I can rent high definition movies through my cable box and pause, rewind, etc. No Blu-Ray or HD-DVD player required. Net distribution is beating the hardware version for the first time.
Plus I can't (theoretically of course) use DVD-Decrypter to backup a bunch of movies to my computer which is plugged into my HDTV (1280x720progressive if you're curious). It makes Netflix' distribution model look archaic.
From The Longtail Blog "What's changed is the presumption that the primary rights-holder is the best at extracting the commercial potential of creative material. Instead, anyone can do it: the advertising company that remixes an old movie to sell a car; the Linux t-shirt done Warhol-style, or just plain old DJ magic. "
"Let them eat cake" Well now that cake is actually free and we all want to sell it. Now if you can put a custom birthday signature on that cake you might have a business. This is one of the reasons film school is starting to see a new wave of interest. Communication and creativity, not business processes, are going to be the only things left after the so called Web2.0 is done modernizing commerce.
"Are you guys actually planning to model the area of contact between the tire and the road?"
Eventually yes, we're designing a modular tire dynamics model so you can assign the various tire models to the wheels which should allow us to easily test new ideas and theories. So if the CPU use is too high we can just choose not to use a dynamic Lu Gre not use it until processors get fast enough.
Here's the early idea in code:
Tiremodel* tireModel;
switch(tyreModelSelector){
case PACEJKA: tireModel = new Pacejka(static parameters from xml file);
break;
case LUGRE: tireModel = new LuGre(...);
} ...
wheel.applyForceAtPatch( tireModel.getForce(dynamic parameters) );
We've got a discussion board and a good discussion about the issues involved here.
We're trying to take advantage of some new papers (pdf) that propose a better tire model than the older Pacejka. Check out the math heavy pdfs here and here.
Driving simulator seeks godless heathens I figure you're a good fit for an open source project like ours. We're developing an open source driving simulator and we've got some challenging math in the form of tire models etc. that you might find trivial to solve yet hugely beneficial for the OSS movement (entertainment software as a maketing vehicle).
Anyhoo, at your salary you can probably afford to buy the cars we're simulating but we need your brain if you can spare the time.
I'm not arguing that but if an HDTV does 1024x768 and the lowest high-def resolution is 1280x720 then is it really an HDTV? If 1024x760 is ok then why not 800x600?
The Sony KD-34XBR960 is probably the best right now in terms of pure picture quality. I got lucky and found a reference monitor on the AVS Forums deals section for $700, best deal of my life. They're going for $1,500 and up according to a Froogle search.
We're just about to release version 1 of our open source driving simulator which is using OGRE. It currently compiles in Linux but we need a little help making it compile in Windows and on the Mac.
You're wrong. Most HDTVs do 1024x768 or 1280x720 and downconvert 1080i. So yes you can watch 1080i signals on a low end HDTV but there are also boxes that convert 1080i signals so you can watch them on a standard TV. That doesn't magically turn that TV into an HDTV.
"When a film is turned into a DVD, the first step is to scan each frame digitally and to store the data on a hard drive. The more times a frame is scanned, the more coherent is the resulting picture. Many DVD studios now scan films at "high-definition"--or 1,080 lines. Warners is one of just a few that scan at 2,000 lines (or, in the parlance, "2K scanning"). Soon, beginning with a Wizard of Oz reissue later this year, it will start releasing Technicolor DVDs scanned at 4,000 lines ("4K scanning"). This is a significant number. Engineers estimate that if you digitally reproduced all the information on a frame of 35mm film, you'd need about 4,000 lines of data. In other words, at least theoretically (and for more on this caveat, click here), 4K scanning captures everything that's on a film.
That's good news, I have TNT in high definition and the movies really look much better than DVDs. Considering most so called HDTVs can't even do 1280x720, the lowest HD spec, it's good to know that these films are being future proofed.
For what it's worth, if you want the best picture quality in an HDTV get a tube, they're big and heavy but they can actually do 1080i. Think nosehairs on CSI.
It won't be long before virus writers scan patent databases and actively target patented detection techniques. Why? Because unless everybody uses the same virus scanner or licenses that code, it'll be a free for all.
Clamwin may be targeted first. I have a feeling that in a few years a lot of collaborative software development will go underground.
I'm working on a driving simulator and we're wondering how to take advantage of these new dual core chips. Should one cpu handle physics and the other graphics/shadowing? Can we assign one core to each tire and have more advanced tire models? I have a funny feeling that there is about to be a huge shortage of people that can design to take advantage of the multiple CPUs.
Zonk> Damn slashdot junkies are calling us on our sloppiness. What'da we do?
