"Movies cost tens -- sometimes hundreds -- of millions of dollars to create. No movie studio would ever produce a $300+ million epic like Lord of the Rings if it knew it would be copied and freely distributed the instant it was released. Now, in a perfect world where everyone could be trusted to never give away such content for free, there'd be no need for DRM. However, since there's a vocal group of nutcases who insist on thinking they have some free "right" to the fruits of other's labor without compensating them for it, we get crap like CSS and DRM. Gee, thanks Mr. Pirate. We're all so grateful."
This tired argument is often used to condemn those who copy movies. However, the truth is that it doesn't hold water. The studios want REGION CODES, CSS, and other forms of DIGITAL RESTRICTION MANAGEMENT (DRM) so they can make more money. If all DVDs would play anywhere in the world, they would have people importing them from cheap countries or selling them before the theatricla release in a country (since movies are seldom released simultaneously). They want you to believe that pirates are to blame. But the truth is that they lose very little money to professional piracy, and even less to casual copying. Why? Because they wouldn't have sold any copies there to begin with. If I can rent from Netflix and burn the discs to dual layer Verbatims for $2 a piece, I will do that for movies I really like (which is not many). If I can't copy them, I will simply watch them and forget them. Copies don't equal lost sales. your argument that pirates are to blame for CSS and DRM is naive and amateurish. You can do better.
You also need to explain for those of us with brains how replication == theft. No analogies with stealing cars or handbags or any other physical things, please. I would also ask you why you equate intangible ideas with property. The notion that ideas can be owned is just as ridiculous as equating replication with theft. The original still exists. Nothing was stolen. My computer just decrypted the content and created an exact copy. If you want an analogy, how about this. Someone creates the first Star Trek Replicator and sells it cheap so everyone has one. Car company accuses you of theft for creating an exact copy. Is that theft?
Or is the business model of creating and maintaining artificial scarcity obsolete?
"Yes I'm saying tough cookies. He should have known better...Same attitude to those who bought TVs that are only capable of 720P resolution thinking it's hi-def - it's not."
TVs that use 720P aren't called HDTVs. They're called EDTVs. So there'd be little chance of anyone confusing them. Also, there's nothing preventing high-def output over component, DVI, or HDMI cable. There's no reason resolution should be limited to people whose systems aren't infected by HDCP. Either debate the issues or shut up. Consumers aren't to blame for the studio's decision to limit resolution on old systems that aren't HDCP-infected. That decision is arbitrary, and discriminatory. It should be illegal, too. I hope the technology fails. And good riddance, too.
You could've fooled me, quoting Ronald "McDonald" Reagan - the Alzheimer case who sleep-walked through his Presidency. Maybe I confused you with prisoner-of-enigma. It's not hard, since you're both ignorant trolls who spew inane platitudes.
The fact remains, as Mike Babcock and I (and others) have said, YOU ARE WRONG. You speak as though people who bought HDTV sets are at fault, because they didn't wait for BluRay and HD-DVD. That is a hostile and backwards attitude to take. Consumers should not have to buy new equipment to watch DVDs in HD when there's NO TECHNICAL REASON for it. It's purely arbitrary and based on the apparent belief that early adopters (who tend to be wealthy) are more likely to pirate.
Your language skills and vocabulary are quite impressive. I'm just standing in awe here. Why don't you get a life and a H.S. diploma??? I wouldn't buy a TV or player that was infected with DRM. When the DRM is cracked, I'll think about it.
Also, the content owners should not be able to influence hardware makers. DRM has absolutely no benefits for consumers. It only reduces functionality. Copyright is not a divine right. It's a social agreement between the public and rights holders. You (or prisoner-of-enigma) stated that copyright exists SOLELY for the benefit of rights holders. If that were true, then copyrights would last forever. They don't (yet), nor does the Constitution say that they should.
