Digital Digest "LiveUpdate" Newsletter - Issue 61

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DIGITAL DIGEST - http://www.digital-digest.com
DIGITAL DIGEST | LiveUpdate Newsletter - Issue 61
30 September, 2007

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TOP NEWS SUMMARY:

1. Introduction

2. Weekly News Roundup

3. Weekly Software Roundup

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

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1. Introduction

Looks like I was able to keep my word about making this newsletter a weekly
thing, at least for the first week. One week at a time, one week at a time ...

-- DVDGuy

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2. Weekly News Roundup

Starting with copyright related news again, some DRM advocates are worried that
there might be a consumer backlash (1) towards DRM (you don’t say!). I mean it’s
not like there was a DRM related revolt (2) on Digg earlier this year or
anything, and I’m sure Apple/EMI and Amazon launching DRM-free music was just a
coincidence, and in no way related to a consumer backlash. Torrent site Demonoid
has been shut down (3) by the Canadian RIA. Torrent sites usually only link to
torrent files, and not the actual copyrighted content, but in the greater scheme
of things, providing any assistance to copyright infringement is going to be
risky, whether they host the actual file or not. I would like to see some
separation between torrent sites and legitimate sites like Google Video, who are
under renewed pressure (4) this week over users uploaded pirated content - the
main aim of torrent sites is to offer pirated content, whereas Google Video and
other video sharing sites have pirated content because they cannot control their
numerous users. Then again, there are video sharing sites that advertise free
movies and encourage users to upload them, so they again should be treated
differently (5). And then there is “Movie Night” (6) on school campuses. Showing
movies in common rooms or public areas is technically “broadcasting” and is
against the terms of the copyright agreement, but how much does that really hurt
the movie studios, so much so that lawsuits need to be launched? What’s next,
not being showing to watch movies with people other than your immediate family?

Onto gaming news. Sony says that it can catch up to the Xbox 360 (7) by March
next year. I would say that if they don’t at least achieve this, then the PS3 is
in serious trouble. The PS3 is the cheapest Blu-ray player around, and actually
represents good value if you want next-gen gaming + HD movie playback, but it
still hasn’t been able to beat the Xbox 360 + HD DVD add-on drive in sales since
launch. Add to that the Xbox 360’s better range of games and exclusives, it’s
not looking great for the PS3 compared to how well the PS2 did at this stage of
its release. Can Sony claim a huge market share like it did with the PS2? I
don’t think so and not being able to hold on to the market the PS2 created means
a defeat for Sony no matter which way you look at it. Sony will hope that’s it’s
new slim PSP bundle (8) will at least claim a bigger market share in the
handheld gaming market, a market dominated by Nintendo for some time now. But
the big news of the week has been the launch of Halo 3 (9). Even the news of
scratched discs didn’t slow down sales, with Halo 3 breaking all gaming and even
movie box office records on the first day. When video games start making more
money than big Hollywood blockbusters like Spider-Man 3, something has changed
in the way entertainment is delivered. It’s no wonder then that there has been
more and more games to movie conversion, rather than the reverse, lately (Hitman
the movie is that one I’m waiting for).

In HD news, it seems site like us are either not doing our jobs, or people are
not visiting our sites (the most likely explanation, and I’m sure that the 10
people that read this blog will agree with me here). Consumers just don’t seem
to understand HD (10) with only 11% feeling they understand HD completely, and
even HDTV owners don’t seem to understand. The situation is not just limited to
the US either, with Australian consumers faring even worse (11). It’s a shame,
because HD really is quite wonderful … people who have enjoyed proper HD will
never want to go back to standard definition. And if you’ve already jumped on
the HD movie bandwagon (in particularly, the HD DVD one), then you can enjoy
state of the art interactive features (12) from future titles such as Shrek the
Third, in addition to the superb video and audio quality. But speaking of
interactive features, Blu-ray is still playing a game of catch-up, and consumers
will be the victim once again (no wonder they are confused about HD). As I’ve
blogged (13) previously, Blu-ray has really screwed the pooch on the issue of
hardware standards, and now Blu-ray owners may need to replace their less than a
year old Blu-ray player because it doesn’t have all the required features for
future Blu-ray movies. Us HD DVD owners are feeling pretty smug about it all
because the HD DVD standard has been finalized from day one and includes all the
advanced interactive features that Blu-ray owners might not be seeing until next
year. And did I mention that HD DVD is region-free? I know I shouldn’t go on and
on about region-free, but it really is wonderful to have it. There’s not a lot
of HD DVD movies on sale in Australia (and the ones on sale are too expensive),
but because of the region-free status, I can import movies from the US or UK,
usually at a lower price and faster release date. Unlike DVDs, with the NTSC/PAL
difference, HD DVDs don’t have this difference so the US version is either
likely to be identical, or in most cases, superior to the local release. Studios
and local distributors may not like it, but it’s partly their fault isn’t it for
not releasing identical versions in a timely manner. My US import to my local
purchase ratio is at 3:1 at the moment.

