Re:roll your own TIVO replacement
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Tivo Hacking?
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· Score: 1
I don't know this for a fact, but I'd bet my firstborn that such robust, integrated, and easy-to-use software doesn't even exist for Windows, let alone Linux.
No, it doesn't exist. If it did, this entire discussion would be unnecessary.:-)
Re:Business plan is not broken
on
Tivo Hacking?
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· Score: 1
Or I can buy a PC and write my own software and build my own remote, and build another IR thingie to manipulate the directtv box (possibly). Let's see, a 300Mhz celeron + MB + 128MB memory plus video decoder + mpeg encoder/decoder + 20GB HD + nice case + extra HW for the IR stuff + NIC (to get the schedules) + other stuff I forgot. Is that less than $600? I don't think so. Not to mention time, both to assemble the hardware and to write the software (which is non-trivial -- the Tivo interface does a *lot* of cool stuff.)
The ideal situation, IMHO, would be to buy the Tivo for $399, reformat the drive and install the as-yet-nonexistant open-sourced replacement software, and have all the cool features that Tivo isn't free to implement on a low-priced platform.
Re:Because you don't own your TiVo!
on
Tivo Hacking?
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· Score: 1
The box will only record shows that are listed by their service
Absolutely, completely not true. The box has the ability to do a manual recording by giving it a channel, start time, and end time. You know, the way we've been doing it with VCR's for years now.
Re:I *won't* own a TiVo!...uh, wait...
on
Tivo Hacking?
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· Score: 1
Um, I wouldn't get too up in arms about his post. I see nothing in any of the paperwork that even remotely resembles the claims he's made.
Come on, do you really think they're gonna hire a staff of repo-men to run around the country breaking into people's homes to reclaim units simply because they're not placing their nightly phone calls?:-)
Re:Do it yourself video recorder
on
Tivo Hacking?
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· Score: 1
First, I have no problem with a consumer cracking open any device he or she might own, but I also understand that if I do so, the manufacturer has the right to tell me "You're on your own. We cannot support you. Your warrenty is voided"
Nobody is arguing that point. However, it's one thing to simply declare the warranty void, it's quite another to render the device useless (or nearly so).
The second is the MPAA issue. TiVo has to try to protect the content on the hard drive or they will be put out of business by the MPAA. It's not TiVo's choice; The MPAA sets the rules. For example, if TiVo were to put a standard SCSI connector on their box for external storage using an ext2 filesystem, the MPAA would likely throw a fit and start the lawsuits...
I understand these issues, and I don't fault Tivo for covering their own backside. However, that doesn't eliminate the usefulness of some of these features, nor my desire to be able to add them in after the fact.
I'm not suggesting that Tivo help out with this, I'm simply suggesting that a Tivo-like device that is free from some of these constraints might be useful, and that the Tivo itself would make an ideal hardware platform for such a device.
Re:Do it yourself video recorder
on
Tivo Hacking?
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· Score: 1
Well, Tivo isn't selling the hardware, Phillips (and soon Sony) is. And, yes, probably at a loss.
It's also my understanding that the Tivo service is also being operated at a loss, although the local dial-in access that they implemented with the most recent software upgrade should ease that a bit as it will greatly decrease their 800 # expenses.
Yes, if you open the case you void the warranty. I don't think I've run across anyone who is bothered by that.
As for "throwing the switch", no, the quote did not come from Phillips, it came from a Tivo employee in response to one user reporting a successful hard drive upgrade.
It should be clarified that this "switch" would not totally disable the unit, it would just cut the unit off from access to the Tivo service (TV listings and software updates). This, of course, would disable all of the features that make the Tivo such an interesting device.
Now, the interest in replacing the software arises when you consider the availability of IDE hard drives up to 75 GB in capacity. A pair of these would give you a Tivo with around 160 hours of storage, much better than the 14 and 30 hours that are available. Unfortunately, the software on the device has mechanisms in place to prevent such an upgrade. Additionally, an open-sourced replacement would be free to implement useful features that Tivo will never be able to due to pressure from their business partners, such as automatic commercial skipping.
Am I the only one who thinks dumping it to a VCR is a giant step backwards?
