http://forum.digital-digest.com/ Talk about DVD/DivX/VCD/SVCD related issues, including the official DVD Shrink forums en Wed, 16 May 2012 20:26:26 GMT vBulletin 60 http://forum.digital-digest.com/images/kirsch/misc/rss.jpg http://forum.digital-digest.com/ http://forum.digital-digest.com/f104/what-buy-95772.html Wed, 16 May 2012 14:37:43 GMT Hello to all as I am a newbie with a dumb question. I need help in deciding what software I need for BD to harddrive back up. What will take the protection off, save as a useable file and not lose too much quality for my media player (WD media Player) to play on my TV? I have seen some that... Hello to all as I am a newbie with a dumb question. I need help in deciding what software I need for BD to harddrive back up. What will take the protection off, save as a useable file and not lose too much quality for my media player (WD media Player) to play on my TV? I have seen some that claim to do all of that with one bundled software but I am leary to just take that on faith without someone that has experienced that to concur. Your assistance is appreciated very much. Thank you
Tom ]]> Blu-ray TomCat3367 http://forum.digital-digest.com/f104/what-buy-95772.html http://forum.digital-digest.com/f145/microsoft-funds-russian-bittorrent-blocker-pirate-pay-95771.html Wed, 16 May 2012 08:54:35 GMT A Russian start-up says they've been given financial backing by Microsoft to develop a way to block BitTorrent downloads.

The tool, called 'Pirate Pay', has already been used in practice to hinder the download of several Russian films, and has already been used by Hollywood studios like Sony and Disney to protect their movies.

Andrei Klimenko, the company's chief executive, explains that the origin of Pirate Pay related to network traffic management, and not piracy management, but quickly evolved to the latter when it was clear that the tool had the potential to stop pirates from getting the files they need.

While much of the inner workings of Pirate Pay remain a trade secret, security researchers, such as Richard Clayton from the University of Cambridge, believe the trick lies in seeding fake data throughout the BitTorrent network, frustrating downloaders in the process. But Clayton, speaking to the BBC, feels that this technique at best hinders downloads, but not stop them eventually, saying "the networks are robust about this in the long term".

Mr Clayton believes that the real solution to the BitTorrent piracy problem won't arrive as a technical solution, but rather, a 'social solution'. "The social issue here is that a lot of people think that the legal offerings are too expensive and don't provide what they want. Once you solve that, nobody's going to want to mess around with complicated bits of software to get what they need." ]]> Latest News admin http://forum.digital-digest.com/f145/microsoft-funds-russian-bittorrent-blocker-pirate-pay-95771.html http://forum.digital-digest.com/f145/mpaa-censorship-good-consumers-will-help-innovation-95770.html Wed, 16 May 2012 08:31:02 GMT The MPAA has welcomed recent court decisions around Europe that have seen orders to censor the BitTorrent indexer website, The Pirate Bay. Writing on their official blog... The MPAA has welcomed recent court decisions around Europe that have seen orders to censor the BitTorrent indexer website, The Pirate Bay.

Writing on their official blog, the MPAA welcome rulings in the Netherlands, UK, Austria, Belgium, Denmark and Finland, and says that censorship helps "not only the creative community but also consumers".

This suggestion will no doubt incense Internet Freedom activists, who say that censorship of The Pirate Bay and other websites are not only heavy handed, but also ineffective at stopping visitors to these websites.

But the MPAA says such blocks are needed to promote innovation, to allow more legitimate sites to "provide consumers with content when they want it". Critics also attacked this point, saying that the MPAA's history on innovation (having been against VCRs at one point, and with members believing nothing good has ever come out of the Internet) nullifies their argument, and if anything, websites like The Pirate Bay have been instrumental in forcing Hollywood to start offering competitive products and services for the Internet age.

