DIGITAL DIGEST - http://www.digital-digest.com
DIGITAL DIGEST | LIVE UPDATE Issue 46
16 July, 2004

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TOP NEWS SUMMARY:

1. Introduction

2. Digital Digest's Fifth Birthday

3. What's new on DVD Digest

4. What's new on DivX Digest

5. What's new on DVD±R Digest

6. How to cancel/change your subscription email address/settings
- how to maintain the subscription to this newsletter even
if your email address has changed

7. A simple thank-you and some concluding words

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1. Introduction

Sorry for the long break between issues. I've been busy working on
another project, so it's been hard to find some free time to write a
newsletter. It's not a great excuse, but it's one I am sticking
with ;)

-- DVDGuy

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2. Digital Digest's Fifth Birthday

July 4th 2004 officially marks Digital Digest's fifth birthday. It
was in July 4th 1999 that DVD Digest (then known as DVDigest) was
first launched - it eventually evolved into Digital Digest. Below is
a copy of what I posted on DVD Digest to mark the occasion:

My personal aim when this website was first launched was to provide
a central resource for helping others with their PC-DVD problems. To
provide a place where people can find/download PC-DVD software, read
helpful articles and get the latest PC-DVD news. While the topic has
certainly changed over the last five years, the aim remains the same.

This site has experienced quite a lot over the last five years,
including being pulled by our web host over the DeCSS court cases,
having our forum database corrupted thus losing all members and
posts, to better times such as seeing (and in our small way,
helping) the rise of DivX, the launch of the DivX Digest and DVD±R
Digest sub-sites, and more recently, the re-design of DVD Digest.

Here's to another year of ups and downs - hopefully with more ups,
than downs :)


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3. What's new on DivX Digest

After months of testing, the "Gold" (final release) version of The
Core Media Player (TCMP) has been released. For those that don't
know, TCMP is a neat little multimedia player in the same vein as
WinAMP, but instead focuses on video playback. It sure makes a
pleasant change from the bloat-ware that is Windows Media Player.
While the most fully featured version of TCMP is commercial-ware (at
the incredibly low price of $9.95, making it more like donation-
ware, although the price is soon to be increased slightly), the free
version is only lacking DVD playback support, which is probably not
the main use of TCMP anyway. Definitely worth trying...

Another software that I really enjoy is AutoGK. It's philosophy is a
lot like TCMP, simple, efficient and it tries to do what it does
very well. Many "one click" conversion tools produce very average
results, but AutoGK (while technically more than just "one click")
does seem to work very well, having modelled it's conversion engine
after that of Gordian Knot (which produces excellent outputs). Those
that are familiar with DivX Digest's "Trailer of the Week" feature
will know just how much I enjoy using AutoGK, and if the trailer
quality user polls are accurate, it's not just me that thinks the
output quality is top rate.

Speaking of "Gold" versions, the final 1.0 release of XviD that I
hinted about in the last issue was finally released, again following
a long and arduous development process. I have made available the
binaries for XviD (since updated to version 1.0.1), compiled as
usual by Koepi. Unfortunately, the official site does not have
binary versions available, and this is the one thing that bothers me
slightly about XviD. In this regard, XviD still feels like an open
source project in the development phase, and I hope they make
official binaries available soon (as not everyone, especially your
average Windows user, will know how to compile their own binaries
from source).

And speaking of binary downloads, there has been a little bit of
fuss made over how FairUse, an open-source conversion software,
recently made binary downloads available only after a small fee has
been paid. While this is technically allowed under the open-source
principle, it left many users a little bit confused and frustrated.
And before anyone jumps on the author for trying to make a quick
buck, money may not even be a factor in this decision. According to
the author, he was forced to impose a fee on the download because
people were selling it illegally online already. This is often the
case with popular free software, with many people on eBay selling
free tools such as DVD Decrypter and DVD Shrink. Not respecting the
original intentions of the author, which was to release the software
for free, is the most annoying thing that can happen to a
freeware/open-source software programmers. It's illegal as well and
it's not unlike pirating commercial software. Perhaps a better way
is to have some kind of warning screen to notify users that the
software is indeed freeware, and that if they had to pay for it,
they should demand a immediate refund (most credit card companies
offer charge back just for this sort of thing) and notify the
relevant authorities about the fraud.


Related Links:
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AutoGK: http://www.divx-digest.com/software/autogk.html
FairUse: http://www.divx-digest.com/software/fairuse.html
TCMP: http://www.divx-digest.com/software/tcmp.html
XviD: http://www.divx-digest.com/software/xvid.html


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4. What's new on DVD Digest

The big news on DVD Digest is the release of WinDVD 6. The biggest
new feature in WinDVD 6.0 is TrimensionDNM, which aims to smooth
playback. At first, it seems to work quite well, with slow moving
scenes losing the typical jumpy feeling. But when it is applied on
fast moving scenes, it does have trouble keeping up and frame
skipping occurs, making it not that useful. The other main features
are HD video/audio support, which I guess is the next natural step
forward for WinDVD - or will that be WinHDDVD? Then there is the
slightly gimmicky GIF video capture, which is unfortunately not that
useful considering the huge size and very poor quality of GIF based
video. MPEG-4 would have been 100 times better. There is also built-
in DivX support, and some new interface changes. Overall, WinDVD 6.0
feels more like WinDVD 5.5, an update rather than a complete sea
change. But then again, after 5 major versions of WinDVD, in which
the last version rated very highly already, it's hard to see where
the innovations can come from. I guess custom zooming, proper video
and audio capture, more subtitle control (eg. position changing) - I
think I mentioned most of these points in a previous issue about
WinDVD 5.0, so I guess I'll have to wait until PowerDVD 6.0 to see
if my wishes have been fulfilled.

