Re:Hmmm... Somehow it just isn' t the same...
on
Baldur's Gate 2 Gold
·
· Score: 1
My friends and I each bought a copy of Bauldur's Gate and Diablo for that very reason. We can pretty much let the computer DM our games... More fun for us!
I went out searching the net to see what the liscense for CSS cost. Seems like the the cost for a software developer could be right around $0. (Note you still may have to pay money for development, and liscensing for hardware still costs money)
From http://www.dvddemystified.com/dvdfaq.html
3) Content Scrambling System (CSS) Because of the potential for perfect digital copies, paranoid movie studios forced a deeper copy protection requirement into the DVD-Video standard. Content Scrambling System (CSS) is a form of data encryption to discourage reading media files directly from the disc. Most players have a decryption circuit that decodes the data before displaying it. No unscrambled digital output is allowed until work in progress for secure digital connections is finished. On the computer side, DVD-ROM drives and video display/decoder hardware or software exchange encryption keys so that the video is decrypted just before being displayed by the encoder. This means that many DVD-ROM drives and video display boards have extra hardware (and cost) for movie copy protection. Beginning in 2001, all DVD-ROM drives are required to support regional management in conjunction with CSS. Some drives may allow the user to reset the region a limited number of times; other drives will self-program after a certain number of movies have been played. Makers of equipment used to display DVD-Video (drives, chips, display boards, etc.) must license CSS. There is no charge for a CSS license, but it's currently a lengthy process, so it's recommended that interested parties apply as soon as possible. Near the end of May 1997, CSS licenses were finally granted for software decoding. More on CSS below.
[6.1] Who invented DVD and who owns it? Whom to contact for specifications and licensing?
DVD is the work of many companies and many people. There were originally two next-generation standards for DVD. The MMCD format was backed by Sony, Philips, and others. The competing SD format was backed by Toshiba, Matsushita, Time Warner, and others. A group of computer companies led by IBM insisted that the factions agree on a single standard. The combined DVD format was announced in September of 1995, avoiding a confusing and costly repeat of the VHS vs. BetaMax videotape battle or the quadraphonic sound battle of the 1970s.
No single company "owns" DVD. The official specification was developed by a consortium of ten companies: Hitachi, JVC, Matsushita, Mitsubishi, Philips, Pioneer, Sony, Thomson, Time Warner, and Toshiba. Representatives from many other companies also contributed in various working groups. In May 1997, the Consortium was replaced by the DVD Forum, which is open to all companies (more info at ). See section 6.2 or visit Robert's DVD Info page for links to Web sites of companies working with DVD.
The official DVD specification books are available from Toshiba after signing a nondisclosure agreement and paying a $5,000 fee. Contact Toshiba DVD Products 1-1 Shibaru 1-Chome, Minato-ku, Tokyo 105-01, Japan, 81-3-3457-2643, fax 81-3-5444-9430. ECMA has developed international standards for DVD-ROM (part 1, the smallest part of the DVD spec), available for free download as ECMA-267 and ECMA-268 from www.ecma.ch. ECMA has also standardized DVD-R in ECMA-279, DVD-RAM in ECMA-272 and ECMA-273, and DVD+RW as ECMA-274 (see 4.3). Unfortunately, ECMA has the annoying habit of spelling "disc" wrong. Also confusing, if you're not from Europe, is ECMA's use of a comma instead of a period for the decimal point.
Implementation of DVD products and use of the DVD logo for non-promotional purposes requires additional $10,000 format and logo licenses. Contact Toshiba DVD Business Promotion and Support: 81-3-5444-9580, fax 81-3-5444-9430.
The specification for the UDF file system used by DVD is available from www.osta.org.
Any company making DVD products must license the patented technology from a Philips/Pioneer/Sony pool, a Hitachi/Matsushita/Mitsubishi/Time Warner/Toshiba/Victor pool, and from Thomson. Total royalties are about 6% (minimum $6) for a DVD-Video player, 6% (minimum $6) for a DVD-ROM drive, 5% (minimum $2) for a DVD decoder, and 10 cents for a DVD disc.
The licensor of CSS encryption technology is DVD CCA (Copy Control Association), a non-profit trade association with offices at 225 B Cochrane Circle, Morgan Hill, CA. Send license requests to css-license@lmicp.com, technical info requests to css-info@lmicp.com. Before December 15, 1999, CSS licensing was administered on an interim basis by Matsushita.