Lastly, the MPAA warned that more actions are needed and that "it is imperative that the content not be siphoned off and distributed illegally by those seeking to profit from the work and creativity of others", another contentious point considering The Pirate Bay claims they've been running at a loss, and that the users of the website are not paid to upload or download content. ]]> Latest News admin http://forum.digital-digest.com/f145/mpaa-censorship-good-consumers-will-help-innovation-95770.html http://forum.digital-digest.com/f145/former-ms-boss-sony-mismanagement-helped-xbox-360-success-95769.html Tue, 15 May 2012 08:18:32 GMT Former president of Microsoft's Entertainment & Devices Division, Robbie Bach, has attributed to the relative success of the Xbox 360 to the mismanagement of the PS2 to PS3 transition by Sony.

Of the various electronic devices that Microsoft has released, the Xbox 360 stands out as perhaps their most successful device. It has managed to be the best selling home-based console for 16 month straight in the United States, and is neck and neck in worldwide sales with rival Sony's PlayStation 3.

While the Wii still remains the most popular console of this generation, and the Xbox 360 went on sale a full year before either of its competitors, Microsoft's success still cannot be doubted. Coming from the previous generation where Sony's PlayStation 2 had a 70% market domination, nobody really expected Microsoft, a relative newcomer to the video game scene, or a "startup" as Bach jokingly refers to, to be able to get anywhere near the PS2's successor, the PS3. And Bach was too surprised at how badly he felt Sony managed the PS2 to PS3 transition.

"They mismanaged their 70 percent market share," Bach explains. "The transition to PlayStation 3 was really, really bad. And really hard. They mismanaged their partners, they mismanaged their cost structure. They made their next platform so complicated that developers couldn't develop for it."

Bach also says the Xbox 360's success owes much to the support given to the console by game developers such as Activision and Electronic Arts. "It turned out we were able to convince retailers and publishers like Activision, Electronic Arts and others, that it was a good thing for Microsoft to be successful, because if we were not successful, the only game in town was Sony. Being dependent on somebody else was bad for them, and so they supported us disproportionately to what they should have, mathematically," Bach added.

But despite the intentional, and unintentional, helping hands, Microsoft still could have nearly made a mess of it all. Bach describes the infamous Xbox 360 Red Rings of Death (RRoD) hardware fault as "the most painful thing in my life", which is estimated to have cost the Redmond company $1 billion in terms of warranty extensions. The RRoD fault occurs due to an overheating issue, and one of the most notable symptoms of the fault, other than a non-working console, was the dreaded red LED lights shown on the console, forming a red ring. ]]> Latest News admin http://forum.digital-digest.com/f145/former-ms-boss-sony-mismanagement-helped-xbox-360-success-95769.html http://forum.digital-digest.com/f145/drm-free-physical-media-lib-ray-will-work-95768.html Tue, 15 May 2012 07:56:50 GMT Terry Hancock writes a regular column for the Free Software Magazine, has helped to educate and promote astronomy, space exploration, is currently working on his own animated sci-fi video series - and he also wants to create a DRM-free alternative to Blu-ray!

And it's work on his sci-fi video series, Lunatics!, that has inspired Hancock, a long time free software advocate, to produce the standard for his own disc based video format, which he calls "Lib-Ray".

Based on the open source MKV container, and using the equally open-source VP8 codec, Hancock is currently working on standardizing the HTML-5 based menu system. A simple software wizard will then allow videos to be published to SD cards, and compatible media players will be able to play it, with no royalties required in any step of the project.

And the plans for Lib-Ray extends beyond even Blu-ray, with planned support for 60FPS 3D, and 4K video.

Those that want to support Hancock in his efforts can contribute via his Kickstarter, with the money raised used to fund the time-off from work that Hancock needs to take, in order to see his project come to fruition.

But in this day and age of digital distribution, does the world really need another physical media format, even if it is a DRM-free, open source variety? Hancock feels there is a need, at least for his own film releases. "I don't like the idea of selling an inferior copy of my film on DVD to people in a Kickstarter and then having the really high-quality version available only as a free download. That just seems backwards to me. The collector's edition offline version I sell to somebody should be the very best experience I can put in a box," explained Hancock.

