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64 Comments
- nixonrichard, on 10/12/2007, -3/+35Ohhh, I got it! "Something you would say to get dugg down!"
Wait, this is the $100,000 pyramid right? - alx1507, on 10/12/2007, -4/+36"By the way, all our Blu-ray discs have root-ki.... an EASTER EGG - do you know about that?"
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -12/+44If there's one company to get non-based information about Blu-Ray from, it's Sony.
- userChris, on 10/12/2007, -5/+35Fool, you've summoned the wrath of the Linux fanboys! Run for your life!
- ToxicBomber, on 10/12/2007, -1/+28"By the way, all of our Blu-ray discs have an easter egg – do you know about that? To help people get their systems configured properly, we put test patterns on all of our discs -- they're just hidden. From the main menu, if you type in 7669, it will bring up a series of test patterns."
There saved you all the ungodly amount of reading...*phew* - latova, on 10/12/2007, -7/+31Sony has such a wonderful reputation of telling accurate and truthful information when it comes to coming products.
- Protoss, on 10/12/2007, -0/+21Isn't the PS3 running linux?
- JeffH, on 10/12/2007, -1/+21Exactly what I thought. All they said throughout the entire interview was; "ZOMG MPEG2 is actually a better codec because VC-1 is for lower bitrates, PCM is also better than lossless Dolby codecs, we are god please buy our products before Toshiba can prove everything we said in this interview wrong".
- MidnightWatcher, on 10/12/2007, -2/+20Those Sony reps pretty much said this: "Consumers are misinformed and stupid. Sony and MPEG2 rules. Don't believe what your eyes tell you, because we are Sony."
- kingfoot, on 10/12/2007, -5/+23no it puts up patterns to calibrate your television and make it look BETTER.
- Phil246, on 10/12/2007, -3/+17its not a rootkit - its a feature! :)
- smithco, on 10/12/2007, -1/+13Here's a little puzzle. If this is supposed to be a useful feature, why is it hidden? That's the kind of design decision that makes me want to whack the Sony designers on the nose with a rolled up newspaper.
- bieber, on 10/12/2007, -2/+12Sounds like a pretty impressive format. Now, let me actually *use* the content you're packaging with it, stop trying to ***** me over with DRM, and I'll consider buying.
- otatop, on 10/12/2007, -1/+10Oooooh, test patterns!
- bh1nd3r, on 10/12/2007, -8/+17Don't you mean non biased?
- ninjasquirrel, on 10/12/2007, -1/+10JoseGosdin: What the hell are you talking about?
- HappyScrappy, on 10/12/2007, -1/+10Nice to see all the digg folks just repeat the misconceptions after reading the article.
There's nothing wrong with MPEG-2. It doesn't compress as tightly as other codecs, but then again, it has 5x the storage of a DVD. So why do you need to compress more?
I don't understand why people are moaning to make Sony compress their video more. Lossy compression means you are throwing data away. I'd rather less data be thrown away than more.
I also agree with Sony that using MPEG-2 right now means they can leverage all the technology that has been created to compress content as well as possible. As MPEG-4 and H.264 compression techniques get better, Sony can switch to them.
I see absolutely no reason for Sony to use VC-1. It's Microsoft proprietary. If they want to abandon MPEG-2 (and they will have to for TV series releases, no use releasing 4 discs for a TV series when one can do the job), they should switch to H.264 instead. It's as good or better than VC-1 and is a standard, not MS proprietary.
I don't really care which format wins the battle, they use the same codes and DRM anyway. It does look like the movie industry is more behind BluRay, so my prediction is BluRay will win for movies. For my computer, I know I want BluRay. 30GB storage (dual-layer HD-DVD) per disc is nice, but 50GB storage (dual-layer BluRay) is better. - bieber, on 10/12/2007, -1/+10You _do_ realize that more storage space allows you to store video in the same codec at higher resolution, right?
- anphanax, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7What's wrong with Java? The look and feel issues can be resolved easily, and the performance is NOT that bad.
- bieber, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7It is, but they won't be distributing the source to the parts that decode Blu-Ray movies.
- Lynxpro, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6
No difference?
People, a DVD has a maximum resolution of 480p for NTSC (and 576p for PAL in Europe).
A Blu-Ray disc can do 1080p. That's a difference of 600 lines of resolution between it an NTSC. There's absolutely no way that a Blu-Ray (or HD-DVD) title can look exactly like a plane-jane DVD. Now, if they are using a cheap LCD panel or a plasma tv, the picture might just be 720p, but that is still a lot of difference in picture quality between 480p and 720p.
If you want to do a resolution test, go out to Torrent land, and download the series Torchwood (the spin-off from Doctor Who), both in standard definition and in HD. Even though it appears that the original HD transmission was 720p (if you factor in the loss of lines due to letterboxing and non-anamorphic transmission), there's a lot of difference between the two. And that's startling because that's just a difference between 576p and 720p. - straxus, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7"You are bypassing CSS which is illegal in some countries."
