Give it time. None of the existing packages do DVD disk copies because they would have to incorporate DeCSS, which is against the DMCA (or local equiv, we're all at it now).
However, most early CD->mp3 converters also made use of outlawed technology, using an non-licenced version of the mp3 encoder. You used to have to download the mp3 codec elsewhere and save it to the programs directory in order to use it. It's a bit like the mentality behind Mame, where you must download the game roms elsewhere. There will probably be software available soon to allow copies of some disks.
There are still a couple of other issues to resolve. Most DVD disks are now dual layers, and hold around 9 gig. Writable DVDs on the other hand are only ever single layer, so you can't just do a straight copy anyway. You'd need to span disks or use double-sided media. Like the hated "flipper" disks of olde, this won't be popular.
So, you can either re-encode the media to get it down to size (ouch, what's the point of a digital copy then!?!) or wait for larger capacity media to come along. Dual layer writable DVDs
may never see the light of day...
DivX on the other hand; I'm sure it won't be long before PVRs allow DivX playback over a network connection. The industry could be shooting itself in the foot here; instead of allowing users to make a copy of the disk, they will simply download the movie instead. And they lose the original save/rental in that scenario.
PS I don't don't condone piracy, I just tell it how it it is...
Sure, burning DVDs may be beyond Joe User just now, but so was burning CDs at one point. Those drag & drop interfaces wheren't always around. You had to worry about buffer underruns, drive fragmentation, media choice and all that nonsense just to get a usable disk. Now it's all easy.
As DVD burners are aimed more and more at the non-geek, so will the software. Burning your own videos to disk with easy to set up menu structures isn't too far away...
Ditto on the r3mix preset, VBR is where it's at. Check it out at the site here
One small problem...
on
Electric Armor
·
· Score: 2, Informative
OK, so it works by vaporising the copper tip (using hi-amp electricity) of the RPG that normally gets fired into the target by the shaped charge?
So, they'll just start making RPGs that don't have an electrically conductive tip. Set the bad guys back a few years, but they'll just find something else to shoot with the existing ammo.
Bummer, nice idea though. Could you get the power up high enough for an arc to destroy just about anything?
replacing all of their old tapes and LPs with CDs.
They must be really annoyed that we can transfer from CDs to the next-generation media freely at home, with high quality results. It's completely stopped that whole business model.
Yes and no. I fully agree with you on the fact that there is lot's of great music about now. If you know where and what to look for.
Unfortunatly, most folks buys whats theys hears ons the radio. That's the control of the cookie cutter music. The labels practically own the radio networks (in fact 0wnz is a much more fitting desciption, 'cos it's not ownership in the physical sense) and most folk go along with the flow. I really don't believe people aren't buying because it's rubbish, it's more to do with high CD prices and economic slowdown. Pop was invented in the 60s when it was realised that mass media can control what people like to do. That's not going to change.
Now go back to your coffeehouse, Laz-e-boy or foosball. Nothing has changed.
She is in porn already. Listen to Bill Hicks (paraphrased here)
"The dictionary defines pornography as anything that causes sexual thought without artistic merit".
As the man says after that, it defines just about every advert on TV, and most of the pop industry. When watching a Britney video, no one is thinking about how clever and insightful the lyrics are, the range of her her vocal talents, or how the wonderful music tiggers emotions. We're just looking at her body jiggle up and down.
Just because her nipples aren't showing doesn't mean it's not porn. Not a bad thing, porn is just fine by me, but let's just stop pretending shall we...?
How many linux users do you know that will be buying MS's home wireless kits?
What about the Windows user that buys the kit and then one day decided to try out Linux? They find it doesn't work with their wireless network and reformat the partition, giving up on Linux,possibly forever.
VPN solves some of the problems, not all. It only stops someone snooping your traffic, but anyone in-the-know uses SSH/SSL as much as possible and never ever transmits plain-text passwords anyway.
However, VPN doesn't restrict access to my box. I've got a RedHat box running as a router and a rather large media store. I'm more concerned with people accessing it after breaking the weak WEP encryption than snooping my personal data.