Nope, you're most definitely not the only one who thinks that way.
but I have no idea where to start
In my mind, the place to start is to come up with a replacement with an open architecture. To that end, the Tivo itself seems like the most cost-effective choice for a hardware platform.
Isn't there another more open device that could fufill your needs?
Not really. At least not anywhere near the price point.
Consider what the Tivo offers as a hardware platform. Hardware MPEG2 encoding, hardware MPEG2 decoding, NTSC output, IR receiver with well-designed remote control, TV tuner, AV inputs and outputs, and an enclosure designed to look nice in an AV system.
If you can point me to another hardware platform that offers all of these features for anywhere near the $300 that a new 14 hour Tivo costs, I'd love to know about it.
The onboard modem is a WinModem, so Linux drivers aren't gonna be there.
The video adapter is an Intel i810, which means downloading an X server from Intel. There wasn't one included on either the Mandrake or RedHat CD's that I'm currently installing systems from.
Other than that, it's not a bad little machine.
Oh, as for the power supply question that was raised: Don't worry about it. There is NO room for expansion in these things, no ISA slots, no PCI slots. I don't believe there's even enough room for an additional hard drive. If you're gonna expand this thing, it's gonna have to be through the USB ports.
Agreed. With the current quality of programming, I'm down to about 6 hours per week of television watching. (That's up from 2 now that my Tivo is grabbing stuff for me.)
Personally, I'd gain much more from datacasting than I ever would from a clearer image on my TV.
I read the same post. In another thread on the same board, however, it was revealed that when Tivo (the company) upgrades a unit, the second drive is formatted with with nothing but a "magic bit sequence" that instructs the Tivo to prepare it for use, update some information in it's prom, and begin using the new capacity. The reason that the larger disks still only provided him with a 30 hour unit was that he did not resize the partitions when he duplicated the drives.
Without knowing all the details, I'm sort of suspecting that finding and decoding that magic bit sequence would be the key to being able to add any size disk to the Tivo that you wanted. I'm kind of itching to get this all figured out so I can throw a pair of IBM 75 GB drives into mine. 160 hour Tivo, anyone? (Anyone want to donate an unused 30-hour, two disk Tivo for research purposes?:-) Is anyone working on this sort of thing? So far, all of the succesful user upgrades I've heard about pretty much require you to have another Tivo on hand to extract drive images from. It'd be much nicer to not have to do that.
Stepping even further out on a limb, what I'd really like to see is a full, open-sourced, replacement for the Tivo software. I'd love to have my Tivo automatically skip commercials, but Tivo will never implement this due to business pressures. With alternative software, that wouldn't be a problem.
True, you can crack it open and Ghost the image to a bigger drive, but there goes the warantee.
Actually, from the research I've done, Ghost can't handle the drives in the Tivo. Tivo has come up with a proprietary file system which Ghost is not capable of resizing.
It seems, though, that the driver for this new file system should be included in the kernel mods that they had to release under the GPL, although I haven't taken the time to browse through their source to verify this.
Having had a 14 hour Tivo for just over a week now, this upgradeability issue is starting to get under my skin to the point where I'm considering starting a project to come up with an open set of tools for doing these upgrades. There are still issues, however, that might make it a better long term solution to simply come up with a complete set of replacement software, using the Tivo only as a hardware platform.
I strongly encourage that anyone thinking about buying a replay TV go out and shop for a really high quality capture card instead.
I have a decent capture card, I still bought a Tivo. They're two completely different products, and they serve completely different purposes. That's like advising anyone looking for a semi-tractor to buy a Dodge Neon instead.
I value my privacy a great deal, but I just can't figure out how I'm supposed to be nervous about someone finding out that I like to watch Hogan's Heroes reruns when I get home from the bar, and Star Trek: TNG reruns after work.
In fact, I'd be happy to tell them if they asked. I mean, really, why should I be concerned if some network exec knows which shows I like to watch.
What dark purpose could be served by the networks having the knowledge that Babylon 5 is viewed mostly by young men? Seems to me the main result of that will be me being subjected to fewer "Tampax was there" commercials.
