doubt it.
HDMI audio, in addition to the DRM, seems like a stupid feature some BestBuy or Circuit city employee would sell as a must have "feature". Oooh..this cable is an ALL-in-One connection.
In the future, component will no longer carry HDTV content (or so I'm told). If they also mandate HDMI audio connections, I think people will revolt against the FCC. HDCP is ridiculous itself (compare 15 LCD monitors and 15 LCD TV - think there is that big hardware difference?) Doesn't anyone in the FCC actually use HDTV or a Tivo and see how restrictive the new technology is becoming?
Of course I don't catch everything. My point is that alot of the stuff I get now have OBVIOUS bugs. So, what I am demanding is that we as consumers should not openly allow all these patches. Like I said, there will always be the case that when x,y,z on a full moon occurs, something bad happens with the product. That's fine. But when air bags do not deploy at regular crash test sites for cars, Sony projectors just switch inputs (big percentage of them do that by the way), and the nVidia 6800 AGP chip will not do hardware acceleration for HDTV video after all, it has to make you wonder what other crap we are getting just so we can get it.
Yes, I am willing to wait some time for new releases. I would have never upgraded to WinXP from Win2k if it wasn't for the better firewire support. I just never had the need to. Although I am an engineer, I want the computer and other items to "just work". I'll tinker with it if I want to get it to do something new - not just operate as they promised it should.
In the hardware world, we aren't given the chance to update the product after customers get it. (OBVIOUSLY) So, it is demanded that we get it right the first time. Sometimes we don't and there is enough wiggle room in the design that some firmware can correct things. I think the same mandate should be for software. For example, Sony's new MP3 player - that cannot play MP3's yet because the fireware still doesn't support it. What the heck is that all about? Is anyone suing nVidia over the flawed AGP version of the 6800? They obviously marketed a product that could not do what they said it could (hence the 6600 and pci-e 6800 are a different chip)
Obviously I'm idealistic with this but if we give them an inch, they will take more.
I was hoping someone would point this out. I agree IE has done things that are not correct. But the fact is a high, very high, extremely high majority of people use IE. Therefore sites are coded for it. I would therefore expect anyone who wants to make the better browser would take this into account. I'm not expect FireFox to continue with non-standard coding, but they should at least be able to dectect IE code and therefore handle it properly. I would never attempt to replace something without at least handling everything it can do.
As for broken sh*t, I'm just getting fed up with a lot of things. My PVR for my cable box (Motorola) should beconsidered an "alpha" version because it has so many problems (lock ups, choppy display, MPG like quality afer a few minutes of viewing). All of these problems are fixed by watching a time delayed version (i.e., just hit pause and then play as fast as you can). It was obviously programmed to prioritize the recording - which is the better of two choices. I just think it is unacceptable. My remote for my receiver crashed the other day and I had to remove the batteries. The first Sony VPL-hs20 projector randomly switched inputs. Had to replace it. It seems like companies rather just get a product out than get it working right. I should know, I'm in the semiconductor company and fight this all the time. Cars have recalls for things like air bags not timed right. C'mon - if you tested it you should have found that. It isn't like a recall where a bolt can break if x,y,z, 1,2,3 happen on a full moon. My Dell Axiom x50v displays lines in full screen mode during video playback. It does it for all videos. Therefore, it is unacceptable for them to say they didn't see it.
I'm a test engineer for a living and my job is to verify things work. I cannot get away with the junk quality I receive in my house. I think consumers should hold OEMs as responsible as they hold their suppliers. nVidia is pissed at us because we had 2 bad units in about 10million sold to them. I own 3 nVidia cards - all have broken fans. My brother has a new 6600XT - vibrating fan already. Completely unacceptable. There comes a point in time when Walmart quality is not allowed at any price.
Therefore, I apologize to the FireFox fans, but I am just disappointed in the product. I have high expectations and I hope everyone starts to as well. Version 1 should be the only one unless there are new features. We have to set a mandate that Version 1.1 is not acceptable. Companies should only be allowed to use it in rare circumstances. Nowadays, who cares about the firmware. "We can always have them patch it later on". Not if I gave the MP3 player to my Mother who barely can use a mouse....
Although I doubt they will follow it, I was very impressed with Tom's Hardware when they said the would not test cards until they are the final version. Companies only look at the bottom line. If we do not but their crap, they will find out the hard way. I for one will not by a hard drive without a 3 year warranty. If you can't give me that, then why should I even remotely trust your drive? I may even fork over a few extra bucks for the quality if it was offered...
