Thread: sharing my new favorite numbers!

Favourite numbers? That's not something I can relate to. For what reason would you prefer one number over another? The only reason I can think of preffering numbers is I would prefer MY six numbers would come up in this week's lottery...

Brian

Ah now I see! I thought justDIY's original posting was a bit weird.

I can certainly see the appeal of that set of numbers now that I know it's relevance!

Brian

So let me get this straight. HD DVD had a content lock-in system (DRM protection) to stop unauthorised copying etc. And the whole system is held ransom to one set of codes which can be made use of by the masses to defeat the protection system on a number (all?) titles?

That's a bit of a rubbish protection scheme then, isn't it? A system based around such a weakness is bound to be compromised sooner or later. And it's certainly no good trying to keep it off the internet, that's just not going to happen!

My feeling is that piracy is bad (although I'm not an angel in this respect) but I also find DRM protection to be so restrictive that it's not really fair on the legitimate buyer. I paid for a few Ebooks with DRM protection, and that means I can only view them on my computer. As it happens they were technical Electronics books and I'd have liked to be able to burn them to disc and take them with me for reference wherever I go. Can't do it.

I also own a lot of music DVDs which I'd like to copy so I can play them in my car without having to worry about them being lost, damaged or stolen. Well, unless I defeat the protection systems I can't.

DRM isn't fair, really.

Brian

Originally Posted by Marks256

I would have been cracked soon enough, anyways...

You "cracked" up a long time ago Marks

This "hack" nearly affects Blu-Ray just as much as HD-DVD at this time. Both disc formats use AACS as their primary DRM. The biggest difference is that it is the only DRM scheme used by HD-DVD whereas Blu-Ray additionally employs two other schemes, ROM-Mark (which is intended to block mass production and not individual copies) and BD+ (which has yet to be used on any shipped discs). Either way, no DRM is completely unbreakable/unbypassable.

Is this bad for HD-DVD? DVDs have had all of their various protection schemes broken not long after being introduced. DVDs are doing well. HD-DVDs have a lower production cost than Blu-Ray and have had no compatibility problems to date. Hardware players are cheaper to manufacture and cost less to the consumer. I hardly think that this will be the end of HD-DVD.

Blu-Ray and its technically advanced production format has already encountered problems (higher production costs and a significant flaw rate) and incompatibilities with hardware and software players, including playback on Sony's PS3. With the introduction of additional or even multiple protection schemes on Blu-Ray discs, these incompatibilities can only get worse. This can only cause more problems for Blu-Ray in the future.

I'll leave on two statements:

DRM (in general) only "protects" big businesses and has a history of only hurting consumer experiences, mostly by causing problems during normal usage (such as drastically decreased battery life in portable players and playback incompatibilities).

AND

The more complicated something is, the more that can potentially go wrong.

Originally Posted by bloody-orc

TekNoir if you say, that BR is doing worse than HD then I think you got you facts wrong.... AFAIK BR is selling better in both players AND disks... and BR has better quality. I'm happy to pay a "bit" more for that quality.

Also I somehow like the BDA companies more than DVD Forum ones...

I'm not saying that Blu-Ray is doing worse than HD-DVD. I say only that this is no real setback for HD-DVD, Blu-Ray's problems are underestimated, and that things may drastically change in the future for both. Personally, I am not for either one. With the current underutilisation of the DVD medium, I highly doubt it will be different on either Blu-Ray or HD-DVD.

(See this link on how current DVDs can be better utilised, though so few have been -- http://www.sonypictures.com/cthe/sup..._superbit.html and also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superbit)

For what it's worth, Blu-Ray has sold more discs and more players than HD-DVD in the same amount of time.

Quality is the same between Blu-Ray and HD-DVD. Both use the same three codecs, MPEG-2 (DVD Standard), MPEG-4 AVC, and VC-1 (Windows Media 9).

Both support the exact same resolutions in use at this time. Blu-Ray has support for some higher resolutions, but they are not being used and most television display monitors don't even support these higher resolutions.

The only differences in quality will be seen in the difference in care given to the encoding process. Just as there are some DVDs where the transfer was immaculate and some where the transfer was horrible, so too will there be Blu-Ray and HD-DVDs with these same good or bad qualities.

As to the size difference, most major studios don't currently even take full advantage of any extra space left on DVD media. Only roughly a third of all DVDs produced contain enough extra content to fill the disc or require extras. I cannot see this changing in the future for the high definition formats. Whether it's 2GB or 4GB, extra unused space is still only extra wasted space.

Both formats will have a rough road ahead.