Re:Great! I get to re-install windows...
on
Carmack Speaks
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· Score: 1
Well, if you're the sort who views an operating system as a religion, then that might be a good option. For me, however, I have a TNT2 and I have a copy of Win98. This combo does a perfectly good job of running all the various Quake incarnations. I just can't see dropping a couple hundred bucks just so that I can play the same game under a different OS.
When I play Q2 or Q3, it's typically a several hour activity, I don't feel like a quick reboot into Windows is really that much of an inconvenience.
Computers (including calculators) are tools used for getting work done. School is not about getting work done, school is supposed to be about learning.
I firmly believe that there is no reason at all to have computers in grade schools. This is a time when these kids need to be learning how to read, how to write, and how to do math (on paper, not on a calculator). This is all important background information that kids need to have before they are capable of making the most of the "easier" ways that technology provides us.
Now, given that computers are, in fact, important tools in the daily life of many adults, and that it is the school's job to prepare kids for daily life as an adult, there does come a time when they should be taught some basic computer skills. I don't think that should happen in grade school, perhaps in the last year or two of high school. And even then, I'm talking _basic_ computer skills. Word processing, spreadsheets, etc... If you want to learn about OS design, college is the place.
I'm a bit frightened for our future. It seems to me that there is such excitement, almost hysteria, about computers and technology in general, that we're forgetting that our kids also need to learn the basics.
(Or maybe I just want the next generation of grads to be computer illiterate in order to increase my own marketability in the work force.:)
Actually, VideoWave was a separate purchase, about $99. I'm actually getting better results with it than I've gotten with Premiere (although, that's probably just because I haven't spent enough time with Premiere). I'm not too concerned with the Sorenson compressor since my main output format is VCD which requires MPEG-1.
Actually, I'm using VideoWave for capture. Never heard of VirtualDub, but at first glance it looks interesting. I'll give it a try tonight. Thanks for the link.
I looked at the Dazzle and came close to buying it. The main thing it would have given me that I can't do now is the ability to save the video back out to VHS. But since I got my DVD player, VCD seems to be a much better option anyway. Plus, the WinTV card provides acceptable capture, as well as giving me a TV and radio in that room.
Thanks again for the VirtualDub link. It looks like it might be a much better solution than the built in capture in VideoWave. (Which, btw, I've found to be quite an excellent program if you're looking for something in the $99 range.)
First, I have to agree with you about Voyager. It's an embarrasment.
I agree with most of your points about TNG, it was an excellent series. It was just to optimistic and cheerful for my taste. It's that point alone that leads me to prefer DS9, although realistically I'd probably have to rate them neck-and-neck.
Sure, DS9 had its share of crappy episodes, what TV series doesn't? I am a little curious about this comment, though:
The series finale was mediocre at best, and from that point on DS9 went steadily downhill.
Just how exactly does a series go downhill after the finale?
Oh, no need to wait 10 years. No reason they can't boot Rick Berman's ass out on the street today and start turning out a quality Trek series right away.
Well, since he never specified the type of work he wants to do, I guess I'll jump in and offer a scenario.
What I'd like to do is fairly simple. Record a TV show, capture it, edit out commercials (possibly adding nice transition effects in their place), compress to MPEG and store in VideoCD format for playback in a normal DVD player.
Obviously, since the source video is coming off of VHS tape, ultra-high quality is not an issue, but I don't want to degrade too much during editing, either.
Basically, all I want is to convert my collection of VHS tapes to VCD for my own private viewing, mainly for storage space considerations, but also just a little bit for the "just because I can" factor.
(So far I've been getting perfectly acceptable results using MGI VideoWave III, a Hauppage WinTV card for capture, and Adaptec Easy CD Creator 4 for burning to VCD. Anyone other suggestions in the same general price range?)
I'd have to agree with you on DS9. It was easily the best series of the four. Much darker mood, less cheesy hyper-optimism. And they definitely ended it far too early. The Dominion-Federation war had at least two more seasons of excellent storylines left in it.
As far as the next series goes, I think the "Beginning of the Federation" idea is a pretty poor one. Sure, it might be interesting, but what new things can they do with it? Pretty much all of the relevant "history" from the time period can be gleaned from the other four series and the movies.
