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DIGITAL DIGEST - http://www.digital-digest.com
DIGITAL DIGEST | LiveUpdate Newsletter - Issue 80
10 February, 2008

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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

This is the 80th issue of the Digital Digest newsletter. I feel I
should celebrate, but I think I'll wait until the 100th issue. As
for the scare last week when I joked about quitting the newsletter,
I've learnt my lesson and I will post less lies in the newsletter
from now on. 35% less to be exact. And sorry for being not able to
personally reply to every email of support I received, there were
just too many.

Oh, and I got back my Xbox 360 after the RRoD repair, read the last
two parts of my RRoD repair experience to see what the repair
process is like. I must say I'm impressed, although I would be more
impressed if this is the last time my console suffers from the RRoD
problem, and that new consoles won't suffer from it anymore.

Links:
* My Xbox 360 Just Died:
http://www.digital-digest.com/blog/DVDGuy/2008/01/28/my-xbox-360-just-died-part-\
3/
http://www.digital-digest.com/blog/DVDGuy/2008/02/08/my-xbox-360-just-died-final\
-part-4/

-- DVDGuy


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2. Weekly News Roundup

Okay, I've learnt my lesson. No more controversial intros for the
roundup. Just to be clear, if I ever unintentionally mention I might
quit writing this feature in the future, I'm most likely only
kidding, unless I follow up the statement with THIS IS NOT A JOKE!!
In fact, I don't think you should take anything I write here
seriously, since 90% of the stuff I write are actually complete
lies. Or perhaps the last sentence was a lie. Or was the last
sentence a lie …

Copyright vs consumer rights is being fought around the globe, this
time a Japanese perspective on the issue of Digital TV recordings
and copy protection <1>. Sometimes content owners just need to take
a step back and see the bigger picture, because if they had their
way, half of the products on the market would be "illegal", and the
other half will be filled with DRM. The RIAA, being the leaders of
the Senseless Copyright Brigade (SCB), talks about forcing computer
hardware and software manufacturers to implement "piracy filters"
<2> to prevent people from transferring and playing pirated music.
Luckily, the people in the IT industry, who have been affected by
piracy more than anybody else, will take a more sensible approach
and ignore RIAA's request. The most recent example being Verizon
rejecting another SCB member, the MPAA's, request for filtering <3>.
Good for Verizon, and I hope people reading this will buy their
products and use their services to support them.

It's been nearly two weeks since the Blu-ray free movies promo <4>
has ended, and there does not seem to be any signs that a new
promotion will start in place of the expired one. The BDA seems to
have stopped trying on the promotional front, maybe because they
think they've won, or because they are saving up for one big final
push. It's not that great being a Blu-ray owner at the moment, with
only two rather pathetic sales on at Amazon (one for 6 titles only
<5>, the other for 10 titles from Fox, but only a 10% discount on
normal Amazon prices <6>). If this is what we should expect if Blu-
ray wins the day, then I for one hopes the format continues on for a
bit longer so I can buy more cheap movies. Netflix is the most
recent of companies to suggest higher HD movie prices are on the way
<7> once the war is over, so the lost revenue during the war can be
recouped. On the other hand, the HD DVD people have been doing a lot
more on the promotional front, with the Superbowl ad now aired
(although by all accounts, it was a pretty lame effort), player
price drops (which has been better received, with hardware and
software sales both up <8> compared to the horrible weeks following
Warner's announcement), movie discounts at Amazon <9> (a new 140+
title 50% off sale <10> is gathering immense interest) and in store
promotions (at least here in Australia). Microsoft dropping the
price of the Xbox 360 add-on drive <11> is just another part of the
promotion, and sales of the drive at Amazon went up an amazing
71,900% <12> after the price cut. Perhaps some will view it as "too
little too late", but there's still a long time between now and
June, when Warner officially drops HD DVD, and anything could happen
in between. Then there is also the issue of the Chinese market,
which HD DVD has been making huge investments in with both an
official Chinese HD format (CH DVD <13>), and also staying out of
the Chinese HD DVD market <14> to allow Chinese manufacturers to
profit from HD DVD player sales. I know for a fact that the Chinese
government does not like Blu-ray (or HD DVD, for that matter) due to
the excessive royalties and licensing fees, and so going with the
royalty free CH DVD format is their aim, which might be even cheaper
than producing DVDs since DVDs have licensing costs too. For a
comprehensive and detailed view at the HD format war, the Warner's
decision, the CES, the past, present and future, there is a good
article on AV Forums <15> (not to be confused with AVS Forum). There
are lots of good points made in the article, as well as some facts
that weren't so clear before - regardless of which side you're on,
it's worth a read.