I don't agree with copyrights and patents at all. Inventors and artists should be paid for WORK, not OWNERSHIP of IDEAS. They should be paid for performance, works for hire, research, development, etc. Why should the government protect a monopoly over ideas, when it has no benefit for the masses if copyright lasts forever? And why should hardware makers have to comply with the demands of software and content makers? The government should abolish DRM. It is anti-consumer.
I'm not whining, idiot. I haven't even bought an HD set. So why don't you stop making assumptions about me. You are being a troll. There is NO TECHNICAL REASON that people can't use component, DVI, or HDMI inputs without being HDCP-infected. Stop bragging about your system like a pathetic yuppie snob and try discussing the actual issues involved. You obviously don't know anything. You're an ignorant and retarded troll. Go spew your drivel on some Republican forum. You're not welcome.
Why don't you stop being an idiot, pnewhook? You're obviously clueless. There is NOTHING to prevent component video from being used for HD or even digital signals. There is certainly nothing to prevent DVI and HDMI from being used for HDTV. But some studios have decided to arbitrarily EXCLUDE people because their equipment is not HDCP-infected. Making an analogy between Toyota and Porsche (which you can't even spell correctly) shows that you are either ignorant or a troll. Maybe both.
In short, you're a waste of time, just like prisoner-of-enigma. Try again.
Pharmaceutical drugs and vaccines don't cure or prevent disease. They CAUSE disease. Eating right, exercising, sleeping in the dark, getting plenty of sunlight and fresh air - is what prevents disease. Despite what corporations want you to believe, their products are useless if not harmful. Their cures are worse than the disease. There are no drugs or vaccines without toxic side-effects. The whole germ theory is fraud. Diseases don't result from drug deficiencies. They result from harmful life-styles, pollution, chemicals, radiation, and the products of civilization in general. Modern life is slowly killing us. That's why they're called diseases of civilization. They are not diseases of primitive people who actually follow Natural Laws.
"If DVD-Audio took off it would be 40 minutes of 5.1 surround music for $40. And that is why it won't take off..."
Also, I've never heard a 5.1 remix that sounded better than PCM. Just watch music video or concert DVDs that offer both. If you don't think that PCM sounds better, get yourself some hearing aids. You're deaf. I don't want music RE-mixed in lossy 5.1 audio. I want the original audio format in uncompressed PCM. Take your 5.1 mix and shove it.
Do the math. Dolby and DTS 5.1 suck compared to PCM PCM 2.0 = 1536-2304 kbps. (768-1152 kbps per channel) DD 5.1 = 384-448 kbps (75.3-87.8 kbps per channel) DTS 5.1 = 768-1536 kbps. (150.6-301.2 kbps per channel)
I'm not interested in lame 5.1 re-mixes. I'd rather have more music DVDs with full bit rate PCM. If you offered MULTI-CHANNEL PCM, maybe DVD-Audio and SA-CD would sound good. But forget about comparing Dolby and DTS to PCM. They're not even half as good.
"Social good be damned, people make new things because they want to make money from them."
Actually, no. Most people create new things because they enjoy it. Most never make any money. For every band like the Beatles, there's a thousand bands that never break even from their crummy contracts and a thousand more that never get published at all. Their reason for making music or whatever is because they enjoy it. Those who do it only for money are usually the ones with the least talent.
People create, because it's our nature to create and invent. Copyrights only get in the way of progress. Imagine all the new ideas we could have if everyone could freely build on other ideas. Imagine if you didn't have to get an author's permission to make a film of their book. Imagine if you didn't have to pay royalties to cover a song. Imagine if you didn't need clearance for every piece of clothing and furniture to have it shown in your movie. Copyrights and patents are a racket. They benefit a tiny minority of people at the expense of society and progress.
You can't make a consistent case for the alleged benefits of intellectual property. You are a sad defender of the status quo. Artists and inventors were capable of making money before IP rights even existed. How? Performance, works-for-hire, patronage, you name it. We don't need copyrights or patents now. And we never did.
