Re: Brin: On Incomprehensibility'
At 07:31 PM Saturday 8/1/2009, David Brin wrote: Today's DVD's 1- are not universal if you record on "minus" or "plus" mode and many units throw fits, even then Another problem, at least with the unit I have, is that if I want to record a program (frex) from 8 to 9 on channel m followed by one from 9 to 10 on channel n onto VHS, it works fine and I get both programs in full (assuming my clock is sufficiently in sync with the clock the station is using). If I try to do the same thing to record to DVD±RW, when it finishes recording the first program instead of changing channels and recording the second program it spends anywhere from about 30 seconds to 2 minutes displaying "Writing to disc . . . " and a status bar and so I miss the beginning of the second program. (Or the end of the first if I try to compensate for that "feature" by setting the first recording to end at 8:58 or 8:59 . . .) Is that the case with all DVD±R/RW machines, or just the [relatively] cheap one I got in order to have something in place before the end of analog broadcasts? 2- fast-forward and reverse are a mess. They are twichy and over and undershoot like mad. 3- menu navigation is often torment 4- You cannot copy incrementally, onto the end of a segment of DVD that you already recorded some before. Seems to work OK when I use a DVD±RW disc. Or do you mean that if frex I was masochistic enough to record Part I of "Meteor" one recent Sunday night and then Part II on the same disc the next week when I put the disc in later to watch it the menu would show two separate entries on the disc and playback would stop and go back to the menu at the end of the first part rather than running that whole disaster [of a] movie seamlessly, or what? 5- Very few computers let you use a DVD as an optical mass storage device, even though it is the perfect medium for making your monthly hard-disk backup. They insist it can only be used AS a DVD-video storage device. What kind of DVD drive do you have on your computer? Mine is a Sony brand (don't recall the model number, but it dates back to 2005 or so) which takes all four types of DVD±R/RWs (as well as CD-R/RWs) and works just fine for recording data, except for using enough resources to slow things down enough to notice when it's burning a disc. 6 - Even with new hacks and machines, there is still collusion between manufacturers and studios, meant to diminish and hinder copying of anything you legitimately own. Yes, there are reasons for this. But clearly the market is not functioning, or some company would simply be selling units that do what the customer wants. Or maybe it's just that the consumer "wants" something he's not supposed to want . . . :D . . . ronn! :) ___ http://mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Re: Brin: On 'Incomprehesibility'
On Aug 1, 2009, at 5:31 PM, David Brin wrote: Today's DVD's 1- are not universal if you record on "minus" or "plus" mode and many units throw fits, even then 2- fast-forward and reverse are a mess. They are twichy and over and undershoot like mad. 3- menu navigation is often torment 4- You cannot copy incrementally, onto the end of a segment of DVD that you already recorded some before. 5- Very few computers let you use a DVD as an optical mass storage device, even though it is the perfect medium for making your monthly hard-disk backup. They insist it can only be used AS a DVD-video storage device. 6 - Even with new hacks and machines, there is still collusion between manufacturers and studios, meant to diminish and hinder copying of anything you legitimately own. Yes, there are reasons for this. But clearly the market is not functioning, or some company would simply be selling units that do what the customer wants. Am I the only one who heard this in the voice of Andy Rooney? "D'ja ever notice..." Just sayin' Dave ___ http://mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Re: Brin: On 'Incomprehesibility'
7- It is much easier to read the back of a video box than the pages of that tiny booklet--if there even is one. Vilyehm **A Good Credit Score is 700 or Above. See yours in just 2 easy steps! (http://pr.atwola.com/promoclk/100126575x1222846709x1201493018/aol?redir=http://www.freecreditreport.com/pm/default.aspx?sc=668072&hmpgID=115&bcd =JulystepsfooterNO115) ___ http://mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Re: Brin: On 'Incomprehesibility'
Today's DVD's 1- are not universal if you record on "minus" or "plus" mode and many units throw fits, even then 2- fast-forward and reverse are a mess. They are twichy and over and undershoot like mad. 3- menu navigation is often torment 4- You cannot copy incrementally, onto the end of a segment of DVD that you already recorded some before. 5- Very few computers let you use a DVD as an optical mass storage device, even though it is the perfect medium for making your monthly hard-disk backup. They insist it can only be used AS a DVD-video storage device. 6 - Even with new hacks and machines, there is still collusion between manufacturers and studios, meant to diminish and hinder copying of anything you legitimately own. Yes, there are reasons for this. But clearly the market is not functioning, or some company would simply be selling units that do what the customer wants.___ http://mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Re: Brin: On 'Incomprehesibility'
