**************************************************************

DIGITAL DIGEST - http://www.digital-digest.com
DIGITAL DIGEST | LiveUpdate Newsletter - Issue 79
3 February, 2008

**************************************************************

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

*******************************************************

1. Introduction

My 10 month old Xbox 360 finally died of the RRoD problem. I've
decided to write a series of blogs to follow my experience with
dealing with the repair, it should be interesting and would mean
several blog entries without really having to think of something to
write. Yeah!

Links:
* My Xbox 360 Just Died
http://www.digital-digest.com/blog/DVDGuy/2008/01/28/my-xbox-360-just-died-part-\
1/
http://www.digital-digest.com/blog/DVDGuy/2008/01/28/my-xbox-360-just-died-part-\
2/

-- DVDGuy


*******************************************************

2. Weekly News Roundup

Sometimes I wonder if anybody is actually reading this, and that if
I should bother continue writing this roundup. But I think I will
continue, because I like routine and there's nothing like a Sunday
afternoon spent in front of your computer writing something nobody
reads. No, really, it's good.

In Europe, record labels are now blaming ISPs for music piracy <1>.
ISPs have been fearing something like this for a long time, to be
blamed for inappropriate content that its users are obtaining
online, be it copy protected content or child pornography. They know
that if they are held responsible, they will have to start
monitoring user traffic. The privacy issues apart, it's a huge task
and responsibility to be placed on a company that sometimes has less
than 20 employees. And do we really want a private company to
monitor everything we download and to tell us what is appropriate
and what is not? The targeting of ISPs might be a change of
direction of content owners, since a court has ruled that personal
privacy is more important than upholding the rights of content
owners <2>. It seems like a very reasonable decision to me, but we
now live in a time when reason has fallen victim to corporate greed.
And to no surprise of anybody, The Pirate Bay has finally been
charged with breaking copyright law <3>. I have a feeling the guys
over at TPB have been waiting for this and are prepared for the
battle. It will be interesting to see what happens.

And while not strictly copyright related, the beta version of Qtrax
was finally launched <4>. Qtrax promises access to millions of songs
from record labels free to download in P2P form, with the
playback/download application being advertising supported. I for one
don't think this will work, since Internet advertising is not what
it used to be, and with a few content owners coming out to say they
don't know what's going on <5>and that they have had no dealings
with Qtrax, things are not looking too bright.

HD DVD is still fighting the good (?) fight, and will spend millions
on a 30 second Superbowl ad spot <6>. I just hope they make it funny
like most other Superbowl ads. Toshiba's price cuts to HD DVD
players seems to be having an effect, clawing back some of the
market in player sales after being beaten senseless in the week
following Warner's Blu-ray exclusive decision (although news has now
filtered out that the figures from that week represented a Blu-ray
player give-away plus a plunge in HD DVD player sales, meaning total
HD sales dropped after Warner's announcement, which is not what
Warner had hoped for in choosing to go with a single format). Here
in Australia, the Toshiba HD-XE1 high end player is selling
extremely well, not surprising for a $1,000+ player being sold for
half of its value. Rumours <7> suggest that HD DVD player sales out-
did Blu-ray player sales by 2 to 1 in Australia this last week (led
by the XE1), even with the PS3 is included. Going by some of the
posts I've been reading on Australian HD forums and testimonials
from people who have visited electronics stores to enquire about the
XE1, that's not totally surprising. The US is also seeing HD DVD
player "clearance" sales, although as Circuit City points out <8>,
the "clearance" tag is just used for promotion, and they plan on
continuing to carry HD DVD since sales has been quite good since
the "clearance" started. Low prices sell stuff, it's not rocket
science. Although with Blu-ray in a strong position, will we start
seeing the end of free movie redemption and movie discounts <9>? I
hope not. High definition movies still have a long way to go before
consumers are convinced that it is needed to replace DVDs, and
discounts will definitely help. And speaking of discounts, here in
Australia, we can buy The Jack Ryan HD DVD Collection (four movies:
The Hunt for Red October, Clear and Present Danger, Patriot Games
and The Sum of All Fears) for about $USD 35. This title is part of
Paramount's HD DVD line up for Q1 2008 <10>, and has a retail price
of $USD 99 in the US. People in the US might want to buy from
Australia, since HD DVD is region-free and any disc will work
anywhere. This store <11> in Australia ships to the US for those
that are interested.

A couple of short items in terms of movement between HD camps <12>,
some Italian distributors have gone HD DVD exclusive; rumour suggest
Imation might be scrapping HD DVD production through its TDK brand
(even though TDK has never released HD DVD, and TDK company is a Blu-
ray exclusive backer and became a major shareholder in Imation in a
deal that allowed Imation to use the TDK brand name); ADV Films
(anime) might be going Blu-ray exclusive too. Sonic also announced
that they will stop supporting the HD DVD version of their Scenarist
authoring tool <13>. It's a bit of a kick in the teeth for people
who purchased the HD DVD version of their quite expensive software,
even if a exchange program is going to be made available (I'm sure
people who bought the HD DVD version had specific needs that won't
be addressed by the Blu-ray version, which they might already own
anyway). Oh well, I'm sure other companies will fill the demand, if
they haven't done so already. Microsoft maybe?