As much as I hate IE, I am startnig to hate FireFox. Ok so FireFox doesn't crash, but I've found numerous sites that do not display properly. The most annoying is www.titantv.com. I have notice numerous other sites do not format properly. Yes it is open source, etc., but I'm not a programmer nor should I be. So, I still use IE because I absolutely hate broken products. I use IE for known sites that do not work in FireFox and I use FireFox for new sites because IE crashes with some Jave bugs. Am I the only one sick of broken sh*t released to consumers?
Right now I use Windows Media Encoder and stream a WMV over the "internet". That is, I play a URL of http://192.168.1.100:8080 in the mobile Windows Meida player already included on the Dell. There are other methods, but this is the easiest. This allows any input on the computer to be streamed. I even installed VNC so that I can change the channel remotely too. Only limitation so far is a 4 second delay as the Windows Media player buffers the network. Not too bad.
but get a PDA with Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition. My Dell x50v has it and I still can't belive the stuff I can do with it. It mounts as drives in WinXP, I stream TV/DVDs to it, I mount my home network and can play any file I own. Well, expet for my HDTV stuff - then again what's the point of a 1280x720 video on a 640x480 display?
I guess the Linux ones can do some of this too...
Well, I think you got my point. There are many non-engineer technical people out there that I highly respect. However, there are also many that compare themslevs to engineers who really would fail miserably given the expecations we have. Good engineers pride themselvs in doing the unexpected. So, as for a CD play, if someone really wanted me to fix it, I bet you I could go in and figure it out. I may not have the skills that highly qualified tech has with fine tools/soldering, but I could probably isolate the prablem (in fact I recently was debugging nVidia's 6600 board that had start up problems - from nVidia). I would even welcome the challenge. However, I'd rather spend my time trying to get a work around for copying 5C complient HDTV and just spend $20 on a new cd player.
True, but I would expect a car designer (assuming your that engineer type) to have a clue on what is wrong with a car. I'm an Test Engineer for a semiconductor company. My job is to check out ICs to see if they work and do that very fast and consistantly over millions of units. However, I'm expected to and DO help them debug a design flaw or a problem with the manufacturing process even though I had nothing to do with either. Therefore, please do not associate with engineers unless you realize that engineers do more than just design things - we figure things out!
But at the same time, you're not necessarily transfer individual electrons in a circuit. The actual net electron drift velocity is much smaller than the speed of an electron. When you call the UK the electrons (assume a copper wire) are not travelling at or near the speed of light. They are traveling around 72e-6 cm/s, or 72um/s. Yet, the call goes through almost instantly.....
One reason this will never happen: Insurance. No one writes perfect code. No one makes perfect hardware. One accident involving numerous cars will cause a massive lawsuit. Did the car manufacture do something wrong? Did the automated system have a bug? Who is at fault? If I'm not driving, you cannot possibly fault me. This would bring a financial nightmare to any company that tries to market it.
If I remember correctly, they are searching specific frequencies where background radiation is the lowest(around Hydrogen). They are looking for gausian dristribuitions, not necessarily the specific encoding/transmission mechanism. When we broadcast on a specific frequency, such as 100.3KHz, there is some power at 100.2KHz, and some at 100.0KHz. If we were to do a frequencey sweep around this frequency you would see a power distribution centered at 100.3KHz (Bell curve). This would indicate a possible signal being generated. Naturally many things emmit radiation at certain frequencies, but if we use the SETI logic, aliens would be inclined tobroadcast in the spectrum where the universe is the most quiet and this should be our best chance of detecting it. Right now, I think they are just looking at power levels and not trying to figure out what the data is.
If you are worried about the power consumption, price of a surge protector, and/or your electric bill increase, I think a plasma TV is slightly out of your budget.
Although I fundamentally agree with you, I cannot stand to watch a movie that has been compressed to death. I can be very picky when it comes to the picture and sound quality. Flaws stand out to me and become a distraction.
One thing the movie industry has going for it is that after box office sales, the movie itself is usually paid off. So, there is no reason they cannot make dowloads extremely cheap. No media to print at all. Other than high bandwidth and servers, their costs would be minimal.
Blockbuster and other rental places would obviously object. Therefore, I wouldn't expect a movie to available for download legally until a few weeks after the rental release.
They should focus on delivering, cheap, high quality downloads. Then, go after the illegal downloaders. The music and movie industries waste way too much money on encryption that can ALWAYS be cracked. Is a month of security (time before it is cracked) worth investment to develop it?