Also, you have to worry about routing this way. Getting access to the wireless network would allow the intruder to portscan merrily on private IP addresses that aren't locked down because they are behind the firewall and don't need to be. As always, it's a fine balance between security and functionality; I want those SMB shares to be accessable by me, but not an intruder. Short of MAC address validations (which can be spoofed), some sort of LEAP system is exactly what we need.
This does bring a downside; LEAP would harm community wireless because you are trying to limit access. A system where authenticated users can access all resouces and unknown users just get net access would rule. I don't think this has been done by anyone yet.
Unfortunatly, I went down the ad-hoc road thinking Linux could function well as the "Access Point". This set up does not allow for LEAP to be used though, so I'm stuck with standard wep and a strange paranoid feeling...
Ah, the PC version, never tried it. Disappointing it needed patched straight away. On a console they've gotta get it right first time, but it's easier when everyone has the exact same hardware!!
I'm surprised no one has come up with a patching system yet for consoles. Memory cards are getting to the point they could actually store something other than game saves. In a way I hope they never do...the current setup means very good QA testing is required. Never had GTA3 crash on PS2, but I've had to kill myself once or twice after getting stuck somewhere. Always carry grenades when you are trying silly jumps/flights!;-)
It happens everywhere. You've just not seen it. How often do you go to the local markets back home? At my local one there are registered stalls at a large weekly market selling dodgy DVDs, music and software. Everything and anything. They are at the same spot every week and all traders must be registered with the organisers. Either the Police don't care or they are getting paid-off.
Occassionally you hear about them getting raided, but I've also heard they usually know when one is comming. I guess the police are more concerned with cutting down on drink related violence and theft.
The people smell funny and live up to their theiving tendances not just in the software sense...to be avoided at all costs!!
Exactly. GTA3 is the most polished game I've ever seen. Half-Life set a standard years ago for FPS and GTA3 will now be a standard for "interactive world" games (or whatever they call them).
Everything about the game screams quality. It's the little things you don't notice at first that makes you smile. The tramp that says "yep, I've been drinking again" or the hidden barrel roll jump near the airport. The plane! You can go fly a plane if you want!
Or, how about going for a sail? Doing crazy leaps off ramps? Hop on a train or the subway if you feel the need.
For years I have dreamed of a game where you could roam as you wanted. I got bored with driving games, going around the same tracks in circles. I got bored with games where you could get stuck on a mission and not have anything else to do. GTA3 rekindled my interest in consoles and was the only reason I bought a PS2. It was easilly the consoles "killer app" for a lot of people. I've yet to see another game that comes close, it's almost as if the developers had too much fun making it!
Even then, the UK you have always been able to "personally import" titles. The law stated (since pre-dvd days) that shops (including UK based online shops) could not sell non-BBFC rated video, albeit with a few exceptions which still get a "Exempt" certification stamped on them.
They still go through customs though and if it was "questionable" you could get it confiscated. You could appeal though, but most folk probably wouldn't because of the cultural shame.;-)
If you were really unlucky, they would let have you it but the postman would hold the movie to ransom until you paid VAT (UK sales tax @ 17.5%)!!
You quickly learned which shipping companies "pre-paid" the tax (allowing faster delivery) so you could avoid them. Also, below a certain value (roughly 30 UKP I think) you didn't have to pay tax, so smaller shipments worked best.
In the early days, when DVD movies were released months before VHS, you could get a movie that was just begining to show in the cinema here for a price one third of what it would cost here a year later. Add to that often better extras and I was sold.
but I'd hate to think they'd require me to have my PC hooked up to a phone line or HSD.
It wouldn't be a first. The UK's Sky Digital satellite system comes with free installation, provided you have it hooked up to your phone line. This is paid for by the company that provides the interactive services (which use the phone line), and if you refuse you must pay a large installation fee. No one does of course.
It dials home (free call however) early morning every now and then. Who knows what it uploads. I took digital cable instead (not owned by the content provider), but it's two-way communications 24/7, so it's even more of a privacy concern. They could easily track what channel I am watching, if I flick about during commercials and so on. I've never seen any form of privacy statement from them on this.