CmdrTaco> To hell with 'em. We're getting paid peanuts, isn't redundancy the mother of invention?
Zonk> I read somewhere that redundancy is the mother of invention.
CmdrTaco> What?
Zonk> I know you are... But what am I?
CmdrTaco> To hell with 'em. We're getting paid peanuts, isn't redundancy the mother of invention?
Zonk> Who's on first?
CmdrTaco>Yes
Zonk>What?
The tube based CRTs can do 1080i and 720p. Mine does both, 1080i is sharper but 720p seems to look better for certain shows. CSI looks great in 1080i but Fox does football in 720p which looks better than the 1080i CBS football broadcasts. LCDs generally have better resolution than the plasmas but plasmas are better at creating accurate colors.
I used to be in the other camp, I hate big government but governments are increasingly outsourcing their IT work to private industry. San Diego county is an example of this. So competition isn't hurt, business are competing for the next IT contract in San Diego.
There are arguments that the next digital divide isn't a lack of computers, it's a lack of high speed internet connections. It'd be nice if the Federal government could hire a big telco to roll out fibre like they did with the Interstate highway system.
Once all of this patent madness is sorted I wonder if municipalities will consider hiring teams of open source software developers to help build the local "e-frastructure" (horrible word I know) similar to how they now provide things like water, police, and possibly wireless Internet.
Why the emphasis on early adopters? They're a fraction of the market for gamers. I personally am not a huge fan of MS but it's interesting to see my post get modded down just because I think they may have made a good decision.
I think we see eye to eye here. We're creating a driving simulator core and we plan to add a scripting system so the community can take our base and create a Rally simulator or Monster trucks or even something like Grand Theft Auto. The problem I've seen with Open Source game engines is that they're too open ended, our simulator has focus and will be good at simulating cars, trying to use a Quake BSP scene manager for a driving simulator won't work, we don't have that problem.
If the rumors are true and we've reached the point of diminishing returns as far as better graphics are concerned then maybe MS is making a smart move here. Xbox 2 graphics are going to be fast enough to support High-def resolutions (1920x1080 & 1280X720) so it should be fairly future proof.
At this point, if the PS3 is late and/or the Cell chip is hard to write fast code for then the MS early mover advantage could be really bad news for Sony. Of course I think Open Source games will be the killer app(s) that spark the beginnig of a PC gaming reniassance and legal nightmare but that's going to take a couple more years.
I agree that 3rd party libraries aren't sufficient for success they are necessary and we're one of a few that are puting that belief into practice.
We have over 100 people signed up in our forum ready to create content. The problem is finding enough people with C++ skills and time to help develop the engine. We're designing the simulator to accomodate community add ons so we can focus on the core. As far as the physics, we're using Open Dynamics Engine (ODE.org) which is a very advanced chunk of code. So far the reviews have been good even though we have a simple tire model in place.
I totally agree. I think open source 3D gaming is entering a new era with the release of OGRE 1.0. Game development in the past consisted of trying to learn OpenGL then trying to learn how to code physics which can take a couple of years for professional looking results. Now you can just download Open Dynamics Engine, OGRE3D and SDL and bang out a decent looking 3D game in a few months. The emphasis is shifting to content creators.
2005/6 will see the first real competition for the EAs of the world. I'm going out on a limb and predicting that Open Source 3D games will be the killer app for PCs. If you can buy a game at CompUSA loaded with a ton of high quality PC games or buy a PS3 for $350 with no games people may begin to think twice, especially with the emergence of HDTVs and the home theater PC.
I'm working on a cross platform(Linux | Mac | Win) driving simulator. I'm confident it's going to be a success is due to our use of 3rd party libraries to aid in development but how long it takes depends on how much help we recieve. A lot of aspiring OSS developers aren't aware that high quality libraries exist to aid in development of increasingly complicated games. We get to focus on the driving dynamics and not arcane shader technology because our graphics engine simplifies it.
Check out our image gallery for a look at the shadowing capabilities we're taking advantage of. If you or anybody you know are C++ gurus and have a love for driving and/or Open Source Software please consider lending a hand. Say hi on irc... irc.boomtown.net #motorsport
The really interesting thing here is that if this is a success, in five years or so everybody can just boot into Mandrake 15 or whatever and continue using the files on their memory stick. They won't be using Windows and they may not care.
The fact that this is cross platform software may be as important as the fact that it's free in the eyes of Microsoft. Apple really should spend some money getting better Mac OO.o support or they could become obsolete.