All of use who lived in dorms with high speed connections probably at some point signed an Acceptable use policy. However, part of that policy usually says you cannot hack other machines or run services on unverisity machines that is against their purpose. For them to run a program on MY machine, wouldn't that require some form of hacking? Even if I leave the computer completely unsecured that does not give them the right to install something on it. Thats like saying you took someone's car out for a joy ride because they left it running. Sure, there's no permanent damage (if you decide to return it), but it is still illegal.
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They aren't bad for the wafers, but rather the photoresist applied to define/block metal and other features of the device.
How many countries in North and South America end with "America"? Considering the USA is the only one and by definition of communication you got the message, I find it very childish for people to once again scream "those selfish, uncultured americans..."
In almost every other business, there are limits as to when copyrights or patents will expire. Music may be something like 50 years, but I don't really think that is true.
My point is that I have no problem with a company discovering a band, paying for marketing (obviously only horrible music needs marketing), etc and charging a premium on their brand new CD or whatever. However, after a few years, why can't some other company now come in and make that same damn CD and actually compete with the music company on price? The artist can still get their $0.01 or how ever little money the do get. This would actually allow competitin among the same product. Britney Spears is not competing against Dream Theater and therefore these copyrights have turned into a monopoly...
For example, after 5 years, the song is "owned" by the writer. The "rights" to distribute it can haded out to different people if the own so chooses. Obviously this is not how the industry works, but I'm not going to pay for DRM to support their monopolies and BS!
Keep in mind that a lot of rebates are offered by the manufacture, not the store you're buying it at. If they want to weed out their inventory because a new product is coming out, this can help find a balance of the lowest price prior to the new product release. Companies do report inventory status things in their earning reports (book to bill, etc).
Although I hate rebates, only once have I had to call up the rebate center. I probably average a few hundred a year in rebates. I'm at about $200 this year alone. I am careful with which rebates I go after and from what stores.
Mine is a single tuner so I have a HTPC with firewire connected to a second Motorola HDTV box (no DVR feature). This allows me to record two things at once. Although they can do it with MythTV, I use WinXP and cannot change channels with it just yet.
The Guide menu shows only 1 hours worth. I would say about 40-50% of the screen is full of ads.
Repeating recordings are completely deleted if you decide not to record one week's edition of a show. How annoying is that?
The software cannot figure out the show playing during a time slot. There's no "record only this show during this time slot" So if the network plays something else from 8-11 and you have a recording from 9-10, you get 1 hour of crap. It also cannot find the show on other channels.
Those listed above (except the single tunner) are all features I think a minimum PVR/DVR should have. I hate the box and I hate my cable company for picking it (not that they really had a choice).
Well, I want a power book with a two button mouse input because I do not feel I should have to plug/carry another item to get this feature. Try playing some games... Maybe my problem is I am not coordinated enogh for a Mac!
I agree completely. One minor detail you overlooked is time and money. I have the desire to do all of the above, but our wonderful marketing/leadership team decides the first hint silicon works means release to production.
Why? The quicker we can sell it, the faster our "time to profit" is. Doesn't that just sound like a coporate metric that promotes quality?
Thankfully we do not work on life critical systems.
I did attack HDCP when I commented on comparing 15in LCD monitors and LCD TVs.
I don't think I'm jumping the gun because look at all the things you cannot do already. I pay $160 a month for cable and there are only about 4 HDTV channels I can output on my firewire port from cable box to computer to record. I *pay* for HDTV and I pay for HBO. It is one thing to pay for content, but c'mon already. I should be able to do what I want with it as long as I am not making a *PROFIT* off of it. As usual, it boils down to fair use. Knowing companies want to squeeze every last dime out of their customers, I'd rather jump the gun now than regret it later.
I have HDMI and DVI for my home theater. My projector has both inputs so naturally one is cable box and the other is the computer. DVD is component - if I'm not using the computer. Therefore, HDMI audio makes absolutely no sense to me. These digital video signals never make it to my receiver and no one in their right mind would rely on their HDTV to play audio. If you can afford a few thousand dollars for a HDTV, you can buy a $199 Dolby digital/DTS receiver to better handle the audio.
I see the new Denon 58xx series receiver has HDMI and DVI switching, but does it actually grab the audio out of the HDMI port? I don't know, but doubt it.
HDMI audio, in addition to the DRM, seems like a stupid feature some BestBuy or Circuit city employee would sell as a must have "feature". Oooh..this cable is an ALL-in-One connection.
In the future, component will no longer carry HDTV content (or so I'm told). If they also mandate HDMI audio connections, I think people will revolt against the FCC. HDCP is ridiculous itself (compare 15 LCD monitors and 15 LCD TV - think there is that big hardware difference?) Doesn't anyone in the FCC actually use HDTV or a Tivo and see how restrictive the new technology is becoming?