Yes, I got a Sony 725 DVD player a couple of years ago from the UK site "Techronics" (sp?), who are mentioned earlier in the thread. It was chipped to play multi-region and disable user-prohibitons.
Every person I know that has a DVD player has a multi-region one. I'm in region 2 (Europe), but most of my disks are region 1 (USA). Generally they were cheaper and that's including the shipping cost! They also came out much earlier than region 2, I even got some before the local cinema release, but that was in the early days of DVDs and earlier releases were a selling point of the format.
Also, the special features were often better, mainly because having the special features rated for BBFC classification is charged by the minute, but there are also international licensing issues.
There are several sites, e.g. Rewind that have a database comparing the different versions of a disk. Very useful for online shopping.
Interestingly, the feature of my player to disable the prohibitions only works on Region 1 disks. I don't know of any other players to check this on, so I'm not sure if it is unique the modification I have.
Umm, if each one is sold at a loss, how is selling more supposed to make money?
I don't know if this holds true for toys, but in electronics, the more you make, the cheaper it gets. Over time your manufacturing process gets more efficient, cutting loss expences through faults/repair etc which is an expensive process. Your design costs are fixed, any changes to the design are generally to improve the process after the initial batches are deemed good for shipping.
You get better supplier deals once you have more clout, if the product takes off and you have money to spend. The suppliers costs also can go down if the volume is having the same effect on their manufacturing process. If you use your purchasing power correctly, you can get some of the savings passed onto yourself.
Unfortunatly, getting this right is generally a fluke when it happens, and usually the product ships at a profitable price, so the savings result in lower prices and higher profits.
For a good example of this, look at the original Playstations. If you take look inside all of the various models over the years, there have been many improvements to the physical design, as well as the PCBs. The latest models can be built really quickly, and consist of few parts, though they did ditch a few unnecessary interfaces, further reducing the cost. Building a early model up from scratch takes a lot of pieces to put together in the right order, pretty intricate stuff.
Theoretically, you could use this technique to sell initially at a loss, gambling on big sales to ultimatly make a profit. Risky business.
If a 14 year old kid that gets a pirated copy of 3D Studio Max -- a $3,500 software package, who is being hurt? The publisher had no reasonable expectation that the kid could have purchased it.
They'd probably count it in their $X Billion Cost Due To Piracy "statistics" though...
OK, say for example all the DRM laws are passed. No one can distribute media in the US without a license obtained from the MPAA or RIAA.
Where does this leave other countries? There is no way all of the countries will adopt similar laws.
So, does that mean that a US citizen, importing music (etc) from abroad is commiting a crime in order to listen to it? What about the UK citizen that wants to listen to music that's only available in the US? The only way to do that would be to import a DRM restricted player. Which will probably also be illegal.
Who is going to go to all that bother? No one, they'll get a unrestricted pirated version instead; no DRM is infallable, hence the law-making. They won't be breaking any of these DRM laws outside of US juristiction and the industry loses a sale!!
There are many independant labels that are imported by fans all the time. Go to a proper music store and take a look. Often these labels have no interest in setting up international distribution chains and especially all that will be involved with DRM. Some folk are actually in it for the music still, not the markets. The club DJ scene is dominated by imports and early releases; a good DJ gets the best new music before the others.
Often, it is realised that there is a international market for a band, and then it gets released officially. This happens amoungst all countries, except when it comes to the likes of Britany Spears, where agressive marketing is used to promote multi-national sales right from the "creation" of the band/act.
And so, many international companies will be turned away from the US market. At the loss of the US people, but not the US companies, who will get a bigger cut of the John USA's monthly media dollar. It will get to the point that every movie in the multiplex is created in the US. Ohhh...wait a minute...
Imagine that happens to music, the software industry and any other form of digital entertainment. But so long as big business is OK and outdated market models are preserved, that's OK.
