Microsoft Format on DVD Players NEXT YEAR!!

[mkaylor]

I hate to say it as much as the next guy since I love Linux so much..... BUT.... GAME OVER, Microsoft Wins Again!!

Divx Gone, VCD Gone, SVCD No More, RM Dead, MOV Burried, When, not if, MS gets their format in DVD players starting next year, why would you record in anything else.

http://www.eetimes.com/story/OEG20011211S0054
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,5100527,00.html?chkpt=zdnn_nbs_hl

Yes I know I am asking for a flaming, but honestly, Divx quality, entire move on a single CD, 5.1 Surround Sound. I'm saving my pennies for a new player. Sure hope there is a Linux port!!! You will still need a good OS to make the movies on. hahaha

Mike

[Kdiddy]

hmmmmm hmmmmm interesting though Ive never been a big DivX/mpeg4 compression fan....but none the less, very interesting.

[KoalaBear]

This was an interesting article.

Not so much because it's an earth-shattering breakthrough in entertainment physics, but because it portrays a shocking degree of technological illiteracy for a web site claiming to serve "engineers and technical management."

Consider:

1. If DVD manufacturers are looking for a way to differentiate their products so they can compete on a basis other than price, all of them jumping on the Windows Media bandwagon isn't going to change anything.

The moment 90% of DVD players sport this feature (which they will if 90% of the chips used in DVD players support the technology), products containing that technology will be commodities from the getgo.

This works in Microsoft's favor because they get to wedge their Windows monopoly into yet another market, but denies manufacturers the possibility of charging so much as a penny extra for it.

2. Q: What's the difference between Mijman claiming he can put all 100 episodes of Buffy on one side of a 360K floppy, and Will Poole claiming he put all the Godfather movies on a single CD? (A: Poole doesn't understand that he told a hilarious joke.)

You'd need at least an 8 to 1 advantage over MPEG to squeeze eight hours on a CD-ROM. Microsoft claims 4. Sorry but that just isn't enough to get there from here, not even by half.

3. If Corona is 20% better than any version of Windows Media to date, nobody's going to be watching a 1280x720 progressive 24fps (16:9 HDTV) picture with 5.1 surround over their cable modems. I'll leave the math as an exercise, but here's a hint: a 480% improvement over MPEG is an order of magnitude less than enough.

4. Windows Media built-in to consumer DVD players will not exactly thrill the studios. It will put a hardware device capable of playing thousands of pre-existing pirated titles directly on millions of consumer's set tops. By the time the studios could get Harry Potter in Windows Media format on the shelves, virtually everyone will have downloaded the DVD rip and be tired of watching it already.

If this story were printed in Cosmopolitan I could see how the journalist -- let alone the editor -- might not understand the difference between a ludicrous exaggeration and a plausible fact.

But a website called EE Times?

[branch]

<TABLE BORDER=0 ALIGN=CENTER WIDTH=85%><TR><TD><font size=-1>Quote:</font><HR size=1 color=black></TD></TR><TR><TD><FONT SIZE=-1><BLOCKQUOTE>
On 2001-12-15 12:12:11, KoalaBear wrote:

2. Q: What's the difference between Mijman claiming he can put all 100 episodes of Buffy on one side of a 360K floppy, and Will Poole claiming he put all the Godfather movies on a single CD? (A: Poole doesn't understand that he told a hilarious joke.)
</BLOCKQUOTE></FONT></TD></TR><TR><TD><HR size=1 color=black></TD></TR></TABLE>

Or perhaps Poole is talking about one of those thin round things, you know the ones of plastic, with a shiny surface that reflects the light. What is it the call them... hm..oh yes DVD - but its really just a CD isn't it

[salvius]

WMV sux it's time to know that. If it was DivX, I'd be jumping on the roof right now and start saving my money. But, WMV, no thank you. so far, I haven't had a WMV movie not show huge block chunks on a big screen TV.

[Dhruv]

What's your guess on the price of these DVD players?

[KoalaBear]

I think its hogwash personally, but if they do come out, the average retail price of a DVD player will continue to decline. How could they not?

[Greg12]

They will probally only play secure digital media.

I don't like this. I like Windows Computer products but this isn't good.

[TIbrO]

I've been expecting this ever since my friend got interested in buying a new car stereo system that plays WMA and MP3s. I was like "Whoa! Windows Media crap in regular consumer electronics... uh oh."

Oh well, it was only a matter of time anyway.

[mkaylor]

Salvius,

I thought the new version of WMV was a modified Divx 4.11 and I thought Divx originated from WMV. I'm no expert but I thought that was how it went.

And once again I am no Microsoft lover, but if MS didn't do it, it would never get done. Manufactors don't make chips for some standard that is not fully a standard yet. At least not till it's been around and stable a really long time. Look how long it took them to embrase MP3.

Microsoft is kicking in the front door and I praise them for that. Lets face it, VCD looks nasty and that is your only choice to record a whole move on a single disk and have it play in most players. My hope is that if MS gets their format adopted, then maybe Divx will follow shortly behind once the format is nailed down.

[Greg12]

Windows Media is based on MS Mpeg4 drivers.

DIVX is a hacked version of the MS Mpeg 4 drivers.