An issue that I have been thinking about a lot lately is the future
of high definition DVDs. Right now, it looks like there will be two
formats for the next generation video platform, HD-DVD and Blu-Ray.
Neither is more official than the other, and there is not a whole
lot of advantages one format offers over the other. And of course,
there will be no compatibility between formats. This is almost
exactly the same situation we now find with the DVD-plus and DVD-
minus recordable formats, and it's no surprise that it's the same
few companies that are engaging in both format wars. While multi-
format recorders can bring peace to the recordable format wars, the
solution to the high definition DVD format wars may not be this
simple. While multi-format players can be produced, it's the added
cost of production for both the hardware (dual set of lasers,
decoders) and software (movie studios will have to make their movies
available in two different formats) that will most likely ruin any
successful future for high definition DVDs. DVD Digest conducted a
poll to find out which format is more popular, and just as we
suspected, the early results show that both formats enjoy equal
support. This results shows that it will be very unlikely that high
definition DVDs will be available in one format only. DVD Digest
supports the movement for "One Format Only"
(http://www.dvdsite.org) - I personally don't really care which
format is used, as long as there is only one format.

The last piece of DVD Digest news concerns the DMCRA (Digital Media
Consumers' Rights Act), which aims to amend the various flaws in the
DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act). This amendment is being
pushed by Congressman Rick Boucher, a long time advocate for
consumer rights and opponent of the DMCA (in other words, he's on
our side). While it was no surprise that Congressman Boucher was
behind the DMCRA, what is surprising is that the amendment is being
supported by industry heavyweights such as Intel, Sun Microsystems,
Verizon Communications, SBC, Qwest, Gateway and BellSouth. Their
support comes because of the concern that consumer fair use has been
harmed by the DMCA, and more important, that the DMCA might endanger
computer research vital to national security.


Related Links:
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DVD Rot, File Sharing and Consumer Rights:
http://www.digital-digest.com/dvd/shownews.php?newsid=105
Lieberfarb blasts Blu-Ray, WMV HD playback on standalones:
http://www.digital-digest.com/dvd/shownews.php?newsid=116
New CD copy protection, the DMCRA and DVD censorship:
http://www.digital-digest.com/dvd/shownews.php?newsid=126
One Format Only: http://www.dvdsite.org/
WinDVD: http://www.digital-digest.com/dvd/downloads/windvd.html
WinDVD Review: http://www.digital-digest.com/dvd/software/players/windvd.html


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5. What's new on DVD±R Digest

There have been quite a few updates on DVD±R Digest, but not that
many new software or applications.

As predicted in the last issue, dual layer (DL) burners are now
everywhere and quite cheap as well, but the problem remains with DL
media is hard to find. It's basically not available anywhere as I
type, and this includes Internet blank media stores have them in
short supply. The price I last saw for dual layer media is at an
incredible $22 per blank disc - that's more than many sell through
double-disc DVD editions, making is totally impractical for DVD
backup purposes (as I had also predicted in previous issues, this
may be deliberate on the part of movie studios to prevent copying,
although we'll have to wait until more media becomes available to
see if this prediction holds true).

And it's not just DL media that is rare. While 16x burners are
already available, I'm having a hard time finding media faster than
4x in your average electronic super store (in Australia). Specialist
stores (US or international based) do stock 8x media, but no sign of
anything faster. I do remember this kind of media shortage happening
to CD-R media when it started reaching speeds faster than 16x, but
it wasn't as bad as this. So for now, there is really no point in
upgrading to DL burners or burners with faster than 8x burning
speed. If you don't have a DVD burner however, it may be worth
getting a DL burner, since they are not that expensive over SL
burners and it will make your drive future proof. 12x/16x burners
are probably less attractive, since the performance increase is
nowhere near double fold at the speed rating indicates, and there's
no media available anyway.


Related Links:
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Slow start for new generation burners:
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/05/31/1085855477891.html


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6. How to cancel/change settings/email address for your subscription
to this newsletter

Changing subscription status for this newsletter is pretty easy.

To un-subscribe:
- Send an email to liveupdate-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com using the
email account that receives this newsletter.

To change the email address that receives this newsletter:
- Un-subscribe using your current one, and sign up using a new email
address

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7. A simple thank-you and some concluding words

Just a note to thank all the thousands of people, including you, who
joined the Digital Digest LiveUpdate list. I've spent quite a bit of
time developing this site, and making it what it is today, and
really do appreciate your continued support.

I hoped you enjoyed another issue of the LiveUpdate newsletter. You
won't have to wait seven more months for the next issue, I promise :)

Thanks!!

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