[mythtv-users] What I'd predicted/"Spot On" consolidation thread.

[Michael T. Dean]

On 01/11/2008 02:17 PM, Steven Adeff wrote:
> On Jan 11, 2008 10:54 AM, Brian Wood <beww at beww.org> wrote:
>   
>> Steven Adeff wrote:
>>> To add to the MPAA comments... Warner's decision to drop HD-DVD mid
>>> contract with Toshiba shows that at least the movie studios are still
>>> very much interested in DRM. BluRay is notoriously DRM heavy compared
>>> to HD-DVD. It's the reason BluRay players need constant firmware
>>> updates, etc. Since this is the only real difference between the two
>>> formats, and BluRay is more expensive, it's the only reason a studio
>>> would have to choose BluRay over HD-DVD.
>>>       
>> Hmmm. You don't think the higher capacity is significant?
>>
>> It may well not be, I just wanted to point out that DRM is not the
>> *only* reason to select a format.
> no, because HD-DVD will be releasing a 3 layer format that will have
> greater capacity than BluRay and still maintain a lower production
> cost level.

And Toshiba still hasn't said whether it will be compatible with 
existing players...  Lower production cost really does nothing for 
me--especially if it means I have to buy a new piece of hardware to save 
the studios some $.  (Actually, I don't own either and won't for a long 
time as they're hardly worth the cost to me.)

Putting out an alpha-quality OS is one thing (shame, shame, ...), but 
putting out an alpha-quality specification for consumer hardware is a 
whole other level of wrong.

Oh, and I have to disagree with the previous implication that that 
"DRM-heavy" Blu-ray is somehow worse than DRM'ed HD-DVD.  (Blu-ray has 
AACS, BD+, and BD-ROM Mark; HD-DVD has AACS.)  DRM is just plain bad.  
Is a serial murderer who only killed 5 people a better person than a 
serial murderer who killed 10?  ;)

Oh, and MS's fascination with "adding more stuff to the DRM" in the XBox 
classic--making it "DRM-heavy"--was the reason for the ease with which 
it was eventually cracked (complexity means mistakes).  It just takes a 
while to find the mistakes--especially when the hardware is only being 
used by a "few" early adopters.  How long did it take for DVD's CSS to 
be cracked?  Spec was finalized in 1995 and CSS cracked in 1999--and 
that's after Philips/Sony dropped the Multimedia Compact Disc format and 
agreed to use Toshiba's SuperDensity Disc format (mostly unmodified) to 
avoid a costly format war that happened with VHS and Beta.  So, the 
extra time for the HD disc formats may have a lot to do with the format 
war, lack of hardware after initial release of the specs, redundant 
efforts on multiple fronts, and the industry actually having learned a 
little bit from CSS.

Mike