DIGITAL DIGEST - http://www.digital-digest.com
DIGITAL DIGEST - LIVE UPDATE Issue 22
Your "whenever I have time to write one" newsletter
Sunday, 12th November, 2000
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TOP NEWS SUMMARY :
0. Section Zer0 - an introduction to this issue
1. The Empire Strikes Back - Region Coding Enhancement
3. US Politics or "What does that have to do with DVD/DivX?"
4. New programs at Digital Digest
5. How to cancel/change your subscription email address/settings
- how to maintain the subscription to this newsletter even if your email address
has changed
6. A simple thank-you
- a thank-you message for all those that joined this list
Welcome to this, the 22nd issue, of the Digital Digest LiveUpdate newsletter. As the US election grips the US and part of the world, business is still as usual here down at Digital Digest.
There is news of a new region management system, called RCE, that may mean doom for people with multi-region DVD players - but as we'll explain, the news may be exaggerated.
There is also news of a petition to get Star Trek episodes on to DivX, or a similar downloadable/streamable format - during a time when DivX, and Project Mayo (the sequel to DivX) gets even more press.
And of course, there is the usual array of new and updated DVD/DivX software to add to your collection.
And lastly, we have to add that there will be little or no updates of Digital Digest until November 20th, and throughout the most of December. We apologise ahead of time for any inconvenience caused.
As I said, business as usual =)
1. The Empire Strikes Back - Region Coding Enhancement
| RCE - the new (or not so new, if you've
been closely following the developments) region management system could
potentially leave millions of DVD players worldwide useless, when dealing
with DVDs that does feature this new management system.
But the reality is that not everyone will be affected, and it does seem that most people with "modified" DVD players will still find that RCE DVDs won't cause them any headaches. So what is RCE? In short, it is a new region control system. DVDs carrying this new system, like The Patriot, will now try to detect the region setting of your DVD player - if it doesn't match the region setting on the disc, the disc will not play. Those with DVD players set to region 0, or have "automatic" region switching will find that discs like The Patriot won't play on their system. |
However, those with DVD players that allow manually selectable regions, should find that RCE makes no difference - this is not to say that ALL DVD players with manual switching should be okay, as some will still have trouble playing back RCE discs.
But there has also been reports that some mono-region DVD players will also have trouble playing RCE discs - something that is quite possible when one tries to screw around with an established system.
Once again, the DVD/Movie industry has shown that profits, is indeed, more important than its customers.
 Star Trek on DivX - coming to a Windows Media Player near you |
There is currently a petition going on
to urge Paramount Pictures, the owners of the Star Trek product license,
to release an online downloadable/streamable version of their Star Trek TV
series.
There are already hundreds of signatures on the petition, and once they reach critical mass, they will be sent to Paramount to hopefully let them know what fans want. Personally, I think if Paramount does release online versions of their TV series, and if they do charge a reasonable amount per episode, they could potentially make quite a fortune, as most Star Trek/Sci Fi fans are already very active on the internet, and with broadband become more readily available, there is great demand for high quality digital entertainment. If you are interested, please sign the petition here : P.S : If you signed the petition before the 13th October, please sign it again, as most of them were lost. |
3. US Politics or "What does this have to do with DVD/DivX?"
 Look at all those pretty colors ... |
As I type now, the US elections may
still be undecided, following the electoral deadlock, which most likely
will only be decided by whoever wins Florida.
So what does have that have to do with DVD or DivX ? On the surface, nothing much - but if you look closer, this election does indeed have some impact on DVD/DivX and the Internet as a whole. First of all, it seems that whoever gets to be President will be appointing US Supreme Court Judges and may have a whole different spin on legal issues surrounding the IT industry. For example, A George W. Bush Presidency may mean a less harsh stance towards Microsoft. |
And with DeCSS, Napster, Scour and perhaps soon, even DivX in the legal spotlight, there is no doubt that the US government's stance will have a significant impact on these court cases - although the White House probably doesn't have all that much to say in these matters, but a few words from the President to support either side will be quite significant.
And wouldn't it be interesting if the US Department of Justice desided to file a monopoly suit against the MPAA - not likely, but not impossible.
