News Sound Bites - Wavosaur, Writers, and Hi-Def Transfers

Just a couple cool links for ya'll.

Download Squad has the scoop on Wavosaur, a free tiny portable audio editing suite. Does it have what it takes to compete against products like Audacity?

Gizmodo is looking for writers! If only there were an influx of really good writers, with time on their hands, looking for new projects ... hmmm ... (I kid because I love)

Sound and Vision Magazine has a great article on the challenges of transferring Blade Runner to HD-DVD and Blu-Ray. YAY! I get to buy the movie AGAIN once I get an HDTV! I can't wait!

Blu-Ray Playback Problems Linked to Copy Protection?

You all know how I feel about DRM and copy protection.
I'm pretty much against any ACTIVE protection. I'm a big fan of watermarking and passive protection. Basically any protection that prevents people from playing the content equals, and anything that will link the content back to who originally owned it equals good.
I think content needs to be payed for, and if you buy something and are dumb enough to put it up on the web, well that's your problem...

My problem with active protection is that it doesn't work. It only prevents the paying customers from watching it the way they want to. Anyone who wants to get around it will.

Case in point, Sony's latest batch of Blu-Ray's "Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer" and "Day After Tomorrow", both chock full of Sony's latest copy protection, dont play well with older Blu-Ray players by Samsung and LG. There have been other problems reported with BD+ Copy Protection, but usually with special features content not the movies themselves.

Highdefdigest.com has the scoop:

The most severe problems have been reported on Samsung's BDP-1200
and LG's BH100, which are both said to be incapable of playing back the
discs at all. Less catastophic issues (error messages and playback
stutter) have been reported for Samsung's BDP-1000. The discs appear to
play back fine on all other Blu-ray players (including the PlayStation
3), although users have reported lengthy load times of up to two
minutes.
It has been widely speculated that these issues stem from the use of
BD+ copy protection on the two discs. We contacted Fox for comment, but
so far there's no official word from the studio.
Calls placed to both Samsung and LG customer support revealed that
both manufacturers are aware of the issue, and that both are working on
firmware updates to correct it. Samsung promised a firmware update
within "a couple" weeks, while LG said an update is expected in 3-4
days.

Read the rest here.

Paramount and DreamWorks Animation Announce Exclusive Support for HD-DVD

I was not expecting this.

Apparently the war between HD-DVD and Blu-Ray just got a little more interesting.

"The companies each said that the decision to distribute exclusively in
the HD DVD format resulted from an extensive evaluation of current
market offerings, which confirmed the clear benefits of HD DVD,
particularly its market-ready technology and lower manufacturing costs.
Paramount Home Entertainment will launch its exclusive HD DVD program
with the release of the blockbuster comedy hit "Blades of Glory" on
August 28th and follow with two of the biggest grossing movies of the
year "Transformers" and "Shrek the Third". These three titles alone
represent more than $1.5 billion in box office ticket sales worldwide."

I'm stoked for this. More competition equals better products. Already we're hearing about increased interactive content from the HD-DVD camp including video PIP commentaries and web content. I also think that the HD-DVD camp will probably break the $200 barrier for players first (prolly around Thanksgiving). Whether or not that's enough to combat the immense lead of the PS3 as a Blu-Ray player, and the size advantage of the Blu-Ray disc.

Read the rest here @ CNN

I really have no love for either HD-DVD or Blu-Ray per se, but I'm not doing anything high-def until someone wins. This fight is fun to watch though...

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