What I'd like to see is a series set further yet in the future. Perhaps set during the eventual Borg invasion of federation space. Perhaps with Picard as the President of the Federation, and Janeway as his secretary. "Kathy, would you bring me a cup of tea. Earl Gray. Hot.":)
In my mind, if they feel the need to go back and explore the past, rather than moving the storyline forward and exploring the future, it's time to either shitcan the whole thing, or bring in fresh people with fresh ideas who can take a new series and do it right.
I've enjoyed Star Trek far too much over the years to watch them turn it into a hollow shell of what it should have been. It's bad enough having to see what they've done with Voyager. It was actually a great concept, and the series has had its moments, but as a whole, I'd have to say it's an embarrassment.
Please, guys, if you can't produce a new series that measures up to TNG and DS9, then turn it over to someone who can, or just let the saga die with dignity.
Good points on the bulbs, but I would still say that the floor mat analogy is especially appropriate for the IE/Netscape situation. A web browser is a simple part, anyone can make one, and they all do basically the same thing. But Microsoft forced their browser down people's throats just because they could. (OK, so they forced it down people's throats for free, but that's just as wrong as overcharging for it since it was done to extinguish competition.)
As far as the OEM deals MS made, I've always wished manufacturers would have just said screw it. Up until very recently, the difference between OEM pricing and full retail pricing for Windows would not have made a very significant difference in the price of a computer. Seriously, if you're in the market for a $2500 computer, is $100 one way or the other likely to make a huge difference in your decision?
Well, if we're talking about using the software in a corporate setting (and I can't think of much reason to use MS Office elsewhere) then I really don't care what they charge for it. And truthfully, it wouldn't be in their best interests to do that. If they are being forced to commit development resources, then it wouldn't make sense to price themselves out of the market. If they've got to spend money on development, might as well generate some revenue. It seems likely that any ruling requiring multiple platform support would also forbid such pricing inequities anyway.
Not to mention that, at least in large corporations, it's well within reason to believe that site licenses would be negotiated that would simply allow a certain number of copies of the software to be run, regardless of platform.
Smaller companies would be the ones getting screwed here, as a $1200 office suite could be out of reach for a lot of little mom & pop outfits, but how many of them have heavy enough computing requirements to be running Linux anyway?
As far as home users, no big difference. Really, what percentage of home users do you suppose went out and paid the $600 (or so) for the full version of Office 2000 they're having their kids type reports on at home?
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I don't know this for a fact, but I'd bet my firstborn that such robust, integrated, and easy-to-use software doesn't even exist for Windows, let alone Linux.
:-)
No, it doesn't exist. If it did, this entire discussion would be unnecessary.
Or I can buy a PC and write my own software and build my own remote, and build another IR thingie to manipulate the directtv box (possibly). Let's see, a 300Mhz celeron + MB + 128MB memory plus video decoder + mpeg encoder/decoder + 20GB HD + nice case + extra HW for the IR stuff + NIC (to get the schedules) + other stuff I forgot. Is that less than $600? I don't think so. Not to mention time, both to assemble the hardware and to write the software (which is non-trivial -- the Tivo interface does a *lot* of cool stuff.)
The ideal situation, IMHO, would be to buy the Tivo for $399, reformat the drive and install the as-yet-nonexistant open-sourced replacement software, and have all the cool features that Tivo isn't free to implement on a low-priced platform.
The box will only record shows that are listed by their service
Absolutely, completely not true. The box has the ability to do a manual recording by giving it a channel, start time, and end time. You know, the way we've been doing it with VCR's for years now.
Um, I wouldn't get too up in arms about his post. I see nothing in any of the paperwork that even remotely resembles the claims he's made.
:-)
Come on, do you really think they're gonna hire a staff of repo-men to run around the country breaking into people's homes to reclaim units simply because they're not placing their nightly phone calls?
First, I have no problem with a consumer cracking open any device he or she might own, but I also understand that if I do so, the manufacturer has the right to tell me "You're on your own. We cannot support you. Your warrenty is voided"
Nobody is arguing that point. However, it's one thing to simply declare the warranty void, it's quite another to render the device useless (or nearly so).
The second is the MPAA issue. TiVo has to try to protect the content on the hard drive or they will be put out of business by the MPAA. It's not TiVo's choice; The MPAA sets the rules. For example, if TiVo were to put a standard SCSI connector on their box for external storage using an ext2 filesystem, the MPAA would likely throw a fit and start the lawsuits...