Slashdot Mirror
I can rent high definition movies through my cable box and pause, rewind, etc. No Blu-Ray or HD-DVD player required. Net distribution is beating the hardware version for the first time. Plus I can't (theoretically of course) use DVD-Decrypter to backup a bunch of movies to my computer which is plugged into my HDTV (1280x720progressive if you're curious). It makes Netflix' distribution model look archaic.
From The Longtail Blog
"What's changed is the presumption that the primary rights-holder is the best at extracting the commercial potential of creative material. Instead, anyone can do it: the advertising company that remixes an old movie to sell a car; the Linux t-shirt done Warhol-style, or just plain old DJ magic. "
"Let them eat cake" Well now that cake is actually free and we all want to sell it. Now if you can put a custom birthday signature on that cake you might have a business. This is one of the reasons film school is starting to see a new wave of interest. Communication and creativity, not business processes, are going to be the only things left after the so called Web2.0 is done modernizing commerce.
"Are you guys actually planning to model the area of contact between the tire and the road?"
...
Eventually yes, we're designing a modular tire dynamics model so you can assign the various tire models to the wheels which should allow us to easily test new ideas and theories. So if the CPU use is too high we can just choose not to use a dynamic Lu Gre not use it until processors get fast enough.
Here's the early idea in code:
Tiremodel* tireModel;
switch(tyreModelSelector){ case PACEJKA: tireModel = new Pacejka(static parameters from xml file);
break;
case LUGRE: tireModel = new LuGre(...);
}
wheel.applyForceAtPatch( tireModel.getForce(dynamic parameters) );
We've got a discussion board and a good discussion about the issues involved here.
We're trying to take advantage of some new papers (pdf) that propose a better tire model than the older Pacejka. Check out the math heavy pdfs here and here.
Driving simulator seeks godless heathens
I figure you're a good fit for an open source project like ours. We're developing an open source driving simulator and we've got some challenging math in the form of tire models etc. that you might find trivial to solve yet hugely beneficial for the OSS movement (entertainment software as a maketing vehicle).
Anyhoo, at your salary you can probably afford to buy the cars we're simulating but we need your brain if you can spare the time.
I'm not arguing that but if an HDTV does 1024x768 and the lowest high-def resolution is 1280x720 then is it really an HDTV? If 1024x760 is ok then why not 800x600?
The Sony KD-34XBR960 is probably the best right now in terms of pure picture quality. I got lucky and found a reference monitor on the AVS Forums deals section for $700, best deal of my life. They're going for $1,500 and up according to a Froogle search.
Here's a review.
We're just about to release version 1 of our open source driving simulator which is using OGRE. It currently compiles in Linux but we need a little help making it compile in Windows and on the Mac.
Any takers?
You're wrong. Most HDTVs do 1024x768 or 1280x720 and downconvert 1080i. So yes you can watch 1080i signals on a low end HDTV but there are also boxes that convert 1080i signals so you can watch them on a standard TV. That doesn't magically turn that TV into an HDTV.
"When a film is turned into a DVD, the first step is to scan each frame digitally and to store the data on a hard drive. The more times a frame is scanned, the more coherent is the resulting picture. Many DVD studios now scan films at "high-definition"--or 1,080 lines. Warners is one of just a few that scan at 2,000 lines (or, in the parlance, "2K scanning"). Soon, beginning with a Wizard of Oz reissue later this year, it will start releasing Technicolor DVDs scanned at 4,000 lines ("4K scanning"). This is a significant number. Engineers estimate that if you digitally reproduced all the information on a frame of 35mm film, you'd need about 4,000 lines of data. In other words, at least theoretically (and for more on this caveat, click here), 4K scanning captures everything that's on a film.
That's good news, I have TNT in high definition and the movies really look much better than DVDs. Considering most so called HDTVs can't even do 1280x720, the lowest HD spec, it's good to know that these films are being future proofed.
For what it's worth, if you want the best picture quality in an HDTV get a tube, they're big and heavy but they can actually do 1080i. Think nosehairs on CSI.
It won't be long before virus writers scan patent databases and actively target patented detection techniques. Why? Because unless everybody uses the same virus scanner or licenses that code, it'll be a free for all. Clamwin may be targeted first. I have a feeling that in a few years a lot of collaborative software development will go underground.
I'm working on a driving simulator and we're wondering how to take advantage of these new dual core chips. Should one cpu handle physics and the other graphics/shadowing? Can we assign one core to each tire and have more advanced tire models? I have a funny feeling that there is about to be a huge shortage of people that can design to take advantage of the multiple CPUs.
Zonk> Damn slashdot junkies are calling us on our sloppiness. What'da we do?
CmdrTaco> To hell with 'em. We're getting paid peanuts, isn't redundancy the mother of invention?