This whole affair is destined to be an embarassing flop. Like the software creation process, the longer the problems are left unsaid, the more costly they will be to rectify.
No, the laws will only apply in the county they are made in. The internet leaves this as a grey area, if someone in the UK downloads illegal mp3s from someone in the USA, where is the crime commited? Does the same law apply if the USA user downloads from the UK? But UK from UK, the law is meaningless.
The US goverment should be very careful here. They may be removing their local markets from many industries. For example, a band may decide against releasing their music in the US becauses it's too much bother.
The fans would of course have to turn to imported media to get a hold of the music. Media which doesn't have mandated DRM systems. Which will be illegal!
This could apply to any digital content.
Strange world, innit?
While I don't like this, it makes sense. If they don't prosecute, it leaves the door open to use "I was merely looking for vulnerabilities to help you" as an excuse for a real malicious intrusion attempt.
It won't be long until laws are passed against wardriving...
Slashdot Mirror
However, most early CD->mp3 converters also made use of outlawed technology, using an non-licenced version of the mp3 encoder. You used to have to download the mp3 codec elsewhere and save it to the programs directory in order to use it. It's a bit like the mentality behind Mame, where you must download the game roms elsewhere. There will probably be software available soon to allow copies of some disks.
There are still a couple of other issues to resolve. Most DVD disks are now dual layers, and hold around 9 gig. Writable DVDs on the other hand are only ever single layer, so you can't just do a straight copy anyway. You'd need to span disks or use double-sided media. Like the hated "flipper" disks of olde, this won't be popular.
So, you can either re-encode the media to get it down to size (ouch, what's the point of a digital copy then!?!) or wait for larger capacity media to come along. Dual layer writable DVDs may never see the light of day...
DivX on the other hand; I'm sure it won't be long before PVRs allow DivX playback over a network connection. The industry could be shooting itself in the foot here; instead of allowing users to make a copy of the disk, they will simply download the movie instead. And they lose the original save/rental in that scenario.
PS I don't don't condone piracy, I just tell it how it it is...
As DVD burners are aimed more and more at the non-geek, so will the software. Burning your own videos to disk with easy to set up menu structures isn't too far away...
Ditto on the r3mix preset, VBR is where it's at. Check it out at the site here
So, they'll just start making RPGs that don't have an electrically conductive tip. Set the bad guys back a few years, but they'll just find something else to shoot with the existing ammo.
Bummer, nice idea though. Could you get the power up high enough for an arc to destroy just about anything?
They must be really annoyed that we can transfer from CDs to the next-generation media freely at home, with high quality results. It's completely stopped that whole business model.
The more you try to stop someone doing something, the more you are actually tempting them. Mostly.
Unfortunatly, most folks buys whats theys hears ons the radio. That's the control of the cookie cutter music. The labels practically own the radio networks (in fact 0wnz is a much more fitting desciption, 'cos it's not ownership in the physical sense) and most folk go along with the flow. I really don't believe people aren't buying because it's rubbish, it's more to do with high CD prices and economic slowdown. Pop was invented in the 60s when it was realised that mass media can control what people like to do. That's not going to change.
Now go back to your coffeehouse, Laz-e-boy or foosball. Nothing has changed.
"The dictionary defines pornography as anything that causes sexual thought without artistic merit".
As the man says after that, it defines just about every advert on TV, and most of the pop industry. When watching a Britney video, no one is thinking about how clever and insightful the lyrics are, the range of her her vocal talents, or how the wonderful music tiggers emotions. We're just looking at her body jiggle up and down.
Just because her nipples aren't showing doesn't mean it's not porn. Not a bad thing, porn is just fine by me, but let's just stop pretending shall we...?
What about the Windows user that buys the kit and then one day decided to try out Linux? They find it doesn't work with their wireless network and reformat the partition, giving up on Linux ,possibly forever.
However, VPN doesn't restrict access to my box. I've got a RedHat box running as a router and a rather large media store. I'm more concerned with people accessing it after breaking the weak WEP encryption than snooping my personal data.