And that’s all folks for this week. See you next week.


Links:
(1) http://forum.digital-digest.com/showthread.php?t=84073
(2) http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6615047.stm
(3) http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquirer/news/2007/09/26/demoniodbound
(4) http://forum.digital-digest.com/showthread.php?t=84127
(5) http://forum.digital-digest.com/showthread.php?t=84140
(6) http://forum.digital-digest.com/showthread.php?t=84103
(7) http://forum.digital-digest.com/showthread.php?t=84102
(8) http://www.digital-digest.com/news-60695.html
(9) http://forum.digital-digest.com/forumdisplay.php?f=145
(10) http://www.digital-digest.com/news-60690.html
(11) http://forum.digital-digest.com/showthread.php?t=84100
(12) http://forum.digital-digest.com/showthread.php?t=84139
(13) http://www.digital-digest.com/news-60697.html


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3. Weekly Software Roundup

September 30, 2007 Burn4Free 3.5.0.0 (Freeware)
September 30, 2007 XP Codec Pack 2.2.0 (Freeware)
September 30, 2007 XULPlayer 0.0.6.1 (Freeware)
September 30, 2007 VirtualDub 1.7.5 (Build 28225) (Freeware)
September 30, 2007 DVR-Studio Pro 1.70
September 30, 2007 DVR-Studio 1.70
September 30, 2007 MeGUI 0.2.6.1015 (Freeware)
September 30, 2007 RipBot264 1.6.3 (Freeware)
September 29, 2007 AutoMKV 0.90c (Freeware)
September 29, 2007 CDBurnerXP Pro 4.0.015.277 (Freeware)
September 29, 2007 Wondershare DVD Slideshow Builder 3.5.1
September 29, 2007 ProgDVB 4.87.1 (Freeware)
September 29, 2007 AVStoDVD 1.1.2 (Freeware)
September 28, 2007 Beyond TV 4.7.1
September 28, 2007 TMPGEnc MPEG Editor Premium 2.5.4.176
September 27, 2007 FF Player 0.96 (Freeware)
September 27, 2007 VirtualDub MPEG-2 1.6.19 build 24586 (Freeware)
September 27, 2007 Wondershare iPod Slideshow 1.0
September 27, 2007 AutoGK 2.46 Beta
September 27, 2007 BluffTitler 7.13 (Freeware)
September 27, 2007 ffdshow Rev. 1487 (Freeware)
September 27, 2007 Winclipdvb 2.9.4 (Freeware)
September 26, 2007 DVD-lab Pro 2.33
September 26, 2007 VideoInspector 1.11.0.109
September 26, 2007 RealAnime 6.0.0 Alpha (Freeware)
September 26, 2007 SolveigMM AVI Trimmer 1.5 (Freeware)
September 25, 2007 SVCD2DVD 2.5.3300
September 25, 2007 Unreal Media Server 5.5 (Freeware)
September 25, 2007 x264 full rev. 680 (Freeware)
September 24, 2007 PgcEdit 8.5 (Freeware)
September 24, 2007 MP4Converter.net's iPod Video Converter 3.1.40.0921b
September 24, 2007 Plato Video To Zune 3.66
September 24, 2007 Plato DVD Creator 3.74
September 24, 2007 Plato Video To iPod PSP 3GP 3.66
September 24, 2007 KMPlayer 2.9.3.1375 Beta (Freeware)
September 23, 2007 SMSG 1.0.3.0 (Freeware)

http://www.digital-digest.com/software/lastweeksoftware.php


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