William T Goodall wrote: On 1 Aug 2009, at 09:12, KZK wrote: > Dr. Brin Wrote: ... > True, copyright piracy is (generally) bad. But the bloody > inconvenience and blithering incomprehensibility of simply using a > modern DVD player to watch a film that you already own - let alone ... I don't get why you would consider this to be so. DVD's are very simple: You put a disc (made the same way a CD is for 1 layer discs) into a device and close the door. The machine plays the Disc. This usually involves a non-bypassable FBI warning ... DVD region codes. NTSC or PAL? Stereo or 5.1? Dolby or DTS? Component or HDMI? Upscale to 720P or 1080i? William-- I agree with you on some, and want to add an item. DVD region codes: Not in the consumer's interest. I wound up buying my wife a multiregion DVD player, just so we could watch German DVDs. NTSC vs. PAL: Not a fair criticism. That mess was created a LONG time ago, and was also a problem with VHS tapes. (A bigger problem, since the players were analog.) The others you list: It's still possible to just go with the defaults there. That non-bypassable FBI and/or Interpol warning: This is actually a loss for DVDs. With VHS, you could ALWAYS fast-forward. Why aren't there hacks to skip the start-up warnings on DVDs? ---David ___ http://mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Re: Brin: On 'Incomprehesibility'
On 1 Aug 2009, at 09:12, KZK wrote: > Dr. Brin Wrote: http://davidbrin.blogspot.com/2009/07/notion-of-disputation-arenas.html > True, copyright piracy is (generally) bad. But the bloody > inconvenience and blithering incomprehensibility of simply using a > modern DVD player to watch a film that you already own - let alone > record an episode of NOVA - it is why I keep three VCRs in the house, > still. I don't get why you would consider this to be so. DVD's are very simple: You put a disc (made the same way a CD is for 1 layer discs) into a device and close the door. The machine plays the Disc. This usually involves a non-bypassable FBI warning and possibly previews, then you get to simple menu, where pressing OK or Play starts the film (unless you need to change some language settings or something, because the Play menu option is almost always the default option). You can otherwise navigate the menu using the arrow buttons and select the option you want using the OK button. All very simple and easy. DVD region codes. NTSC or PAL? Stereo or 5.1? Dolby or DTS? Component or HDMI? Upscale to 720P or 1080i? Home Theatre Maru -- William T Goodall Mail : w...@wtgab.demon.co.uk Web : http://www.wtgab.demon.co.uk Blog : http://web.me.com/williamgoodall/blog/ "I wish developing great products was as easy as writing a check. If so, then Microsoft would have great products." - Steve Jobs ___ http://mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Brin: On 'Incomprehesibility'
> Dr. Brin Wrote: > True, copyright piracy is (generally) bad. But the bloody > inconvenience and blithering incomprehensibility of simply using a > modern DVD player to watch a film that you already own - let alone > record an episode of NOVA - it is why I keep three VCRs in the house, > still. I don't get why you would consider this to be so. DVD's are very simple: You put a disc (made the same way a CD is for 1 layer discs) into a device and close the door. The machine plays the Disc. This usually involves a non-bypassable FBI warning and possibly previews, then you get to simple menu, where pressing OK or Play starts the film (unless you need to change some language settings or something, because the Play menu option is almost always the default option). You can otherwise navigate the menu using the arrow buttons and select the option you want using the OK button. All very simple and easy. As far as recording goes (and I don't know about DVR's) the only real inconvenience of using a dvd burner to record TV is the fact the DVDs hold such a small amount of data, and that it uses very poor compression algorithm and codec, which tend to cause a huge loss of quality (greater than that of shoddy vhs tapes). I don't think you get why these technologies are being _simplified_ this way Dr. Brin. (Think Blinking 12:00 on old VCR's). You used this same argument before a few years ago when you said Qbasic was incomprehensible. I think you totally missed the point, Qbasic simplified using BASIC into it's real functional components, and eliminated the unnecessary bits, namely: It no longer acted like a operating system with a command prompt and inputs, instead it just allows you run/edit the program (the way all other computer language interpreters do, the way an interpreted language should work). Simplifying is a _Good_ thing Dr. Brin. ___ http://mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
