Good reason to get PS3, and to skip media PC as playback device of HD movies.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=8279993&&#post8279993

Amirm said:
As I suspected, there is no merit to these stories. Vista will not in any way block playback of HD content (HD DVD or otherwise). We do have facilities in the operating system for applications to query whether there are unsigned drivers in the kernel, and as such, may be a potential risk to secure playback of high-def content. But it is up to the application to decide what to do with such data. They can, as they do today on XP, playback anything they like and ignore that information. And to be clear, no request has been made from content owners to block playback of HD content in Vista in 32-bit mode.

For those who don't know, Amir is the VP of the Windows Media group at Microsoft.
 
WTF ? So there are going to be 32 bit Vista and 64 bit Vista ? Why can't they do something like that upcoming Mac OS and have just one Vista for both 32 bit and 64 bit apps ?
 
WTF ? So there are going to be 32 bit Vista and 64 bit Vista ? Why can't they do something like that upcoming Mac OS and have just one Vista for both 32 bit and 64 bit apps ?
How does that work? They ship both 32 and 64 bit binaries on the disc?
 
No idea, but they promised just one OS for your 32/64 bit apps.

http://www.apple.com/macosx/leopard/64bit.html
Yeah, I read that after reading your post. Doing a search I stumbled across this:

http://macdailynews.com/index.php/weblog/comments/10529/

Starting with Xcode 2.4, the OSX Universal binary format has been extended to support 32-bit and 64-bit for both PPC and Intel processors inside the same file, giving OSX quad universal binaries
Interesting...
 
Amirm said:
And to be clear, no request has been made from content owners to block playback of HD content in Vista in 32-bit mode.

What does this mean ?

Amir's answer right now is to push the responsibility to the player application on the grounds that the content owners have not requested for content protection at the 32-bit OS level.

If content owners wants to protect HD streams in 32-bit Vista also, then MS's answer is to disallow the playback ? (i.e., users are forced to upgrade to 64-bit Vista).

Is this accurate ?
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Dailytech reports that MS has decided to block BR and HDDVD playback altogether under 32-bit copies of Vista
ms will allow vista to play BR + HDDVD if they feel ppl are choosing other options over windows to view it.

past evidence

windows media player, old versions would only let u rip protected content. but due to ppl instead choosing a different media player to rip content ( ie ms were losing customers) ms soon removed the digital protection from windows media player, ie they gave the big FU to the music companies :)
 
What does this mean ?

Amir's answer right now is to push the responsibility to the player application on the grounds that the content owners have not requested for content protection at the 32-bit OS level.

If content owners wants to protect HD streams in 32-bit Vista also, then MS's answer is to disallow the playback ? (i.e., users are forced to upgrade to 64-bit Vista).

Is this accurate ?

Content owners (studios) could choose to turn on ICT flags and BD+ garbage and the playback would be determined by what that code detemines from scanning your hardware/software for hacks/cracks etc..... It's out of MS hands at that point. It would seem however that studios have somewhat calmed down with the being overly protective, which is good for us consumers. Having said that, Fox is still keeping a nice hard on for BD+.
 
Sorry, what are the content owners' latest position regarding
* HDDVD and Blu-ray's ICT flags
* Blu-ray's BD+ (for Fox, in particular)

I thought some of these will not be on until 2011 ?
 
Last edited by a moderator:
So far we seem to be doing good. The ICT dogs seemed to have been called off a while (2010/2011). I could be wrong but I don't remember seeing anything official but a few press releases about it. An official pact amonst the studios would make me feel better. No one knows about Fox's plan with BD+ but that was their draw to BD. We'll see what they do once they actually manage to get some titles out in consumer land. Same with Disney. I'm quite sure that the nuetral studios have no intentions of using BD+.
 
WTF ? So there are going to be 32 bit Vista and 64 bit Vista ? Why can't they do something like that upcoming Mac OS and have just one Vista for both 32 bit and 64 bit apps ?

64-bit Vista runs both 32-bit and 64-bit apps jst fine.

Just not all of them, because some 32-bit apps rely on unsafe things and some 32-bit apps break the rules in some way that's incompatible with 64-bit.

For example, good luck getting any Starforce infected games to run on 64-bit Vista.
 
