Post #99,791
5/1/03 10:43:04 PM
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Breaking standards, one standard at a time.
[link|http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=9270|Microsoft moves to own DVD format]. THERE ARE PLENTY of people who think that the MPAA is bad but, as the phrase goes, they ain't seen nuthin' yet. Microsoft had been floating around on the horizon off the California coastline watching Hollywood with interest. Now the Vole has parked a whacking great big battleship just offshore. It has announced its own DVD format and has backing from some insiders.
Artisan Home Entertainment is going to be releasing the first wave of Microsoft's bid to control Hollywood. It has two films lined up for special treatment, the first is "Shadows of Motown" and the second is a new release of "Terminator 2: Judgement Day." Both films come with an extra DVD that is playable on a PC using Media Player 9.
The big selling point is that the Media Player 9 disks are higher resolution. And, wait for the slight of hand, the format is called HD-DVD even though Microsoft is stressing that the resolution is far below "high definition" in the sense of HDTV. Wonderful, DVDs you can only watch from Windows. Divide and conquer. Ughhh! Alex
Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction. -- Blaise Pascal (1623-1662)
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Post #99,817
5/2/03 12:40:25 AM
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Are teens (and others) really This Dumb in '03?
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Post #99,849
5/2/03 10:02:02 AM
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I assume that was a rhetorical question. If not, answer is
Yes. I've 5 teens in my house....
[link|mailto:jbrabeck@attbi.com|Joe]
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Post #99,866
5/2/03 10:53:37 AM
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You had kids fast enough to have five teens home at once
... and they're stupid?
===
Implicitly condoning stupidity since 2001.
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Post #99,889
5/2/03 12:12:01 PM
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Not quite...
I had two from prior marriage.
Wife had three from prior marriage.
When we got married we then had 5. 18, 16, 16, 14, 14. Or grade wise, 12, 11,10, 9 and 8. Sending one off to college every year for the next 5 years! Any one wanna contribute to the college fund?
[link|mailto:jbrabeck@attbi.com|Joe]
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Post #99,892
5/2/03 12:16:30 PM
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Wow, straight flush
===
Implicitly condoning stupidity since 2001.
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Post #99,893
5/2/03 12:18:25 PM
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Did I mention that they're all girls? Royal Flush
[link|mailto:jbrabeck@attbi.com|Joe]
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Post #99,896
5/2/03 12:22:47 PM
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"Slumber Party" every night, huh?
And kitten fights by day?
[link|http://www.aaxnet.com|AAx]
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Post #99,898
5/2/03 12:32:36 PM
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Hairy leg check...
Have to make sure that there are no hairy legs in bed...
Actually, the girls are either very well behaved (wrt boys) or very devious. Since we have 4 dogs who bark at any noise, I'm inclined to believe the well behaved, at least at home...
Yes, we've had some empty beds at bed check... but she's found out that it didn't pay.
I just keep the spitoon in the living room, wearing my bib overalls and straw hat, chewing on weed, sharping my big knife with the shotgun at my feet whenever the new boyfriend shows up. Casually mention the burial plot out behind the woodshed.... ;-b
[link|mailto:jbrabeck@attbi.com|Joe]
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Post #99,900
5/2/03 12:35:40 PM
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Ssh, don't tell Karsten
===
Implicitly condoning stupidity since 2001.
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Post #99,875
5/2/03 11:15:12 AM
5/2/03 11:15:46 AM
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Browse around msn.com
The entire thing is so steeped in mediocrity as a conscious philosophy of life, it makes People Magazine look like the New England Journal of Medicine.
-drl
Edited by deSitter
May 2, 2003, 11:15:46 AM EDT
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Post #100,212
5/4/03 8:45:13 AM
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The purpose of this is.....
to get people to use WMP9?
presumably, at first, the other disks will be 'free'
but to make money it seems that they would have to make their own MS-DVD players
people are not going to buy a disk that they can't play in their DVD players
or is the MPAA going to make sure that all its DVDs can't be played in a computer
A
Play I Some Music w/ Papa Andy
Saturday 8 PM - 11 PM ET
All Night Rewind 11 PM - 5 PM
Reggae, African and Caribbean Music
[link|http://wxxe.org|Tune In]
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Post #100,224
5/4/03 11:16:13 AM
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The purpose of this is . .
. . to force everyone to license a Microsoft proprietary protocol. If Microsoft can lure enough DVDs to their format (by promising unbreakable DRM), makers of players will be forced to license the Microsoft protocol so these disks can be played in their players.
There will probably be a two tier license, with a lower cost for devices that properly implement hardware for "encryption to the speakers" and can't be hacked to make digital recordings.
Microsoft sees how much the entertainment industry gets for a $0.50 CD or DVD, and sees no reason that profit shouldn't be theirs.
There is no vulnerability greater than greed, and the RIAA/MPAA companies specialize in greed. Microsoft intends to leverage that into total control of entertainment distribution in digital form.
[link|http://www.aaxnet.com|AAx]
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Post #100,228
5/4/03 11:41:59 AM
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Re: The purpose of this is . .
I see your point but from a money-making point of view this seems right up there with MS Bob
Force everyone to buy a new DVD player? I don't think so
DRM? what about Video Out
A
Play I Some Music w/ Papa Andy
Saturday 8 PM - 11 PM ET
All Night Rewind 11 PM - 5 PM
Reggae, African and Caribbean Music
[link|http://wxxe.org|Tune In]
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Post #100,244
5/4/03 1:15:38 PM
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Oh, you won't be forced to buy a new player.
You'll only need one if you want to play the Microsoft format disks. Everybody will have bought a new player within 5 or 6 years anyway.
As for "Video Out", you embed the final descrambler in the display. Unprotected content will play fine, but protected content will require a "Microsoft Enhanced Display".
Will the descrambler be reverse engineered? Of course it will. So the devices will be rigged to detect if the content was once protected, and if it isn't protected now, don't play.
Any scheme can be beat, but if you can restrict that to "a small circle of friends", you're most of the way to winning.
[link|http://www.aaxnet.com|AAx]
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