Slashdot Mirror
"Movies cost tens -- sometimes hundreds -- of millions of dollars to create. No movie studio would ever produce a $300+ million epic like Lord of the Rings if it knew it would be copied and freely distributed the instant it was released. Now, in a perfect world where everyone could be trusted to never give away such content for free, there'd be no need for DRM. However, since there's a vocal group of nutcases who insist on thinking they have some free "right" to the fruits of other's labor without compensating them for it, we get crap like CSS and DRM. Gee, thanks Mr. Pirate. We're all so grateful."
This tired argument is often used to condemn those who copy movies. However, the truth is that it doesn't hold water. The studios want REGION CODES, CSS, and other forms of DIGITAL RESTRICTION MANAGEMENT (DRM) so they can make more money. If all DVDs would play anywhere in the world, they would have people importing them from cheap countries or selling them before the theatricla release in a country (since movies are seldom released simultaneously). They want you to believe that pirates are to blame. But the truth is that they lose very little money to professional piracy, and even less to casual copying. Why? Because they wouldn't have sold any copies there to begin with. If I can rent from Netflix and burn the discs to dual layer Verbatims for $2 a piece, I will do that for movies I really like (which is not many). If I can't copy them, I will simply watch them and forget them. Copies don't equal lost sales. your argument that pirates are to blame for CSS and DRM is naive and amateurish. You can do better.
You also need to explain for those of us with brains how replication == theft. No analogies with stealing cars or handbags or any other physical things, please. I would also ask you why you equate intangible ideas with property. The notion that ideas can be owned is just as ridiculous as equating replication with theft. The original still exists. Nothing was stolen. My computer just decrypted the content and created an exact copy. If you want an analogy, how about this. Someone creates the first Star Trek Replicator and sells it cheap so everyone has one. Car company accuses you of theft for creating an exact copy. Is that theft?
Or is the business model of creating and maintaining artificial scarcity obsolete?
"Yes I'm saying tough cookies. He should have known better...Same attitude to those who bought TVs that are only capable of 720P resolution thinking it's hi-def - it's not."
TVs that use 720P aren't called HDTVs. They're called EDTVs. So there'd be little chance of anyone confusing them. Also, there's nothing preventing high-def output over component, DVI, or HDMI cable. There's no reason resolution should be limited to people whose systems aren't infected by HDCP. Either debate the issues or shut up. Consumers aren't to blame for the studio's decision to limit resolution on old systems that aren't HDCP-infected. That decision is arbitrary, and discriminatory. It should be illegal, too. I hope the technology fails. And good riddance, too.
You could've fooled me, quoting Ronald "McDonald" Reagan - the Alzheimer case who sleep-walked through his Presidency. Maybe I confused you with prisoner-of-enigma. It's not hard, since you're both ignorant trolls who spew inane platitudes.
The fact remains, as Mike Babcock and I (and others) have said, YOU ARE WRONG. You speak as though people who bought HDTV sets are at fault, because they didn't wait for BluRay and HD-DVD. That is a hostile and backwards attitude to take. Consumers should not have to buy new equipment to watch DVDs in HD when there's NO TECHNICAL REASON for it. It's purely arbitrary and based on the apparent belief that early adopters (who tend to be wealthy) are more likely to pirate.
Your language skills and vocabulary are quite impressive. I'm just standing in awe here. Why don't you get a life and a H.S. diploma??? I wouldn't buy a TV or player that was infected with DRM. When the DRM is cracked, I'll think about it.
Also, the content owners should not be able to influence hardware makers. DRM has absolutely no benefits for consumers. It only reduces functionality. Copyright is not a divine right. It's a social agreement between the public and rights holders. You (or prisoner-of-enigma) stated that copyright exists SOLELY for the benefit of rights holders. If that were true, then copyrights would last forever. They don't (yet), nor does the Constitution say that they should.
