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DIGITAL DIGEST - http://www.digital-digest.com
DIGITAL DIGEST | LIVE UPDATE Issue 30
Your "whenever I have time to write one" newsletter
Saturday, 24th August, 2002

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TOP NEWS SUMMARY :

0. Section Zer0 - An Introduction to this Issue

1. Sigma Antics

2. Star Wars Episode II DVD and Fullscreen Madness

3. How to Cancel/Change Your Subscription Email Address/Settings
- how to maintain the subscription to this newsletter even if
your email address has changed

4. A Simple Thank-you
- a thank-you message for all those that joined this list

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0. Section Zer0

Welcome to this, the 30th issue, of the Digital Digest LiveUpdate
newsletter.

Another issue and yet another GPL violation, and this time, it has
caused the development of XviD to halt (and hopefully, only
temporarily). The news of Star Wars Episode II coming to DVD sooner
than expected will help lighten to mood a little and the
stupid "Attack of the Clones" title should bring a few laughs, but be
warned, I might spoil the mood again by complaining about fullscreen
DVDs ;-)

Enjoy :)

-- DVDGuy

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1. Sigma Antics

Once again, GPL abuse and violation has become news of the day. This
time, it's the widely respected Sigma Designs company, makers of the
best DVD decoder card, the Hollywood+. In their haste to add support
for DivX into their new Xcard hardware decoder card (which is said to
support DivX - more about that later), parts of the open-source XviD
codec code was used in Sigma's MPEG-4 codec without acknowledgement
to XviD and the GPL violated. The GPL (GNU General Public License)
states that if open-source code is used in a project, that project
must be released as open-source as well, to ensure open-source
project don't end up as closed source in the hands of Microsoft, for
example (just imagine "Microsoft Linux XP" - sends chills down my
spine).

XviD has stopped all development of the XviD codec until this matter
is resolved, which makes sense, since why should they work hard so
Sigma can profit from it?

The XviD team (and others) has known about this since July, and they
didn't come out publicly about this until now in the hope of that
Sigma would do what is reasonable and release the source code, or
completely remove XviD code from their code. It seems Sigma then
tried to pull a major one on XviD by "disguising" the stolen code. Oh
well ... out in the public it goes.

Sigma was now quite willing to respond (probably has something to do
with the number of complaint emails they received), and within 24
hours, they announced their intentions to release the source code in
a press release. However, there has been no apology, no explanation,
no mention of XviD what-so-ever and you still have to abide by
Sigma's Software Licensing Agreement before you can even download the
source.

Sigma's much touted Xcard hardware decoder card (decodes DVD + DivX)
also seems to be in trouble, as DivX Networks has come to the defense
of XviD by saying that Xcard is not DivX compatible after all, and
that while DivX Networks seems to have been in cooperation with Sigma
several months ago, the lack of cooperation from Sigma has ended that
relationship and also ended the possibility of having the first DivX
hardware decoder card on the market anytime soon.

Interesting times, indeed ...

Related link :
Official XviD site : http://www.xvid.org
XviD Explained (Newsletter Issue 29) : http://www.digital-
digest.com/newsletter/issue29/index.html
GNU GPL : http://www.gnu.org/licenses/licenses.html#GPL
Sigma's Software Licensing Agreement :
http://www.sigmadesigns.com/products/RMP4_SLA.htm

Discussions :
XviD Development Stopped due to code stealing by Sigma Designs :
http://forum.digital-digest.com/showthread.php?threadid=11128
DivX.com's forum posting on Sigma VS XviD, and Xcard's DivX
compatibility : http://forums.divx.com/viewtopic.php?
topic=40040&forum=5


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2. Star Wars Episode II DVD and Fullscreen Madness

Star Wars Episode II, Attack of the Clones, will be released on DVD
in November (on the 12th, to be exact). I don't know about you, but
as a devoted Star Wars fan, I found Attack of the Clones (ATOC) to be
a pretty enjoyable movie. The stupid title aside (was "The Clone
Wars" already used/registered or something ??), I found "Clones" a
quite a bit more enjoyable than Episode I. While it pales in
comparison to any of the original trilogy movies, the movie is
littered with memorable moments that I would love to enjoy again and
again on DVD.

Going into the theatre on the opening weekend for "Clones" (and
nearly didn't get to watch the film, due to most of the early
screenings being sold out), I knew that sooner or later (and hoping
for sooner), the DVD was going to come out. I must admit I was a
little surprised that the DVD was coming out less than 6 month after
the theatrical release, considering how stingy George Lucas is with
his DVD releases (please don't get me started on that one again ...)
and how long it took Episode I to get released.

While the early release date may suggest that not a lot of work has
gone into the DVD release (and admittedly, even if the DVD has only
mono sound and with no extras and half the movie is in black and
white, I, and many others "of my kind" would probably still go out
and buy it), this is not true for the Episode II DVD. It seems that
this time round, George Lucas has been working on the DVD release
since day one and the 6 month wait for the DVD is merely to ensure
that Clones' theatrical run has ended (for all we know, the final
master for the Episode II DVDs may already be sitting in George
Lucas' safe, ready to be mass replicated in the coming months).

Those familiar with the Episode I DVD will know what kind of extras
to be made available, just your typical second disc stuffed with all
sorts of documentaries, featurettes, a music video and the obligatory
trailers/TV spots. Audio commentary from a whole host of people,
including Mr. Lucas and Mr. McCallum, are included on the first disc.
No DTS audio, for obvious reasons.

What is interesting, however, is that a full screen version will be
made available for both Episode I and Episode II (available as a
double-pack on November 12th). Seeing how Mr. Lucas is so keen on
presenting the film in a way that matches his original vision (hence
the Special Editions) and how the Special Editions were marketed to
people "who have never seen Star Wars in the way it should be seen,
in the theatre with glorious widescreen", it seems quite odd now to
release a hacked-up pan-and-scan fullscreen version just to please
those who complain about their movie "missing the top and bottom
bits".

I am one of those that believe widescreen should be made mandatory
for DVDs for movies that were released as widescreen - sure, you can
include the fullscreen version on a second disc, but you should not
be able to release a movie in fullscreen only (example : Harry Potter
Region-4 DVD - no widescreen version!!!!). This should also help
promote widescreen TV sets, which will then go on to promote digital
TV and HD TV and then we can all live happily ever after. If we don't
stop fullscreen DVDs, how long before George Lucas announces that the
original Star Wars trilogy will only be released as fullscreen titles
on DVD, and that the widescreen versions will not be made available
until the next digital video format (eg. HD-DVD) comes out ???

Purchase links :
Star Wars Episode II Widescreen Region-1 :
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00006HBUJ/thehoppingxenter
Star Wars Episode II Fullscreen Region-1 :
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00006HBUI/thehoppingxenter
Star Wars Episode II Widescreen Region-4 :
http://www.ezydvd.com.au/item.zml/221340

Related links :
More information : http://www.digital-digest.com/dvd/swep2.html
Starwars.com article on Episode II DVD :
http://www.starwars.com/episode-ii/news/2002/08/news20020801.html
20th Century Fox Home Entertainment press release on the Episode II
DVD : http://www.comingsoon.net/cgi-bin/archive/fullnews.cgi?
newsid1028181972,29630,

Discussions :
Discuss the Episode II DVD here : http://forum.digital-
digest.com/showthread.php?&threadid=10336


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3. How to Cancel/Change Settings/Email Address for Your Subscription
to this Newsletter

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4. A Simple Thank-you

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