And it's not been great time for Samsung, after being threatened
with a lawsuit over their poorly designed BD-UP5000 dual format
player <16>, they are now being sued proper for their
allegedly "defective" BD-P1200 Blu-ray player <17> in a class action
lawsuit. The article goes on about BD+, but the real issue is behind
an update to BD-J, which Samsung promised to provide over a firmware
update, but has not done so for some reason, causing certain discs
to be unplayable. As a owner of a brand new Toshiba HD-XE1 player,
I'm extremely pleased to be able to buy such a player (for $USD 490
with 11 free HD DVD movies, which is a steal for a player of this
quality). There is currently no Blu-ray player that can match the
quality of the XE1 and it's almost identical twin, the XA2 <18>,
even without considering price, and that's something the BDA will
have to address soon. A fully featured Blu-ray Profile 2.0 player
with Reon upscaling, made by a company known for high end equipment
such as Denon or Onkyo, is what many Blu-ray owners are waiting for.
But it will take a long time before such a player can be made
available, since according to a Denon rep, the reason they have not
released a Profile 2.0 player is because Profile 2.0 is not even
finalized yet <19>. The worrying thing is that, because Profile 2.0
is not finalized and new things can still be added to it, the PS3 is
just a proprietary connector away from being ever able to achieve
Profile 2.0 compatibility. For example, if the BDA decides
WirelessHD <20> has to be a mandatory part of 2.0, then the PS3,
which I have recommended <21> to everybody as the safest bet for
Profile 2.0, will never get certified. Let's hope the BDA come to
their sense and allow the PS3 to be 2.0 compatible.

Not much gaming news this week. EA predicts the PS3 will be the top
selling player in 2008, while Activision predicts the Xbox 360.
Microsoft says they "own" GTA IV due to the exclusive content. And
other such PR nonsense, which I won't even dignify with links (you
can search Google News if you're really desperate). There is one
piece of interesting news, reporting that game arcades are suffering
<22> because people can now play the same type of games at home on
the Wii. An unintended victim of the console wars, no doubt.

That's it for this week, same time, same channel, next week (I think
I've used this joke before).

Links:
<1> http://forum.digital-digest.com/showthread.php?t=86126
<2> http://forum.digital-digest.com/showthread.php?t=86163
<3> http://forum.digital-digest.com/showthread.php?t=86144
<4> http://www.bluraysavings.com/
<5>
http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?ie=UTF8&plgroup=1&docId=1000177301&tag=dvd\
loc8-20
<6>
http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?ie=UTF8&plgroup=1&docId=1000196931&tag=dvd\
loc8-20
<7> http://forum.digital-digest.com/showthread.php?t=86154
<8> http://forum.digital-digest.com/showthread.php?postid=553410
<9> http://www.digital-digest.com/news-60825.html
<10>
http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?ie=UTF8&plgroup=1&docId=1000195491&tag=dvd\
loc8-20
<11> http://forum.digital-digest.com/showthread.php?t=86146
<12> http://news.punchjump.com/article.php?id=5533
<13> http://www.digital-digest.com/highdefdvd/faq.html#faq410b
<14> http://forum.digital-digest.com/showthread.php?t=86127
<15> http://forum.digital-digest.com/showthread.php?t=86150
<16> http://forum.digital-digest.com/showthread.php?t=85988
<17> http://forum.digital-digest.com/showthread.php?t=86166
<18>
http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/toshiba-hd-xa2-hd-dvd-player-wins-sound-\
-vision-editors,257457.shtml
<19> http://forum.digital-digest.com/showthread.php?t=86125
<20>
http://www.digital-digest.com/blog/DVDGuy/2008/01/24/the-wireless-home-theatre-a\
nd-beyond/
<21>
http://www.digital-digest.com/articles/Blu-ray_HD_DVD_Buyers_Guide_page3.html
<22> http://forum.digital-digest.com/showthread.php?t=86155