Macrovision licenses its analog anti-recording technology free of charge to hardware makers, but charges a per-copy royalty to content publishers (2 to 4 cents per disc).
An MPEG-2 patent license may also be required, from MPEG LA (MPEG Licensing Adminstrator). Cost is about $4 for a DVD player or decoder card and 4 cents for each DVD disc, although there seems to be disagreement on whether content producers owe royalties for discs.
Dolby licenses Dolby Digital decoders for $0.26 per channel.
Where can you purchase a legal DVD Key? How much do they cost? Someplace like RedHat, VA Linux or even possibly LinuxCare once they IPO may be able to afford it. Perhaps a separate 'Linux DVD Coalition' could be formed.
I read a little abou this in a book that I'm currently working through:
You use "being nice" as a substitute for "being real". There is a tremendous difference between thoughtfulness and acquiescence in the hope of being wanted or getting some sex. You give her no real feedback and you make no real demands. This fact should have finally dawned on one guy: "Perhaps what bothers me most is that most women don't even ASK about the choices I've made in my life, or about my background, which tells me that they make THEIR choices based only on superficial things". That's not all women, just the ones you pick to work on.
You give up your "masculinity" to try to become her "best girlfriend" so that there is no threatening aspect to the relationship--- another way of trying to "appease the gods". This letter witer may be somewhat typical of this problem: "I want very much to be in love. Maybe too much. I'm sure I'm probably too desperate for a relationship. While I was growing up, I was terrified of my father and relied heavily on my mother to feel secure. What can I do?" For these voluntarily, self demasculinized men, a woman is a mother replacement . . . And how do you act with your mother? Certianly not with any sexual tension or demands.
The book is "Ten Stupid Things Men Do To Mess Up Their Lives". It seems to be a fairly decent FAQ in relationships, for those of you trying to RTFM...
I'd be willing to help do research for and put together a second book. Maybe we could do it as an open source project? Use a web site and let everyone know what chapeters have been written and what information we've managed to collect... Anyone else interested? Email me: rings888@yahooANTISPAM.com
Given what we've seen about the GeForce256, does anyone think it is possible to embed the X server into a video card's GPU for extra speed? It ought to be possible to do a minimalist version of this, given that a high performance video card has at least 8mb of RAM...
Slashdot Mirror
My friends and I each bought a copy of Bauldur's Gate and Diablo for that very reason. We can pretty much let the computer DM our games... More fun for us!
Cool, doens this mean that I can call one into existance for 0 mana? (Or electricity)
I went out searching the net to see what the liscense for CSS cost. Seems like the the cost for a software developer could be right around $0. (Note you still may have to pay money for development, and liscensing for hardware still costs money)
From http://www.dvddemystified.com/dvdfaq.html
3) Content Scrambling System (CSS)
Because of the potential for perfect digital copies, paranoid movie studios forced a deeper copy protection requirement
into the DVD-Video standard. Content Scrambling System (CSS) is a form of data encryption to discourage reading
media files directly from the disc. Most players have a decryption circuit that decodes the data before displaying it. No
unscrambled digital output is allowed until work in progress for secure digital connections is finished. On the computer
side, DVD-ROM drives and video display/decoder hardware or software exchange encryption keys so that the video
is decrypted just before being displayed by the encoder. This means that many DVD-ROM drives and video display
boards have extra hardware (and cost) for movie copy protection. Beginning in 2001, all DVD-ROM drives are
required to support regional management in conjunction with CSS. Some drives may allow the user to reset the region
a limited number of times; other drives will self-program after a certain number of movies have been played. Makers
of equipment used to display DVD-Video (drives, chips, display boards, etc.) must license CSS. There is no charge for
a CSS license, but it's currently a lengthy process, so it's recommended that interested parties apply as soon as
possible. Near the end of May 1997, CSS licenses were finally granted for software decoding. More on CSS below.
[6.1] Who invented DVD and who owns it? Whom to contact for specifications and
licensing?
DVD is the work of many companies and many people. There were originally two next-generation standards for
DVD. The MMCD format was backed by Sony, Philips, and others. The competing SD format was backed by Toshiba,
Matsushita, Time Warner, and others. A group of computer companies led by IBM insisted that the factions agree on a
single standard. The combined DVD format was announced in September of 1995, avoiding a confusing and costly
repeat of the VHS vs. BetaMax videotape battle or the quadraphonic sound battle of the 1970s.