Also, you have to worry about routing this way. Getting access to the wireless network would allow the intruder to portscan merrily on private IP addresses that aren't locked down because they are behind the firewall and don't need to be. As always, it's a fine balance between security and functionality; I want those SMB shares to be accessable by me, but not an intruder. Short of MAC address validations (which can be spoofed), some sort of LEAP system is exactly what we need.
This does bring a downside; LEAP would harm community wireless because you are trying to limit access. A system where authenticated users can access all resouces and unknown users just get net access would rule. I don't think this has been done by anyone yet.
Unfortunatly, I went down the ad-hoc road thinking Linux could function well as the "Access Point". This set up does not allow for LEAP to be used though, so I'm stuck with standard wep and a strange paranoid feeling...
Chances are it's a military or NSA bird. They don't really tend to announce them for obvious reasons...
Ah, the PC version, never tried it. Disappointing it needed patched straight away. On a console they've gotta get it right first time, but it's easier when everyone has the exact same hardware!!
I'm surprised no one has come up with a patching system yet for consoles. Memory cards are getting to the point they could actually store something other than game saves. In a way I hope they never do...the current setup means very good QA testing is required. Never had GTA3 crash on PS2, but I've had to kill myself once or twice after getting stuck somewhere. Always carry grenades when you are trying silly jumps/flights! ;-)
Occassionally you hear about them getting raided, but I've also heard they usually know when one is comming. I guess the police are more concerned with cutting down on drink related violence and theft.
The people smell funny and live up to their theiving tendances not just in the software sense...to be avoided at all costs!!
Everything about the game screams quality. It's the little things you don't notice at first that makes you smile. The tramp that says "yep, I've been drinking again" or the hidden barrel roll jump near the airport. The plane! You can go fly a plane if you want!
Or, how about going for a sail? Doing crazy leaps off ramps? Hop on a train or the subway if you feel the need.
For years I have dreamed of a game where you could roam as you wanted. I got bored with driving games, going around the same tracks in circles. I got bored with games where you could get stuck on a mission and not have anything else to do. GTA3 rekindled my interest in consoles and was the only reason I bought a PS2. It was easilly the consoles "killer app" for a lot of people. I've yet to see another game that comes close, it's almost as if the developers had too much fun making it!
They still go through customs though and if it was "questionable" you could get it confiscated. You could appeal though, but most folk probably wouldn't because of the cultural shame. ;-)
If you were really unlucky, they would let have you it but the postman would hold the movie to ransom until you paid VAT (UK sales tax @ 17.5%)!!
You quickly learned which shipping companies "pre-paid" the tax (allowing faster delivery) so you could avoid them. Also, below a certain value (roughly 30 UKP I think) you didn't have to pay tax, so smaller shipments worked best.
In the early days, when DVD movies were released months before VHS, you could get a movie that was just begining to show in the cinema here for a price one third of what it would cost here a year later. Add to that often better extras and I was sold.
- A DVD addict
but I'd hate to think they'd require me to have my PC hooked up to a phone line or HSD.
It wouldn't be a first. The UK's Sky Digital satellite system comes with free installation, provided you have it hooked up to your phone line. This is paid for by the company that provides the interactive services (which use the phone line), and if you refuse you must pay a large installation fee. No one does of course.
It dials home (free call however) early morning every now and then. Who knows what it uploads. I took digital cable instead (not owned by the content provider), but it's two-way communications 24/7, so it's even more of a privacy concern. They could easily track what channel I am watching, if I flick about during commercials and so on. I've never seen any form of privacy statement from them on this.
Yes, I got a Sony 725 DVD player a couple of years ago from the UK site "Techronics" (sp?), who are mentioned earlier in the thread. It was chipped to play multi-region and disable user-prohibitons.
Every person I know that has a DVD player has a multi-region one. I'm in region 2 (Europe), but most of my disks are region 1 (USA). Generally they were cheaper and that's including the shipping cost! They also came out much earlier than region 2, I even got some before the local cinema release, but that was in the early days of DVDs and earlier releases were a selling point of the format.