I always find this myth amusing, I'm not so sure why it persists so... Sony BMG has pretty much zero ability to do anything to Sony Electronics. It's not even a part of Sony Corp. In fact Bertelsmann AG owns more of Sony BMG than Sony does (so technically the "Sony Rootkit" should really be called the "BMG Rootkit"). As for Sony Pictures, while they're a part of Sony Corp, Sony Electronics brings in the lion's share (approx. 70%) of all revenues, and any internal spat (not that I'm aware of any) would tilt in favor of Sony Electronics (not to mention SPE has to answer to Tokyo (who favors SEL anyways)). Besides, SPE is a bunch of whores... They're the last studio of any who will prevent content from being on anything. They're always releasing their content on pretty much anything they can hammer out a deal with.

Well everything I have ever read with regards to Sony and MP3 indicates that it was pressure from it's own music division coupled with the understandable greed for having their own format that prevented the company from allowing many of it's devices to have MP3 playback till Kutaragi finally forced it through.

Sure SPE has to answer to HQ, however the board does not automatically favour CE. Most SEL projects are proposed by individual sets of engineers, the SEL executive just oversee, they tend not to get involved in the smaller details. A lot of Sony's anti-consumerist behaviour in the past decade can be traced back to the paranoia which is rife within Sony Music/Sony-BMG, Sony Music Japan and SPE.
 
Good reason to get PS3, and to skip media PC as playback device of HD movies.

I think that before people actually start worrying, even before they start thinking about silly DRM, AACS, ITC, JD, KY, LSD and all sorts of obscure abbreviations, the main reason for them to buy a PS3 over a PC for multimedia purposes is the very easy setup process. Buy a PS3, plug it to the mains and the HDTV, put a Bluray movie in (or any other movie format it supports, be it DVD or DivX) and it just plays. Same for games really.

When you buy a PC, well i think i don't need to explain the setup process to anyone on here, but needless to say, it's a million times longer and more painful than the PS3. Or any other console really, that's just one aspect of consoles that makes them so accessible, PCs can be a right b*tch even for people who know a whole lot about them!
 
...the main reason for them to buy a PS3 over a PC for multimedia purposes is the very easy setup process. Buy a PS3, plug it to the mains and the HDTV, put a Bluray movie in (or any other movie format it supports, be it DVD or DivX) and it just plays. Same for games really.

Finally someone said it. Yes and yes. Not to mention my laptops suck at playing HD videos.
Nevertheless, one can't be too careful about content owners throwing all sorts of DRMs at us.
 
You raise a good question, but you know... There's no control, no DRM, no rootkits or proprietary formats in the PS3. It's just a big black lump that sits there and plays movies and does other stuff just by me turning on the power switch (and feeding it a disc). Just the way it's supposed to be.


I understand the plug and play argument but last I heard ps3 still had drm (hence control) and will not allow you to drop all your BR movies to an HDD. WRT just playing movies as others have pointed out - with the appropriate set-up you'd get that on the pc (and 360 w/HDDVD add-on) as well but with the same control (DRM) limitations as ps3. (or has this portion of ps3 strategy changed?)
 
For Blu-ray (and HDDVD) movies, the content owners have agreed not to turn on the ICT flag(s) until 2010/2011.

As for playback on PCs, my Windows machines can't play HD movie well enough, let alone additional BD-Live extensions. At least the PS3 (or MS's HDDVD player) is designed to play them. Plus both should be at the living room already.
 
Dunno which forum this is really appropriate for, but I try this one. A mod can always move it if they feel the relevance is not strong enough.

Dailytech reports that MS has decided to block BR and HDDVD playback altogether under 32-bit copies of Vista, citing copy protection concerns from studios, and the number of kernel-level malware programs that could enable circumventing said protections.

As we all know (?), 64-bit Vista installs will refuse to accept any kernel-level program code without a MS-approved digital signature, a signature programmers have to pay through the nose to obtain by the way, so I guess many feel just like me that Billy Goat can just go screw himself with his blatant moneygrubbing schemes, and think sony's stand-alone PS3 is just what the doctor ordered! :D


But, but, but, what about managed copy? :p

Cuz don't everyone want a loud, big, hot PC next to their TV instead of CE player?
 
I think that before people actually start worrying, even before they start thinking about silly DRM, AACS, ITC, JD, KY, LSD and all sorts of obscure abbreviations, the main reason for them to buy a PS3 over a PC for multimedia purposes is the very easy setup process. Buy a PS3, plug it to the mains and the HDTV, put a Bluray movie in (or any other movie format it supports, be it DVD or DivX) and it just plays. Same for games really.

When you buy a PC, well i think i don't need to explain the setup process to anyone on here, but needless to say, it's a million times longer and more painful than the PS3. Or any other console really, that's just one aspect of consoles that makes them so accessible, PCs can be a right b*tch even for people who know a whole lot about them!
Having seen and worked with Media Center, I don't agree.
 
Back
Top