It's also illegal to have sex with your socks on where I live. I tend to ignore bad, unenforceable laws.
"Then you can play and copy it. It doesn't come with way by default."
I'm assuming you meant to say Linux doesn't play or copy DVD movies by default. Well, neither does Windows. You need to install an app.
"In windows I can play and copy DVD's as well. There are a ton of apps out there to do just this. And alot more options for creating my own DVD's along with menus."
I think you'd be surprised how many open AND closed source options are available for *nix to do these things, if you'd look around just a little bit.
"In the end it's the same thing."
Yep. The end result is the same. So why bring it up? - jerwong, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Insightful interview in terms of the content, but I wish they would've addressed concerns over its DRM.
- bieber, on 10/12/2007, -3/+6Archer, you don't have to bypass CSS in Windows. You have to use an authorized player, which will play your DVD, and will also force you to abide by all its restrictions (don't fast forward through previews if they don't want, don't copy _anything_, and so on and so forth).
On free systems, we use libdvdcss systemwide to decode DVDS, which means you can do anything and everything you want with them, up to and including skipping whatever and copying whatever. - TheG2, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3LynxPyro is correct, don't bother digging him down unless you hate the truth.
Its all about the price, Sony is trying to convince everything that they NEED Blu-Ray, just like Microsoft is trying to convince that we NEED HD-DVD. Sony has screwed up a lot lately, but in the past, their products have been of good quality for me (I have one of their HDTV's) and when the price eventually comes down (say to the range DVD players are now) then I'll consider it, but there really isn't a reason to upgrade unless your a hardcore videophile.
Let the hardcore people have their bleeding edge for a little bit, let the dust settle, and pick what works for you when it works for you..
This translates into everything, movies, consoles, music, blah blah, people need to stop picking extremes and try to be more moderate. - zetsurin, on 10/12/2007, -8/+10"so, the easter egg is that it ***** you in the eyeballs? Wonderful."
***** retard. I bet the article hadn't even reached the Y in Sony before you decided to come in here and post that. - bieber, on 10/12/2007, -10/+12You really know nothing about GNU/Linux, do you? I can do far more with a DVD on my GNU boxen than I could hope to on a Windows machine, because they don't suffer from the horrible crippling that the CSS licensing inflicts upon Windows implementations.
Blu-Ray won't work on free systems because its disks will all be encrypted, and it's going to take a while to crack. When we get it, though, we'll be having an awful lot more fun with those shiny disks than you, I promise. - TheG2, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3He's right, its just a less compressed DVD in the end. Personally, I don't see a need until either HD-DVD or Blu-Ray players come to the sub $75 dollar price point, my HDTV plays DVD's fantastically and I'm not that crazy to see more pores on people's faces.
- downlo, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4http://fy.chalmers.se/~appro/linux/DVD+RW/Blu-ray/
Why watch movies when you can have the kitchen sink on a LiveCD? - superkendall, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2They don't, any studio can use VC-1 today and it will work with exisitng players - VC-1 is a supported codec of the Blu-Ray standard. In fact there is no codec Blu-Ray supports that HD-DVD does not and vice-versa.
If you actually bothered to read the article, you'd see that they guy says they don't like some artifacts of VC-1 compression, and they use MPEG-2 because the encoders today are more well understood in terms of getting very accurate transfers of masters.
That means that MPEG-2 is accuratley showing noise from original prints, whereas a VC-1 codec might smooth it out. But is that better? What if it's not really noise it's smoothing out? - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -4/+6No, I think he really did mean non BASED.
Remember, its Sony we're talking about after all! - HappyScrappy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Actually, it for sure means it so more lossy. The amount of compression that can be done without loss can be calculated from the entropy in the source. If you compress more than that, you lose data. If you compress more, you lose more data.
The key is to throw away the right data, data people won't notice.
Anyway, there are lots of versions of H.264. Which profile of H.264 was in use? How many reference frames was it using? And you do realize that the spec for VC-1 or H.264 is a spec for playback. There is nothing that says that the best encoder for a given format has yet been created. The first DVDs looked like crap, with artifacts everywhere. Did that mean MPEG-2 was useless at those bitrates? No, it just meant that good encoders hadn't been created yet. This is yet another argument for Sony using MPEG-2 while H.264 encoders are improved.
Your argument about MPEG-2 is silly. If you increase the amount of CPU available, the amount of data rate available, and the amount of RAM available, there is no reason MPEG-2 is out of its league or out of date. It's like saying that JPEG is good for up to 256x256, but you wouldn't want to use it for a 4000x4000 image. It's not true.
I don't care about film grain. Digital projection already exists in theaters, and it doesn't have grain. People will get used to there no being grain, and many films will be shot on digital, thus there won't be any grain in the source either. - Lynxpro, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3@Xorp
Wait a sec, Xorp....you trust Microsoft to give you less copy protection than the Blu-Ray Group? Realize that Microsoft is the main player behind HD-DVD in the attempt to not only bring down Sony but to also ensure that its own codec VC-1 (aka Windows Media 9) becomes the standard video compression codec.