Also, the special features were often better, mainly because having the special features rated for BBFC classification is charged by the minute, but there are also international licensing issues.
There are several sites, e.g. Rewind that have a database comparing the different versions of a disk. Very useful for online shopping.
Interestingly, the feature of my player to disable the prohibitions only works on Region 1 disks. I don't know of any other players to check this on, so I'm not sure if it is unique the modification I have.
Umm, if each one is sold at a loss, how is selling more supposed to make money?
I don't know if this holds true for toys, but in electronics, the more you make, the cheaper it gets. Over time your manufacturing process gets more efficient, cutting loss expences through faults/repair etc which is an expensive process. Your design costs are fixed, any changes to the design are generally to improve the process after the initial batches are deemed good for shipping.
You get better supplier deals once you have more clout, if the product takes off and you have money to spend. The suppliers costs also can go down if the volume is having the same effect on their manufacturing process. If you use your purchasing power correctly, you can get some of the savings passed onto yourself.
Unfortunatly, getting this right is generally a fluke when it happens, and usually the product ships at a profitable price, so the savings result in lower prices and higher profits.
For a good example of this, look at the original Playstations. If you take look inside all of the various models over the years, there have been many improvements to the physical design, as well as the PCBs. The latest models can be built really quickly, and consist of few parts, though they did ditch a few unnecessary interfaces, further reducing the cost. Building a early model up from scratch takes a lot of pieces to put together in the right order, pretty intricate stuff.
Theoretically, you could use this technique to sell initially at a loss, gambling on big sales to ultimatly make a profit. Risky business.
They'd probably count it in their $X Billion Cost Due To Piracy "statistics" though...
OK, say for example all the DRM laws are passed. No one can distribute media in the US without a license obtained from the MPAA or RIAA.
Where does this leave other countries? There is no way all of the countries will adopt similar laws.
So, does that mean that a US citizen, importing music (etc) from abroad is commiting a crime in order to listen to it? What about the UK citizen that wants to listen to music that's only available in the US? The only way to do that would be to import a DRM restricted player. Which will probably also be illegal.
Who is going to go to all that bother? No one, they'll get a unrestricted pirated version instead; no DRM is infallable, hence the law-making. They won't be breaking any of these DRM laws outside of US juristiction and the industry loses a sale!!
There are many independant labels that are imported by fans all the time. Go to a proper music store and take a look. Often these labels have no interest in setting up international distribution chains and especially all that will be involved with DRM. Some folk are actually in it for the music still, not the markets. The club DJ scene is dominated by imports and early releases; a good DJ gets the best new music before the others.
Often, it is realised that there is a international market for a band, and then it gets released officially. This happens amoungst all countries, except when it comes to the likes of Britany Spears, where agressive marketing is used to promote multi-national sales right from the "creation" of the band/act.
And so, many international companies will be turned away from the US market. At the loss of the US people, but not the US companies, who will get a bigger cut of the John USA's monthly media dollar. It will get to the point that every movie in the multiplex is created in the US. Ohhh...wait a minute...
Imagine that happens to music, the software industry and any other form of digital entertainment. But so long as big business is OK and outdated market models are preserved, that's OK.
This whole affair is destined to be an embarassing flop. Like the software creation process, the longer the problems are left unsaid, the more costly they will be to rectify.
No, the laws will only apply in the county they are made in. The internet leaves this as a grey area, if someone in the UK downloads illegal mp3s from someone in the USA, where is the crime commited? Does the same law apply if the USA user downloads from the UK? But UK from UK, the law is meaningless. The US goverment should be very careful here. They may be removing their local markets from many industries. For example, a band may decide against releasing their music in the US becauses it's too much bother. The fans would of course have to turn to imported media to get a hold of the music. Media which doesn't have mandated DRM systems. Which will be illegal! This could apply to any digital content. Strange world, innit?
While I don't like this, it makes sense. If they don't prosecute, it leaves the door open to use "I was merely looking for vulnerabilities to help you" as an excuse for a real malicious intrusion attempt. It won't be long until laws are passed against wardriving...