And finally, in gaming, a firm release date has been released for
GTA: IV in late April. Rockstar broke the silence on the release
delay <14> (it was supposed to be available back in October 2007)
and as expected, it was the PS3 version that was holding things
back, although only partly responsible. The exclusive downloadable
content will still be available on the Xbox 360 only, but there will
be more downloadable content that will be available on both
consoles. I for one can't wait, and hopefully my RRoD'd 360 will be
fully functioning by then. There is also rumours floating around
that a new PS3 will be available in the autumn <15>, one that is
slimmer and has 120 or 160 GB storage depending on where you found
the rumour. Competition to a new quiter, cooler, 360 SKU to be
released around the same time? And to follow up on the Mass Effect
Fox News Sex Scandal <16> (it sounds a lot more exciting than it
actually is, kind of like everything being "reported" on Fox News),
the Fox News contributor admits she was wrong and that she has now
had a change of mind after actually seeing the game being played for
the first time. Oh dear.

And so this concludes this week's roundup. Hopefully I will have
more updates on my 360 RRoD experience, perhaps an update to a very
popular guide that will allow better video playback on a certain
game console, and maybe I'll write that blog on HD managed copy that
I promised to write 2 weeks ago. Patience, my lovelies.

Links:
<1> http://forum.digital-digest.com/showthread.php?t=86024
<2> http://forum.digital-digest.com/showthread.php?t=86070
<3> http://forum.digital-digest.com/showthread.php?t=86087
<4> http://forum.digital-digest.com/showthread.php?t=86012
<5> http://forum.digital-digest.com/showthread.php?postid=552784
<6> http://forum.digital-digest.com/showthread.php?t=86071
<7> http://forum.digital-digest.com/showthread.php?postid=552979
<8> http://forum.digital-digest.com/showthread.php?t=86083
<9> http://forum.digital-digest.com/showthread.php?t=86096
<10> http://forum.digital-digest.com/showthread.php?t=86093
<11> http://www.ezydvd.com.au/item.zml/798105
<12> http://forum.digital-digest.com/showthread.php?t=86092
<13>
http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/01/30/sonics-scenarist-now-blu-ray-digital-distri\
bution-format-only/
<14> http://forum.digital-digest.com/showthread.php?t=86016
<15> http://forum.digital-digest.com/showthread.php?t=86097
<16> http://forum.digital-digest.com/showthread.php?t=85993


*******************************************************

3. Weekly Software Roundup

February 3, 2008 Burn4Free 4.1.0.0 (Freeware)
February 3, 2008 MP4Box 0.4.5 Dev (20080201) (Freeware)
February 3, 2008 Dr. DivX 2.0.1 Beta 7 (Freeware)
February 3, 2008 PowerDVD Ultra 7.3 Build 3730
February 3, 2008 Txt2VobSub 3.4 (Freeware)
February 3, 2008 ffdshow Rev. 1839 (Freeware)
February 3, 2008 DVB Web Scheduler 5.0.0.17 (Freeware)
February 3, 2008 MoKgVm2DVD 1.2 (Freeware)
February 2, 2008 Wondershare Photo Story Platinum 2.8.0
February 2, 2008 ProgDVB 5.13.1 (Freeware)
February 2, 2008 MediaInfo 0.7.5.8 (Freeware)
February 2, 2008 GOTSent 0.23 beta 10 (Freeware)
February 1, 2008 DVD slideshow GUI 0.81 (Freeware)
February 1, 2008 DV Media Player Pro 2.0
February 1, 2008 DV Media Player Basic 1.4.0 (Freeware)
February 1, 2008 TV Toolbox 1.0 Beta 4 (Freeware)
February 1, 2008 tsMuxeR 1.2.9 (Freeware)
February 1, 2008 TitleWriter 4.64 (Freeware)
January 31, 2008 RipBot264 1.8.7 (Freeware)
January 31, 2008 FLV Splitter 1.0.0.4 (Freeware)
January 31, 2008 Goldwave 5.23
January 31, 2008 CoreAVC 1.6.5.0
January 30, 2008 MediaCoder 0.6.1 Build 4045 (Freeware)
January 29, 2008 SMSG 1.0.5.0 Beta (Freeware)
January 29, 2008 Kantaris Media Player 0.3.2 (Freeware)
January 29, 2008 Movie Library ++ 4.1.1 (Freeware)
January 29, 2008 Vista Codec Package 4.5.7 (Freeware)
January 29, 2008 Media Player Classic 6.4.9.1 (20080127) (Freeware)
January 29, 2008 x264 full rev. 736 (Freeware)
January 29, 2008 AVI ReComp 1.4.0 (Freeware)
January 29, 2008 Coollector 2.01 (Freeware)
January 28, 2008 mkv2vob 1.5.2 (Freeware)
January 28, 2008 VisualSubSync 0.9.14 (Freeware)
January 28, 2008 eac3to 2.20 (Freeware)
January 28, 2008 ffmpegX 0.0.9y (Freeware)
January 27, 2008 YAMB 2.0.0.8 (20080121) (Freeware)
January 27, 2008 CCCP 2008-01-24 (Freeware)
January 27, 2008 Winclipdvb 2.9.7 (Freeware)
January 27, 2008 DVD-Audio Solo 1.4.3
January 27, 2008 MONOGRAM GraphStudio 0.1.4.0 Alpha (Freeware)

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


******************************************************

4. 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.
- Or go to the Yahoo My Groups page to edit your group
subscriptions. More information here:
http://help.yahoo.com/help/us/groups/groups-32.html
- DO NOT reply to this email for unsubscribe requests - it will be
ignored

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


======END OF LIVEUPDATE NEWSLETTER======