Of course I don't catch everything. My point is that alot of the stuff I get now have OBVIOUS bugs. So, what I am demanding is that we as consumers should not openly allow all these patches. Like I said, there will always be the case that when x,y,z on a full moon occurs, something bad happens with the product. That's fine. But when air bags do not deploy at regular crash test sites for cars, Sony projectors just switch inputs (big percentage of them do that by the way), and the nVidia 6800 AGP chip will not do hardware acceleration for HDTV video after all, it has to make you wonder what other crap we are getting just so we can get it.
Yes, I am willing to wait some time for new releases. I would have never upgraded to WinXP from Win2k if it wasn't for the better firewire support. I just never had the need to. Although I am an engineer, I want the computer and other items to "just work". I'll tinker with it if I want to get it to do something new - not just operate as they promised it should.
In the hardware world, we aren't given the chance to update the product after customers get it. (OBVIOUSLY) So, it is demanded that we get it right the first time. Sometimes we don't and there is enough wiggle room in the design that some firmware can correct things. I think the same mandate should be for software. For example, Sony's new MP3 player - that cannot play MP3's yet because the fireware still doesn't support it. What the heck is that all about? Is anyone suing nVidia over the flawed AGP version of the 6800? They obviously marketed a product that could not do what they said it could (hence the 6600 and pci-e 6800 are a different chip)
Obviously I'm idealistic with this but if we give them an inch, they will take more.
I was hoping someone would point this out. I agree IE has done things that are not correct. But the fact is a high, very high, extremely high majority of people use IE. Therefore sites are coded for it. I would therefore expect anyone who wants to make the better browser would take this into account. I'm not expect FireFox to continue with non-standard coding, but they should at least be able to dectect IE code and therefore handle it properly. I would never attempt to replace something without at least handling everything it can do.
As for broken sh*t, I'm just getting fed up with a lot of things. My PVR for my cable box (Motorola) should beconsidered an "alpha" version because it has so many problems (lock ups, choppy display, MPG like quality afer a few minutes of viewing). All of these problems are fixed by watching a time delayed version (i.e., just hit pause and then play as fast as you can). It was obviously programmed to prioritize the recording - which is the better of two choices. I just think it is unacceptable. My remote for my receiver crashed the other day and I had to remove the batteries. The first Sony VPL-hs20 projector randomly switched inputs. Had to replace it. It seems like companies rather just get a product out than get it working right. I should know, I'm in the semiconductor company and fight this all the time. Cars have recalls for things like air bags not timed right. C'mon - if you tested it you should have found that. It isn't like a recall where a bolt can break if x,y,z, 1,2,3 happen on a full moon. My Dell Axiom x50v displays lines in full screen mode during video playback. It does it for all videos. Therefore, it is unacceptable for them to say they didn't see it.
I'm a test engineer for a living and my job is to verify things work. I cannot get away with the junk quality I receive in my house. I think consumers should hold OEMs as responsible as they hold their suppliers. nVidia is pissed at us because we had 2 bad units in about 10million sold to them. I own 3 nVidia cards - all have broken fans. My brother has a new 6600XT - vibrating fan already. Completely unacceptable. There comes a point in time when Walmart quality is not allowed at any price.
Therefore, I apologize to the FireFox fans, but I am just disappointed in the product. I have high expectations and I hope everyone starts to as well. Version 1 should be the only one unless there are new features. We have to set a mandate that Version 1.1 is not acceptable. Companies should only be allowed to use it in rare circumstances. Nowadays, who cares about the firmware. "We can always have them patch it later on". Not if I gave the MP3 player to my Mother who barely can use a mouse....
Although I doubt they will follow it, I was very impressed with Tom's Hardware when they said the would not test cards until they are the final version. Companies only look at the bottom line. If we do not but their crap, they will find out the hard way. I for one will not by a hard drive without a 3 year warranty. If you can't give me that, then why should I even remotely trust your drive? I may even fork over a few extra bucks for the quality if it was offered...
As much as I hate IE, I am startnig to hate FireFox. Ok so FireFox doesn't crash, but I've found numerous sites that do not display properly. The most annoying is www.titantv.com. I have notice numerous other sites do not format properly. Yes it is open source, etc., but I'm not a programmer nor should I be. So, I still use IE because I absolutely hate broken products. I use IE for known sites that do not work in FireFox and I use FireFox for new sites because IE crashes with some Jave bugs. Am I the only one sick of broken sh*t released to consumers?
