[mythtv-users] Many new dvd's not working

[Simon Hobson]

Neil Salstrom wrote:

>Although even VLC was dying on Sherlock Holmes.  DVDFab was the only
>solution to get it working.  Good point that was brought up about if
>these disks don't conform to DVD standards then they are being sold
>falsely as a "DVD".

Which comes back to whether there is a test suite that can check a 
disk for compliance. If such a suite existed, then instead of messing 
around with all these work-arounds, run it through the checker and if 
it fails, go back to the retailer.

I don't know what sort of protection laws you guys in the US have, 
but we're lucky in the UK to have some fairly good protection against 
faulty or misdescribed goods.

Tell them it's defective, and under UK law they are committing a 
criminal offence by selling it as a DVD and if they don't take it off 
sale immediately then you're calling Trading Standards (who in this 
country DO prosecute retailers for such things if they persist). 
There was a case a few years back of an audio "CD" going on sale - 
sold in the CD section, but didn't actually carry the "CD" logo as 
they'd fiddled it to not play on computers. IIRC there was a bit of a 
PR own goal with it - and I'm not talking (I don't think) about the 
Sony root-kit.

If you make a point of buying disks at a big outfit (such as ASDA 
which is part of Walmart), then the number of disks they'd ship back 
to the wholesaler **would** get noticed. Could you imagine the effect 
if Amazon, ASDA, and Tesco (who between them probably account for the 
majority of sales in the UK) all refused to stock the latest big 
releases !

But it does all revolve around having a test suite to confirm non-compliance.

Oh yes, and once someone achieves this, tip off all the press - make 
it a PR disaster for the studios.
-- 
Simon Hobson

Visit http://www.magpiesnestpublishing.co.uk/ for books by acclaimed
author Gladys Hobson. Novels - poetry - short stories - ideal as
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