No single company "owns" DVD. The official specification was developed by a consortium of ten companies: Hitachi,
JVC, Matsushita, Mitsubishi, Philips, Pioneer, Sony, Thomson, Time Warner, and Toshiba. Representatives from many
other companies also contributed in various working groups. In May 1997, the Consortium was replaced by the DVD
Forum, which is open to all companies (more info at ). See section 6.2 or visit Robert's
DVD Info page for links to Web sites of companies working with DVD.
The official DVD specification books are available from Toshiba after signing a nondisclosure agreement and paying a
$5,000 fee. Contact Toshiba DVD Products 1-1 Shibaru 1-Chome, Minato-ku, Tokyo 105-01, Japan,
81-3-3457-2643, fax 81-3-5444-9430. ECMA has developed international standards for DVD-ROM (part 1, the
smallest part of the DVD spec), available for free download as ECMA-267 and ECMA-268 from www.ecma.ch.
ECMA has also standardized DVD-R in ECMA-279, DVD-RAM in ECMA-272 and ECMA-273, and DVD+RW
as ECMA-274 (see 4.3). Unfortunately, ECMA has the annoying habit of spelling "disc" wrong. Also confusing, if
you're not from Europe, is ECMA's use of a comma instead of a period for the decimal point.
Implementation of DVD products and use of the DVD logo for non-promotional purposes requires additional $10,000
format and logo licenses. Contact Toshiba DVD Business Promotion and Support: 81-3-5444-9580, fax
81-3-5444-9430.
The specification for the UDF file system used by DVD is available from www.osta.org.
Any company making DVD products must license the patented technology from a Philips/Pioneer/Sony pool, a
Hitachi/Matsushita/Mitsubishi/Time Warner/Toshiba/Victor pool, and from Thomson. Total royalties are about 6%
(minimum $6) for a DVD-Video player, 6% (minimum $6) for a DVD-ROM drive, 5% (minimum $2) for a DVD
decoder, and 10 cents for a DVD disc.
The licensor of CSS encryption technology is DVD CCA (Copy Control Association), a non-profit trade association
with offices at 225 B Cochrane Circle, Morgan Hill, CA. Send license requests to css-license@lmicp.com, technical
info requests to css-info@lmicp.com. Before December 15, 1999, CSS licensing was administered on an interim basis
by Matsushita.
Macrovision licenses its analog anti-recording technology free of charge to hardware makers, but charges a
per-copy royalty to content publishers (2 to 4 cents per disc).
An MPEG-2 patent license may also be required, from MPEG LA (MPEG Licensing Adminstrator). Cost is about $4
for a DVD player or decoder card and 4 cents for each DVD disc, although there seems to be disagreement on
whether content producers owe royalties for discs.
Dolby licenses Dolby Digital decoders for $0.26 per channel.
Where can you purchase a legal DVD Key? How much do they cost? Someplace like RedHat, VA Linux or even possibly LinuxCare once they IPO may be able to afford it. Perhaps a separate 'Linux DVD Coalition' could be formed.
You use "being nice" as a substitute for "being real". There is a tremendous difference between thoughtfulness and acquiescence in the hope of being wanted or getting some sex. You give her no real feedback and you make no real demands. This fact should have finally dawned on one guy: "Perhaps what bothers me most is that most women don't even ASK about the choices I've made in my life, or about my background, which tells me that they make THEIR choices based only on superficial things". That's not all women, just the ones you pick to work on.
You give up your "masculinity" to try to become her "best girlfriend" so that there is no threatening aspect to the relationship--- another way of trying to "appease the gods". This letter witer may be somewhat typical of this problem: "I want very much to be in love. Maybe too much. I'm sure I'm probably too desperate for a relationship. While I was growing up, I was terrified of my father and relied heavily on my mother to feel secure. What can I do?" For these voluntarily, self demasculinized men, a woman is a mother replacement . . . And how do you act with your mother? Certianly not with any sexual tension or demands.
The book is "Ten Stupid Things Men Do To Mess Up Their Lives". It seems to be a fairly decent FAQ in relationships, for those of you trying to RTFM...
I'd be willing to help do research for and put together a second book. Maybe we could do it as an open source project? Use a web site and let everyone know what chapeters have been written and what information we've managed to collect...
Anyone else interested? Email me: rings888@yahooANTISPAM.com
Given what we've seen about the GeForce256, does anyone think it is possible to embed the X server into a video card's GPU for extra speed? It ought to be possible to do a minimalist version of this, given that a high performance video card has at least 8mb of RAM...