DGMPGDec 1.5.0 beta 1 suppress popup warning messages in CLI mode, can detect PSIP PIDs, displays PIDs both in hex and in decimal format, has a looped playback mode and fixes a bug in the transport packet length detection code.
VirtualDub 1.7.3 has an option to show debugging info, allows you to enter frame rate adjustments including rational fractions, allows reloading of jobs, has several new options for fine-tuning timing options with DirectShow based capture devices, supports drag and drop in the hex editor and contains some improvements in the Direct3D code.
H264TS_Cutter 106 allows to switch between the old and new video playback mode, supports transport streams with multiple services and contains some bugfixes.
Here's a good one to show how content owners go overboard enforcing copyright law: they freely make use of available content themselves without so much as asking permission, but if the creator of content used without permission has the audacity to reuse a broadcast segment based on the content used without permission on the first place, they come after you for copyright infringement.
Until tomorrow, the world's largest consumer electronics fair takes place in the German capital Berlin - at IFA, a lot of manufacturers presented their HD news: LG announced two dual layer HD combo drives supporting both HD DVD and Blu-ray. The GGW-H20N writes Blu-ray at 6x and reads HD DVDs and should retail for €420, the GGW-H20L removes the Blu-ray burning capabilities, and retails for €250.
Daewoo has joined the Blu-ray camp with their BDP-1000 and BDP-2000 - the first confirmed Blu-ray profile 1.1 players should retail für €450 and also handle DivX content - but no release date has been given.
The Venturer HD DVD player was also announced for Europe - albeit at a steep €300. Seeing as the player is manufactured at the same place as the $199 US version, somebody is charging a hefty markup.
Finally, High-def Digest has a wrap-up of the Blu-ray and HD DVD news at IFA. Needless to say there was also the usual PR bluster, including the BDA's claims that HD DVD will be dead within 18 months (you might recall that earlier on, the death of HD DVD was predicted for the end of 2007 or CES 2008 by the same people). Screen Digest's analyst seem to disagree and predict that both formats will still be around in 2001. Oh, and the Blu-ray studios were asked if they received any incentives from the Blu-ray camp, after a lot of wriggling there was a no from Sony (big surprise there.. the studio is owned by the biggest Blu-ray backers), Fox (they get a non financial incentive in the form of BD+), and a "no comment" for Disney.
The AACS LA is bringing out the big guns against Fair Use: they are planning mandatory watermark detection in the upcoming final version of AACS, as well as encryption of the bus between the drive and PC, and that key should be different for each disk. Finally, the current AACS keys are apparently close to being revoked.
And there might be bad news coming for people using the Playstation 3 console to play self-made Blu-ray movies. Rumor has it, that the days of playing back BDMV authored content on recordable Blu-ray discs are numbered.
I've previously reported on the disagreements between Universal and Apple regarding prices of online content. Now, NBC (which is owned by the same parent company as Universal) joins the fray and is asking for significantly more money off their TV shows being sold in Apple's iTunes store. Apple is playing hardball as usual, and has announced that they won't sell any new NBC shows in the future.
It appears North Korea has discovered the holy grail in copyright enforcement - why spend time and money to lock people up when you can just execute them?
While the MPAA studios reap record benefits at the box office this summer, do you think they'd change their tune on decrying piracy? Heck no! |