I hightly doubt the dual 6600s will run linux. However, I hope they can run IN linux
Right now I use Windows Media Encoder and stream a WMV over the "internet". That is, I play a URL of http://192.168.1.100:8080 in the mobile Windows Meida player already included on the Dell. There are other methods, but this is the easiest. This allows any input on the computer to be streamed. I even installed VNC so that I can change the channel remotely too. Only limitation so far is a 4 second delay as the Windows Media player buffers the network. Not too bad.
but get a PDA with Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition. My Dell x50v has it and I still can't belive the stuff I can do with it. It mounts as drives in WinXP, I stream TV/DVDs to it, I mount my home network and can play any file I own. Well, expet for my HDTV stuff - then again what's the point of a 1280x720 video on a 640x480 display? I guess the Linux ones can do some of this too...
http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/12/03/obit.johnston.ap/ index.html Death of oldest American
Well, I think you got my point. There are many non-engineer technical people out there that I highly respect. However, there are also many that compare themslevs to engineers who really would fail miserably given the expecations we have. Good engineers pride themselvs in doing the unexpected. So, as for a CD play, if someone really wanted me to fix it, I bet you I could go in and figure it out. I may not have the skills that highly qualified tech has with fine tools/soldering, but I could probably isolate the prablem (in fact I recently was debugging nVidia's 6600 board that had start up problems - from nVidia). I would even welcome the challenge. However, I'd rather spend my time trying to get a work around for copying 5C complient HDTV and just spend $20 on a new cd player.
True, but I would expect a car designer (assuming your that engineer type) to have a clue on what is wrong with a car. I'm an Test Engineer for a semiconductor company. My job is to check out ICs to see if they work and do that very fast and consistantly over millions of units. However, I'm expected to and DO help them debug a design flaw or a problem with the manufacturing process even though I had nothing to do with either. Therefore, please do not associate with engineers unless you realize that engineers do more than just design things - we figure things out!
But at the same time, you're not necessarily transfer individual electrons in a circuit. The actual net electron drift velocity is much smaller than the speed of an electron. When you call the UK the electrons (assume a copper wire) are not travelling at or near the speed of light. They are traveling around 72e-6 cm/s, or 72um/s. Yet, the call goes through almost instantly.....
One reason this will never happen: Insurance. No one writes perfect code. No one makes perfect hardware. One accident involving numerous cars will cause a massive lawsuit. Did the car manufacture do something wrong? Did the automated system have a bug? Who is at fault? If I'm not driving, you cannot possibly fault me. This would bring a financial nightmare to any company that tries to market it.
while on the crapper....where else?
If I remember correctly, they are searching specific frequencies where background radiation is the lowest(around Hydrogen). They are looking for gausian dristribuitions, not necessarily the specific encoding/transmission mechanism. When we broadcast on a specific frequency, such as 100.3KHz, there is some power at 100.2KHz, and some at 100.0KHz. If we were to do a frequencey sweep around this frequency you would see a power distribution centered at 100.3KHz (Bell curve). This would indicate a possible signal being generated. Naturally many things emmit radiation at certain frequencies, but if we use the SETI logic, aliens would be inclined tobroadcast in the spectrum where the universe is the most quiet and this should be our best chance of detecting it. Right now, I think they are just looking at power levels and not trying to figure out what the data is.
If you are worried about the power consumption, price of a surge protector, and/or your electric bill increase, I think a plasma TV is slightly out of your budget.
Although I fundamentally agree with you, I cannot stand to watch a movie that has been compressed to death. I can be very picky when it comes to the picture and sound quality. Flaws stand out to me and become a distraction.
One thing the movie industry has going for it is that after box office sales, the movie itself is usually paid off. So, there is no reason they cannot make dowloads extremely cheap. No media to print at all. Other than high bandwidth and servers, their costs would be minimal.
Blockbuster and other rental places would obviously object. Therefore, I wouldn't expect a movie to available for download legally until a few weeks after the rental release.
They should focus on delivering, cheap, high quality downloads. Then, go after the illegal downloaders. The music and movie industries waste way too much money on encryption that can ALWAYS be cracked. Is a month of security (time before it is cracked) worth investment to develop it?
All of use who lived in dorms with high speed connections probably at some point signed an Acceptable use policy. However, part of that policy usually says you cannot hack other machines or run services on unverisity machines that is against their purpose. For them to run a program on MY machine, wouldn't that require some form of hacking? Even if I leave the computer completely unsecured that does not give them the right to install something on it. Thats like saying you took someone's car out for a joy ride because they left it running. Sure, there's no permanent damage (if you decide to return it), but it is still illegal.