Why are the Toshiba HD-DVD players cheaper than the current Blu-Ray models? Could it be Microsoft's cash that is subsidizing the platform? - WhereAmI, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Alot of you claim Sony will ***** this up, and they have recently. But theres one thing to consider here:
Sony helped pioneer the Compact Disc.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compact_Disc
And now Sony is helping back Blu-Ray.
UMD was nice, but not a valid option with downloading nowadays.
I still don't mind UMD for my PSP, UMD has more space than Gamecube games. - bluesdealer, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1"Amazing. Congratulations on posting the one millionth rootkit post on Digg and it's still not even funny. Do you guys still play the old "pull my finger" jokes and still find that funny? Clueless embeciles."
And I hope people keep posting them. Installing malware on millions of hapless users is not something consumers should forgive and certainly not forget. The only real defense consumers have against fascist corporations is the dollar. - PRlME, on 10/12/2007, -5/+6i went to Best Buy in the City(NY) the one around 14st...
there was the about 4 Samsung displays showing the difference with BluRay Vs DVD
as i was looking at the screen they totaly fuzzed/blired the DVD side of the screen and had the BluRay side nice and clear. I mean yo if you seen this thing thay totaly tryed to pull one over on you. i never even seen a DVD that fuzzy....a VCD looked better. any how the BluRay side look just like a normal DVD to me. - cquinnd, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1 zybch
If you don't know what the acronym FUD means, you shouldn't use it.
Everything HappyScrappy wrote is true, with the possible exception of the last paragraph which is simple opinion. - ahhell, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Blu-wizard?
BFD. Pretty much EVERY DVD has a similar feature. - theprez, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2You know everybody that still uses the "it's another betamax" argument is a moron. Betamax lost to the lower quality VHS because tapes were 1 hour long unlike VHS's 2 hours. So who cares about having twice the capacity for video or data (like Bluray will offer)? Apparently the consumers do.
- DeepFreezed, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2sound like Sony backed propaganda
- edzieba, on 10/12/2007, -8/+9Same here, i'm rooting for Blu-ray.
FWI, HD-DVD and Blu-ray have almost identical copy-protection schemes. And seeing as Blu-Ray is currently using MPEG-2, and soon H.264, it will be a lot easier to play with non-commercial software (FOSS MPEG-2 decoders are very mature, and x.264 is coming along nicely, and is in very wide use for fansubs. VC-1, however, is a microsoft proprietary format, and any free decoders (if there even are any, I'm not quite sure, though there probably are) will be lagging quite a bit behind. Which means you'd need a much beefier machine to playback the same content). - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -4/+5I'm sorry, but there is NO distinction! Both are under the Sony name.
Sony IS responsible! - TheG2, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3Should be noted that Sony "backed" Betamax too...
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -3/+4Its NOT an impressive format if ***** Sony keep on insisting that movies for it can only be encoded using MPEG2 compression!
- Lynxpro, on 10/12/2007, -5/+5
While that was funny, do make the distinction that it was SonyBMG - a company that is co-owned by Sony and BMG - that distributed the Rootkits, not Sony proper.
Point of fact, if you buy a Sony Blu-Ray player or a Playstation3, you are not buying it from SonyBMG, the Rootkit company. - Lynxpro, on 10/12/2007, -4/+4
I'm still cheesed off with Sony over MPEG-2 usage. While I understand the reasoning why Sony does not want to use Microsoft's VC-1, I wish they would simply admit that the reason why they are clinging to MPEG-2 is because the current crop of Blu-Ray players have the same inferior decoder chip used in the HD-DVD players that is not powerful enough to decode the H.264 MPEG-4 AVC codec without hiccups.
I think this is also an attempt by Sony to upsell the true videophiles into paying for more expensive "SuperBit" labelled Blu-Ray discs that actually do feature the movies encoded using H.264 sometime in the very near future (probably Q2 2007) when more Blu-Ray players are on the market with better chipsets (not to mention PS3 owners).
Its not like Sony does not have experience with H.264....after all, it is the codec used by their UMD titles... - iJump, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1@KittyEater:
>>If there's one company to get non-BIASED information about Blu-Ray from, it's Sony.
There, fixed! - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Helping back bluray?
Oh please!
Sony IS bluray. Even the PS3 is nothing to do with games, rather its just sony's way of trying to push a format that is below the standard of its main competitor! - zetsurin, on 10/12/2007, -3/+3"HD-DVD is the better format for the consumer. It has less copy protection so we can create backups of legitimately owned movies."
Just a wild stab in the dark here, but you don't have any ***** idea what you are talking about now do you? - zetsurin, on 10/12/2007, -10/+9And conversely...
Digg has such a wonderful reputation of telling accurate and truthful information when it comes to Sony products.
And pigs fly. -
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