Zonk> I read somewhere that redundancy is the mother of invention.
CmdrTaco> What?
Zonk> I know you are... But what am I?
CmdrTaco> To hell with 'em. We're getting paid peanuts, isn't redundancy the mother of invention?
Zonk> Who's on first?
CmdrTaco>Yes
Zonk>What?
The tube based CRTs can do 1080i and 720p. Mine does both, 1080i is sharper but 720p seems to look better for certain shows. CSI looks great in 1080i but Fox does football in 720p which looks better than the 1080i CBS football broadcasts. LCDs generally have better resolution than the plasmas but plasmas are better at creating accurate colors.
I used to be in the other camp, I hate big government but governments are increasingly outsourcing their IT work to private industry. San Diego county is an example of this. So competition isn't hurt, business are competing for the next IT contract in San Diego.
There are arguments that the next digital divide isn't a lack of computers, it's a lack of high speed internet connections. It'd be nice if the Federal government could hire a big telco to roll out fibre like they did with the Interstate highway system.
Is anybody looking at stars similar to our own to figure out what the average fluctuation is?
Once all of this patent madness is sorted I wonder if municipalities will consider hiring teams of open source software developers to help build the local "e-frastructure" (horrible word I know) similar to how they now provide things like water, police, and possibly wireless Internet.
Standard TVs are 480i which is something like 640x480. XBox supports a few High-Def games. I and a few people I know have high definition TVs.
Why the emphasis on early adopters? They're a fraction of the market for gamers. I personally am not a huge fan of MS but it's interesting to see my post get modded down just because I think they may have made a good decision.
I think we see eye to eye here. We're creating a driving simulator core and we plan to add a scripting system so the community can take our base and create a Rally simulator or Monster trucks or even something like Grand Theft Auto. The problem I've seen with Open Source game engines is that they're too open ended, our simulator has focus and will be good at simulating cars, trying to use a Quake BSP scene manager for a driving simulator won't work, we don't have that problem.
If the rumors are true and we've reached the point of diminishing returns as far as better graphics are concerned then maybe MS is making a smart move here. Xbox 2 graphics are going to be fast enough to support High-def resolutions (1920x1080 & 1280X720) so it should be fairly future proof.
At this point, if the PS3 is late and/or the Cell chip is hard to write fast code for then the MS early mover advantage could be really bad news for Sony. Of course I think Open Source games will be the killer app(s) that spark the beginnig of a PC gaming reniassance and legal nightmare but that's going to take a couple more years.
I agree that 3rd party libraries aren't sufficient for success they are necessary and we're one of a few that are puting that belief into practice.
We have over 100 people signed up in our forum ready to create content. The problem is finding enough people with C++ skills and time to help develop the engine. We're designing the simulator to accomodate community add ons so we can focus on the core. As far as the physics, we're using Open Dynamics Engine (ODE.org) which is a very advanced chunk of code. So far the reviews have been good even though we have a simple tire model in place.
I totally agree. I think open source 3D gaming is entering a new era with the release of OGRE 1.0. Game development in the past consisted of trying to learn OpenGL then trying to learn how to code physics which can take a couple of years for professional looking results. Now you can just download Open Dynamics Engine, OGRE3D and SDL and bang out a decent looking 3D game in a few months. The emphasis is shifting to content creators.
2005/6 will see the first real competition for the EAs of the world. I'm going out on a limb and predicting that Open Source 3D games will be the killer app for PCs. If you can buy a game at CompUSA loaded with a ton of high quality PC games or buy a PS3 for $350 with no games people may begin to think twice, especially with the emergence of HDTVs and the home theater PC.
I'm working on a cross platform(Linux | Mac | Win) driving simulator. I'm confident it's going to be a success is due to our use of 3rd party libraries to aid in development but how long it takes depends on how much help we recieve. A lot of aspiring OSS developers aren't aware that high quality libraries exist to aid in development of increasingly complicated games. We get to focus on the driving dynamics and not arcane shader technology because our graphics engine simplifies it.
Check out our image gallery for a look at the shadowing capabilities we're taking advantage of. If you or anybody you know are C++ gurus and have a love for driving and/or Open Source Software please consider lending a hand. Say hi on irc... irc.boomtown.net #motorsport
The really interesting thing here is that if this is a success, in five years or so everybody can just boot into Mandrake 15 or whatever and continue using the files on their memory stick. They won't be using Windows and they may not care.
The fact that this is cross platform software may be as important as the fact that it's free in the eyes of Microsoft. Apple really should spend some money getting better Mac OO.o support or they could become obsolete.