I understand these issues, and I don't fault Tivo for covering their own backside. However, that doesn't eliminate the usefulness of some of these features, nor my desire to be able to add them in after the fact.
I'm not suggesting that Tivo help out with this, I'm simply suggesting that a Tivo-like device that is free from some of these constraints might be useful, and that the Tivo itself would make an ideal hardware platform for such a device.
Well, Tivo isn't selling the hardware, Phillips (and soon Sony) is. And, yes, probably at a loss.
It's also my understanding that the Tivo service is also being operated at a loss, although the local dial-in access that they implemented with the most recent software upgrade should ease that a bit as it will greatly decrease their 800 # expenses.
Yes, if you open the case you void the warranty. I don't think I've run across anyone who is bothered by that.
As for "throwing the switch", no, the quote did not come from Phillips, it came from a Tivo employee in response to one user reporting a successful hard drive upgrade.
It should be clarified that this "switch" would not totally disable the unit, it would just cut the unit off from access to the Tivo service (TV listings and software updates). This, of course, would disable all of the features that make the Tivo such an interesting device.
Now, the interest in replacing the software arises when you consider the availability of IDE hard drives up to 75 GB in capacity. A pair of these would give you a Tivo with around 160 hours of storage, much better than the 14 and 30 hours that are available. Unfortunately, the software on the device has mechanisms in place to prevent such an upgrade. Additionally, an open-sourced replacement would be free to implement useful features that Tivo will never be able to due to pressure from their business partners, such as automatic commercial skipping.
Am I the only one who thinks dumping it to a VCR is a giant step backwards?
Nope, you're most definitely not the only one who thinks that way.
but I have no idea where to start
In my mind, the place to start is to come up with a replacement with an open architecture. To that end, the Tivo itself seems like the most cost-effective choice for a hardware platform.
Isn't there another more open device that could fufill your needs?
Not really. At least not anywhere near the price point.
Consider what the Tivo offers as a hardware platform. Hardware MPEG2 encoding, hardware MPEG2 decoding, NTSC output, IR receiver with well-designed remote control, TV tuner, AV inputs and outputs, and an enclosure designed to look nice in an AV system.
If you can point me to another hardware platform that offers all of these features for anywhere near the $300 that a new 14 hour Tivo costs, I'd love to know about it.
The onboard modem is a WinModem, so Linux drivers aren't gonna be there.
The video adapter is an Intel i810, which means downloading an X server from Intel. There wasn't one included on either the Mandrake or RedHat CD's that I'm currently installing systems from.
Other than that, it's not a bad little machine.
Oh, as for the power supply question that was raised: Don't worry about it. There is NO room for expansion in these things, no ISA slots, no PCI slots. I don't believe there's even enough room for an additional hard drive. If you're gonna expand this thing, it's gonna have to be through the USB ports.
Agreed. With the current quality of programming, I'm down to about 6 hours per week of television watching. (That's up from 2 now that my Tivo is grabbing stuff for me.)
Personally, I'd gain much more from datacasting than I ever would from a clearer image on my TV.
Of course, YMMV.
I read the same post. In another thread on the same board, however, it was revealed that when Tivo (the company) upgrades a unit, the second drive is formatted with with nothing but a "magic bit sequence" that instructs the Tivo to prepare it for use, update some information in it's prom, and begin using the new capacity. The reason that the larger disks still only provided him with a 30 hour unit was that he did not resize the partitions when he duplicated the drives.
:-) Is anyone working on this sort of thing? So far, all of the succesful user upgrades I've heard about pretty much require you to have another Tivo on hand to extract drive images from. It'd be much nicer to not have to do that.
Without knowing all the details, I'm sort of suspecting that finding and decoding that magic bit sequence would be the key to being able to add any size disk to the Tivo that you wanted. I'm kind of itching to get this all figured out so I can throw a pair of IBM 75 GB drives into mine. 160 hour Tivo, anyone? (Anyone want to donate an unused 30-hour, two disk Tivo for research purposes?