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3. Weekly Software Roundup

February 10, 2008 SubDownloader² 0.7.1 (Freeware)
February 9, 2008 Net Transport 2.55
February 9, 2008 Muxman Pro 1.0.4
February 9, 2008 RipBot264 1.8.10 (Freeware)
February 9, 2008 QT Lite 2.4.0 (Freeware)
February 9, 2008 Vista Codec Package 4.5.8 (Freeware)
February 9, 2008 AVStoDVD 1.2.2 (Freeware)
February 9, 2008 TsRemux 0.0.20 (Freeware)
February 9, 2008 ProgDVB 5.13.3 (Freeware)
February 8, 2008 Coollector 2.03 (Freeware)
February 8, 2008 MediaInfo 0.7.5.9 (Freeware)
February 8, 2008 AVIAddXSubs 6.2 (Freeware) (Added in the last 3 days)
February 8, 2008 Comskip 0.79.114 (Freeware)
February 8, 2008 QuickTime Alternative (QT7) 2.4.0 (Freeware)
February 8, 2008 Collectorz.com Movie Collector 5.4.2
February 8, 2008 K-Lite Mega Codec Pack 3.7.5 (Freeware)
February 8, 2008 K-Lite Codec Pack 3.7.5 (Freeware)
February 8, 2008 XULPlayer 0.2.1.5 (Freeware)
February 8, 2008 AutoMKV 0.95a (Freeware)
February 8, 2008 Perian 1.1 (Freeware)
February 8, 2008 RAD Video Tools 1.9d (Freeware)
February 7, 2008 DGAVCDec 1.0.0 alpha 15 (Freeware)
February 7, 2008 MediaCoder 0.6.1 Build 4048 (Freeware)
February 7, 2008 XviD4PSP 5.029
February 6, 2008 BurnAware Free Edition 1.2.5 beta (Freeware)
February 6, 2008 Vegas Movie Studio 8.0c
February 6, 2008 Vegas 8.0b
February 6, 2008 FinalBurner Pro 1.28.0.150
February 6, 2008 FinalBurner 1.28.0.123 (Freeware)
February 6, 2008 Video DVD Maker Pro 2.10.0.50
February 6, 2008 Video DVD Maker 3.6.0.12 (Freeware)
February 6, 2008 SUPER v2008.build.25 (Freeware)
February 6, 2008 ffdshow Rev. 1846 (Freeware)
February 6, 2008 PSPVC 2.1 (Freeware)
February 6, 2008 GOM Player 2.1.9.3752 (Freeware)
February 5, 2008 CodecInstaller 2.9.0
February 5, 2008 EMDB 0.58 (Freeware)
February 5, 2008 DVDINFOPro 4.7.9.0
February 5, 2008 tsMuxeR 1.2.10 (Freeware) (Added in the last 2 weeks)
February 5, 2008 Digital Video Repair 1.02 (Freeware)
February 4, 2008 YAMB 2.0.0.8 (20080203) (Freeware)
February 4, 2008 mkv2vob 1.5.3 (Freeware)
February 4, 2008 Freevo 1.7.6 (Freeware)
February 4, 2008 DVB Dream 1.4i (Freeware)
February 4, 2008 MediaCodeSpeedEdit 1.1.0.14 (Freeware)
February 4, 2008 SolveigMM AVI Trimmer 1.6.803.02 (Freeware)
February 3, 2008 Quick Media Converter 3.4 Beta (Freeware) (Added in the last
week)
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 DVB Web Scheduler 5.0.0.17 (Freeware)
February 3, 2008 MoKgVm2DVD 1.2 (Freeware)

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


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