RE: Brin: On 'Incomprehesibility'
_ From: brin-l-boun...@mccmedia.com [mailto:brin-l-boun...@mccmedia.com] On Behalf Of medieva...@aol.com Sent: Saturday, August 01, 2009 8:31 PM To: brin-l@mccmedia.com Subject: 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 _ Yes! And, most VHS tapes had the runtime in quite readable letters *on the casing of the tape*. Good luck reading runtime on the back of a DVD case. (I do it regularly, to figure out what is and is not too long to try to watch before bedtime, and I really need to sit down with some sticky notes, pull out each paper information sleeve, put a sticky note with runtime in minutes and hours:minutes -- and that's a ridiculous amount of work there!) Julia ___ http://mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Re: Brin: On 'Incomprehesibility'
David Hobby wrote: > > 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? > Brazilian DVDs don't include this. They replace it with an "educative" movie. One version compares the buyer of pirate DVDs to drug dealers and kidnappers. Another version has a daddy proudly exhibiting a pirate DVD to his son, who in turn proudly says he got grade 10 (grade A+ in USA) as he cheated in the test and copied the test of a colleague. Alberto Monteiro ___ 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