And lastly, it seems that Hillary Rodham Clinton was the one who requested that a DVD system be fitted in the White House's screening room - now that she's a senator, perhaps she could convince the senate to install a DVD system - an added incentive for future political hopefuls to run for senate =)
4. New programs at Digital Digest
DivX Software :Bitrate Calculators : Advanced DivX Bit. Calculator 1.8 Ampex's DivX bitrate calculator Bearson Bitrate Calculator 1.0 Ecuador's AVI Bitrate Calculator 1.1 Johnny DivX THE Bit-Rate
Codecs : Angelpotion MPEG-4 Codec 1.00 build.702
Conversion : AVI2VCD 1.3.3 CompressAVI 1.04 beta 9 DVD2AVI 11-2 MPEG2AVI PX3 0.0.5 VOB2AVI 0.4.5.0
Editing : AVIedit 2.8 AVI Mux 0.1 DeDynamic 1.1b DivFix 1.03 DivX Mutator 1.1 FMI ProjectDivX 1.0
GUIs : DVD2AVI GUI 1.06 Beta 1 EasySoft DivXbase
Launchers : AutoAVI 2.00.0001 Clipmenu Compact Disc Autorun 1.3 Compact Disc Launcher 4.1 DivX Movie Launcher 1.22 DivX MP4 Video CD Launcher DIVX-press! v.2 Full-Moon Launcher 2.0 HankDivX 0.6.1 Movie Launcher 1.2 Shadowboot 0.1b Video CD Launcher 3.2
Players : Ar1z Video Player 2.535 BS Player 0.81 Cinematograph 2.1.1.2 Home Player v0.51b Linux DivX players Mac DivX player 1.0b8r2 Mini Player RadLight Player 2.0b
Rip-Packs : BH's DivX Rippack DVD-RIPP 3.0 MPEG2AVI Rip Pack 1.2
Subtitle tools : DvdC 1.0a Subtitle Adjuster for MicroDVD 1.3 Subtitle FPS converter SubAdjust 1.4
DVD Software :
Authoring : Daikin ReelDVD DVD Wise 1.65 Sonic DVDit
Conversion : Aspect Ratio Calculator bbMPEG 1.24 beta 12 FlaskMPEG DeCSS 0.594 FlaskMPEG 0.594 PX3 Fix 0.0.4e final PX3's AC3 -> WAV 0.2beta TMPGEnc beta 12a
Editing : iFilmEdit 1.4.5 MakeFilm 0.2 VirtualDub 1.4c VirtualDub 1.4c patched with AVI joining facility
GUIs : CrazyRIP 1.51p Danni Din's MPEG2AVI/AC3DEC/VSTRIP GUI 0.19l Danni Din's VOBDec GUI 3.1
Mac tools: DVD Extractor 0.9b DVD Toolkit 2.2 mAC3dec 0.9b MPEG2Decoder 1.4
Playback : Elecard MPEG-2 Player 1.15 Eugene's DVD player 0.94 PowerDVD 2.5 to 2.55 Patch PowerDVD 3.0 Evaluation PowerDVD 3.0 Trial WinDVD 2.3.55 Build 055C Patch
Playback tools : More PowerDVD Skins More WinDVD Skins WinDVD Skin Developer's Kit
Region : Creative DXR-3 RegSet DVD Genie 3.80 DVD Region Killer 1.0.1.0 DVD Remote Selector 1.76 Margi DVD-TO-GO PCMCIA Region Patches Mpact 3DVD region-free solution Region-free Firmwares
Rip-Packs : VCD Galaxy DVDRip ComboPack 1.0
Ripping : CladDVD 1.64 DVD Decrypter 1.6 EasyVDGUI V3.7 PC Opus + VD Crack SmartRipper 2.02 VStrip 0.6a - CSS version
Subtitle : SubRip 0.81b Ultimate Subtitles Converter 0.01
VCD : VCDGear 2.0
Other : DC Genie 1.10 ForceASPI 1.7 ShutDown TVCC 2000 v1.1
5. 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@egroups.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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Thank-you
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