I don't agree with copyrights and patents at all. Inventors and artists should be paid for WORK, not OWNERSHIP of IDEAS. They should be paid for performance, works for hire, research, development, etc. Why should the government protect a monopoly over ideas, when it has no benefit for the masses if copyright lasts forever? And why should hardware makers have to comply with the demands of software and content makers? The government should abolish DRM. It is anti-consumer.
I'm not whining, idiot. I haven't even bought an HD set. So why don't you stop making assumptions about me. You are being a troll. There is NO TECHNICAL REASON that people can't use component, DVI, or HDMI inputs without being HDCP-infected. Stop bragging about your system like a pathetic yuppie snob and try discussing the actual issues involved. You obviously don't know anything. You're an ignorant and retarded troll. Go spew your drivel on some Republican forum. You're not welcome.
Why don't you stop being an idiot, pnewhook? You're obviously clueless. There is NOTHING to prevent component video from being used for HD or even digital signals. There is certainly nothing to prevent DVI and HDMI from being used for HDTV. But some studios have decided to arbitrarily EXCLUDE people because their equipment is not HDCP-infected. Making an analogy between Toyota and Porsche (which you can't even spell correctly) shows that you are either ignorant or a troll. Maybe both.
In short, you're a waste of time, just like prisoner-of-enigma. Try again.
Pharmaceutical drugs and vaccines don't cure or prevent disease. They CAUSE disease. Eating right, exercising, sleeping in the dark, getting plenty of sunlight and fresh air - is what prevents disease. Despite what corporations want you to believe, their products are useless if not harmful. Their cures are worse than the disease. There are no drugs or vaccines without toxic side-effects. The whole germ theory is fraud. Diseases don't result from drug deficiencies. They result from harmful life-styles, pollution, chemicals, radiation, and the products of civilization in general. Modern life is slowly killing us. That's why they're called diseases of civilization. They are not diseases of primitive people who actually follow Natural Laws.
"If DVD-Audio took off it would be 40 minutes of 5.1 surround music for $40. And that is why it won't take off..."
Also, I've never heard a 5.1 remix that sounded better than PCM. Just watch music video or concert DVDs that offer both. If you don't think that PCM sounds better, get yourself some hearing aids. You're deaf. I don't want music RE-mixed in lossy 5.1 audio. I want the original audio format in uncompressed PCM. Take your 5.1 mix and shove it.
Do the math. Dolby and DTS 5.1 suck compared to PCM
PCM 2.0 = 1536-2304 kbps. (768-1152 kbps per channel)
DD 5.1 = 384-448 kbps (75.3-87.8 kbps per channel)
DTS 5.1 = 768-1536 kbps. (150.6-301.2 kbps per channel)
I'm not interested in lame 5.1 re-mixes. I'd rather have more music DVDs with full bit rate PCM. If you offered MULTI-CHANNEL PCM, maybe DVD-Audio and SA-CD would sound good. But forget about comparing Dolby and DTS to PCM. They're not even half as good.
"Social good be damned, people make new things because they want to make money from them."
Actually, no. Most people create new things because they enjoy it. Most never make any money. For every band like the Beatles, there's a thousand bands that never break even from their crummy contracts and a thousand more that never get published at all. Their reason for making music or whatever is because they enjoy it. Those who do it only for money are usually the ones with the least talent.
People create, because it's our nature to create and invent. Copyrights only get in the way of progress. Imagine all the new ideas we could have if everyone could freely build on other ideas. Imagine if you didn't have to get an author's permission to make a film of their book. Imagine if you didn't have to pay royalties to cover a song. Imagine if you didn't need clearance for every piece of clothing and furniture to have it shown in your movie. Copyrights and patents are a racket. They benefit a tiny minority of people at the expense of society and progress.
You can't make a consistent case for the alleged benefits of intellectual property. You are a sad defender of the status quo. Artists and inventors were capable of making money before IP rights even existed. How? Performance, works-for-hire, patronage, you name it. We don't need copyrights or patents now. And we never did.
Death to Intellectual Property. Innovate or Die.