HomeWeekly News Roundup (27 January 2008)
There comes a time in a man’s life when he has to make a decision. A decision so big, that it could literally alter the course of time, space and reality. Today is not that time. Today is time for yet another Weekly News Update.
It seems in the world of copyright, US colleges are public enemy number one at the moment. The copyright lobby is pressuring the US congress to pass college funding legislation that will ensure Internet filtering and monitoring. To threaten something as vital as education with something as trivial (and rooted in greed) as copyright protection, is probably exactly what is wrong with the US political system at the moment. The MPAA has been on the offensive as well, but perhaps their education wasn’t all it could have been either, as they seemed to have fudged up the numbers in regards to college kid’s contribution to piracy. Their initial figure that college kids are responsible for 44% of all lost income did sound a bit strange. If I have to point to one thing a major cause of lost income, I have to say it’s the industry’s attitude towards consumers. When it comes to copyright control, consumers are treated like convicted criminals. DRM is causing more damage to the industry than casual piracy. Another example is Apple’s QuickTime DRM update causing other software, such as Adobe After Effects, to be disabled. Music DRM is dying, and movie DRM seems to be moving in a more “consumer friendly” direction, taking special note of the quote around the phrase ‘consumer friendly’. Fox’s new Hitman Blu-ray will include a digital copy of the film for use on portable devices. Sounds good, except the recommended price for the title is at $39.98, which makes it higher than most other Blu-ray releases by a couple of dollars. So basically, while a (DRM’d) “digital copy” is provided, the price of this copy has already been included, whether you want it or not. So basically “fine” you for what you might do (which might be illegal) before you even do it. Sounds about right.
In HD news, it has all been about HD downloads these last few weeks. It’s strange that immediately after what appears to be a victory for Blu-ray, people start questioning the need for an optical format. Apple, Microsoft and Sony all have their movie download services, and HBO will now launch something similar in limited areas too. But people look at the cheap prices of purchasing downloads compared to buying discs, but are they looking at the total cost, including bandwidth? Maybe in the US and other advanced broadband nations, it’s not much of an issue, but a typical HD download from iTunes might be 50% of someone’s allocated monthly bandwidth allowance here in Australia, not to mention it might take a day to download due to our limited broadband speeds. I think for now, the optical disc is still the best way to deliver high bandwidth movies. It certainly might still be the cheapest way here in Australia, even though our HD movie discs are way over priced. Speaking of Blu-ray’s “victory”, Toshiba has introduced price cuts here in Australia for their range of HD DVD players (second-generation players). The most interesting is the massive price cut for the award winning Toshiba HD-XE1 (similar to the XA2 in the US), which uses the highly sought after Reon HQV video processing chipset to achieve the ultimate video performance, even for upscaled DVDs. Reading through forums about people’s chats with various stores around Australia, it seems the XE1 (which comes with 11 free movies) is selling very well indeed. Many Blu boys have been turned purple (dual format => red + blue => purple) by the amazing value of the XE1 (a similar DVD upscaling player that uses Reon HQV costs thrice as much). But on the other end of the quality scale, we have the Samsung BD-UP5000, which also uses Reon HQV, but is apparently so problematic that even a class action lawsuit is being considered (although I doubt it). It certainly it’s the best designed machine, and even Samsung realises it as it will be discontinued soon and replaced by the BD-Up5500 (does not have Reon HQV), with the BD-UP6500 (rumoured to have Reon HQV + Blu-ray Profile 2.0) coming soon too. I hope Samsung do get their act together, as a dual format player will suit me just fine considering that I’m still building up my movie collection by buying exclusives in both formats.
On to gaming, there’s probably not much time left to get your free copy of the Xbox Live Arcade game, Undertow. I’ve played it and it’s pretty good, if not a bit repetitive. Underwater, pseudo 3D, flag capturing team shooter is probably the best description of it. Nice graphics and sound though. Sony seems to be dropping their 80 GB version of the PS3, the last model that has PS2 compatibility. This coincides with news of a new 40 GB white PS3, as well as a possible price cut to $299. January 28th is supposed to be the date something happens, so stay tuned for more updates. Sony is also partnering with HP to provide “Manufacture-On-Demand” service for their movies, with HP keen to expand MOD to Blu-ray and HD DVD. Basically you choose a movie and the disc is made to order. It’s a nice idea, although it can’t compete with the lower cost of mass manufacture (although being able to order several SD movies on a single HD disc, with your selection of extra features, sounds very attractive).
And Fox News is up to their usual tricks, this time “bending” the truth as they portray the Xbox 360 game Mass Effect as a deprived sex orgy simulator. It’s funny how people made such a big deal of GTA: San Andrea’s Hot Coffee sex simulation modification, yet people simply ignored that fact that the game allowed you to do drive-bys, shot cops, kill civilians and become a drug mule to earn more money.
And on that family friendly last paragraph, I’ll end this news roundup. See you next week.