Stepping even further out on a limb, what I'd really like to see is a full, open-sourced, replacement for the Tivo software. I'd love to have my Tivo automatically skip commercials, but Tivo will never implement this due to business pressures. With alternative software, that wouldn't be a problem.
True, you can crack it open and Ghost the image to a bigger drive, but there goes the warantee.
Actually, from the research I've done, Ghost can't handle the drives in the Tivo. Tivo has come up with a proprietary file system which Ghost is not capable of resizing.
It seems, though, that the driver for this new file system should be included in the kernel mods that they had to release under the GPL, although I haven't taken the time to browse through their source to verify this.
Having had a 14 hour Tivo for just over a week now, this upgradeability issue is starting to get under my skin to the point where I'm considering starting a project to come up with an open set of tools for doing these upgrades. There are still issues, however, that might make it a better long term solution to simply come up with a complete set of replacement software, using the Tivo only as a hardware platform.
I strongly encourage that anyone thinking about buying a replay TV go out and shop for a really high quality capture card instead.
I have a decent capture card, I still bought a Tivo. They're two completely different products, and they serve completely different purposes. That's like advising anyone looking for a semi-tractor to buy a Dodge Neon instead.
OK, help me understand...
I value my privacy a great deal, but I just can't figure out how I'm supposed to be nervous about someone finding out that I like to watch Hogan's Heroes reruns when I get home from the bar, and Star Trek: TNG reruns after work.
In fact, I'd be happy to tell them if they asked. I mean, really, why should I be concerned if some network exec knows which shows I like to watch.
What dark purpose could be served by the networks having the knowledge that Babylon 5 is viewed mostly by young men? Seems to me the main result of that will be me being subjected to fewer "Tampax was there" commercials.
Well, if you're the sort who views an operating system as a religion, then that might be a good option. For me, however, I have a TNT2 and I have a copy of Win98. This combo does a perfectly good job of running all the various Quake incarnations. I just can't see dropping a couple hundred bucks just so that I can play the same game under a different OS.
When I play Q2 or Q3, it's typically a several hour activity, I don't feel like a quick reboot into Windows is really that much of an inconvenience.
Here's my thoughts:
:)
Computers (including calculators) are tools used for getting work done. School is not about getting work done, school is supposed to be about learning.
I firmly believe that there is no reason at all to have computers in grade schools. This is a time when these kids need to be learning how to read, how to write, and how to do math (on paper, not on a calculator). This is all important background information that kids need to have before they are capable of making the most of the "easier" ways that technology provides us.
Now, given that computers are, in fact, important tools in the daily life of many adults, and that it is the school's job to prepare kids for daily life as an adult, there does come a time when they should be taught some basic computer skills. I don't think that should happen in grade school, perhaps in the last year or two of high school. And even then, I'm talking _basic_ computer skills. Word processing, spreadsheets, etc... If you want to learn about OS design, college is the place.
I'm a bit frightened for our future. It seems to me that there is such excitement, almost hysteria, about computers and technology in general, that we're forgetting that our kids also need to learn the basics.
(Or maybe I just want the next generation of grads to be computer illiterate in order to increase my own marketability in the work force.
Actually, VideoWave was a separate purchase, about $99. I'm actually getting better results with it than I've gotten with Premiere (although, that's probably just because I haven't spent enough time with Premiere). I'm not too concerned with the Sorenson compressor since my main output format is VCD which requires MPEG-1.
Actually, I'm using VideoWave for capture. Never heard of VirtualDub, but at first glance it looks interesting. I'll give it a try tonight. Thanks for the link.
I looked at the Dazzle and came close to buying it. The main thing it would have given me that I can't do now is the ability to save the video back out to VHS. But since I got my DVD player, VCD seems to be a much better option anyway. Plus, the WinTV card provides acceptable capture, as well as giving me a TV and radio in that room.
Thanks again for the VirtualDub link. It looks like it might be a much better solution than the built in capture in VideoWave. (Which, btw, I've found to be quite an excellent program if you're looking for something in the $99 range.)
Ahh...
OK, that makes much more sense.
First, I have to agree with you about Voyager. It's an embarrasment.
I agree with most of your points about TNG, it was an excellent series. It was just to optimistic and cheerful for my taste. It's that point alone that leads me to prefer DS9, although realistically I'd probably have to rate them neck-and-neck.
Sure, DS9 had its share of crappy episodes, what TV series doesn't? I am a little curious about this comment, though:
The series finale was mediocre at best, and from that point on DS9 went steadily downhill.
Just how exactly does a series go downhill after the finale?
Oh, no need to wait 10 years. No reason they can't boot Rick Berman's ass out on the street today and start turning out a quality Trek series right away.
Well, since he never specified the type of work he wants to do, I guess I'll jump in and offer a scenario.
What I'd like to do is fairly simple. Record a TV show, capture it, edit out commercials (possibly adding nice transition effects in their place), compress to MPEG and store in VideoCD format for playback in a normal DVD player.
Obviously, since the source video is coming off of VHS tape, ultra-high quality is not an issue, but I don't want to degrade too much during editing, either.
Basically, all I want is to convert my collection of VHS tapes to VCD for my own private viewing, mainly for storage space considerations, but also just a little bit for the "just because I can" factor.
(So far I've been getting perfectly acceptable results using MGI VideoWave III, a Hauppage WinTV card for capture, and Adaptec Easy CD Creator 4 for burning to VCD. Anyone other suggestions in the same general price range?)
I'd have to agree with you on DS9. It was easily the best series of the four. Much darker mood, less cheesy hyper-optimism. And they definitely ended it far too early. The Dominion-Federation war had at least two more seasons of excellent storylines left in it.
:)
As far as the next series goes, I think the "Beginning of the Federation" idea is a pretty poor one. Sure, it might be interesting, but what new things can they do with it? Pretty much all of the relevant "history" from the time period can be gleaned from the other four series and the movies.
What I'd like to see is a series set further yet in the future. Perhaps set during the eventual Borg invasion of federation space. Perhaps with Picard as the President of the Federation, and Janeway as his secretary. "Kathy, would you bring me a cup of tea. Earl Gray. Hot."
In my mind, if they feel the need to go back and explore the past, rather than moving the storyline forward and exploring the future, it's time to either shitcan the whole thing, or bring in fresh people with fresh ideas who can take a new series and do it right.
I've enjoyed Star Trek far too much over the years to watch them turn it into a hollow shell of what it should have been. It's bad enough having to see what they've done with Voyager. It was actually a great concept, and the series has had its moments, but as a whole, I'd have to say it's an embarrassment.
Please, guys, if you can't produce a new series that measures up to TNG and DS9, then turn it over to someone who can, or just let the saga die with dignity.
I don't know how quotable it is, I was just ranting. But feel free to do with it as you like...
Good points on the bulbs, but I would still say that the floor mat analogy is especially appropriate for the IE/Netscape situation. A web browser is a simple part, anyone can make one, and they all do basically the same thing. But Microsoft forced their browser down people's throats just because they could. (OK, so they forced it down people's throats for free, but that's just as wrong as overcharging for it since it was done to extinguish competition.)
As far as the OEM deals MS made, I've always wished manufacturers would have just said screw it. Up until very recently, the difference between OEM pricing and full retail pricing for Windows would not have made a very significant difference in the price of a computer. Seriously, if you're in the market for a $2500 computer, is $100 one way or the other likely to make a huge difference in your decision?
Well, if we're talking about using the software in a corporate setting (and I can't think of much reason to use MS Office elsewhere) then I really don't care what they charge for it. And truthfully, it wouldn't be in their best interests to do that. If they are being forced to commit development resources, then it wouldn't make sense to price themselves out of the market. If they've got to spend money on development, might as well generate some revenue. It seems likely that any ruling requiring multiple platform support would also forbid such pricing inequities anyway.
Not to mention that, at least in large corporations, it's well within reason to believe that site licenses would be negotiated that would simply allow a certain number of copies of the software to be run, regardless of platform.
Smaller companies would be the ones getting screwed here, as a $1200 office suite could be out of reach for a lot of little mom & pop outfits, but how many of them have heavy enough computing requirements to be running Linux anyway?
As far as home users, no big difference. Really, what percentage of home users do you suppose went out and paid the $600 (or so) for the full version of Office 2000 they're having their kids type reports on at home?