And others seem to agree, with the project already attracting 186 backers, and with Terry only $7000 short of his $19000 goal. So while Lib-Ray may not replace Blu-ray, it might just offer independent filmmakers like Terry another option, without having to pay tens of thousands for DRM. ]]> Latest News admin http://forum.digital-digest.com/f145/drm-free-physical-media-lib-ray-will-work-95768.html http://forum.digital-digest.com/f105/problems-nero-10-recode-95765.html Sun, 13 May 2012 16:30:03 GMT I am having similar problems that previous posts have mention about Nero Recode- I have Nero 10 Platinum software, using Windows 7. I had been using Nero Recode alot recently to import MKV & MTS Files. And all went well. But now I am getting the same message as others- "Encounted an Error & Cannot Continue -Unable to Import File ok Recode 10 " And I tried other files and no change. Is there any way to fix this without going thru the unistall -reinstall routine-which apparent from other posts said did not fix. I would appreciate any solutions -Thanks-c/o FireH20 ]]> General Computing FireH20 http://forum.digital-digest.com/f105/problems-nero-10-recode-95765.html http://forum.digital-digest.com/f145/time-warner-ceo-cinema-release-window-shortened-disc-price-may-have-come-down-95764.html Sat, 12 May 2012 14:22:39 GMT These days, studios are not only fighting web pirates, but also digital distribution and theater owners, in a bid to keep physical disc revenue, the mainstay of the home video industry, from falling into further decline. Although the digital distribution business is booming... These days, studios are not only fighting web pirates, but also digital distribution and theater owners, in a bid to keep physical disc revenue, the mainstay of the home video industry, from falling into further decline. Although the digital distribution business is booming, revenue wise, physical disc revenue still account for a huge chunk of home video revenue, and Time Warner CEO Jeffrey Bewkes, speaking to Charlie Rose, wants to ensure disc sales remain healthy.

Tensions has been brewing for a while between studios and theater operators. Theater operators have complained that studios are attempting to shorten the traditional 17-week theatrical release window, while studios argue the need for a smaller window to allow consumers to buy (and rent) the movies they want quicker, and to minimize the effect of piracy. Bewkes predicts that, in the age of digital distribution where timely access is key, release windows will have to be shortened, although he was also clear to point out that action should be only be taken that doesn't "undermine the theater experience".

But theater owners say the unfair revenue split arrangement, in which studios get 90% of opening week revenue (and then with a gradually decreasing spoil of the profits as the weeks go by) means that they're the ones that will lose out if release windows are further shortened.

Bewkes also says there's "bad news" on the disc sales front, as he also predicts that DVD and Blu-ray prices will "have to be cheaper", in order to combat not only piracy, but also the better value proposition being offered by streaming services. Recent research conducted by IHS Screen Digest showed that consumers only pays 51 cents for movies consumed online, compared to $4.72 for disc based titles. ]]> Latest News admin http://forum.digital-digest.com/f145/time-warner-ceo-cinema-release-window-shortened-disc-price-may-have-come-down-95764.html http://forum.digital-digest.com/f145/louis-ck-back-again-time-releasing-drm-free-audio-only-show-95763.html Sat, 12 May 2012 13:48:30 GMT Louis CK may not be the first name you think of when thinking about the crusade against DRM, but oddly enough, he may have been the most successful so far. Last year, the comedian (CK to his friends, and people who are lazy at typing) released one of his live shows for $5, in a no fuss, DRM free,... Louis CK may not be the first name you think of when thinking about the crusade against DRM, but oddly enough, he may have been the most successful so far. Last year, the comedian (CK to his friends, and people who are lazy at typing) released one of his live shows for $5, in a no fuss, DRM free, download as many copies as you want, format, and it was a huge success, generating over $1 million in revenue in just a few weeks.

With less fanfare, Louis has just released the audio-only version of his HBO special, Shameless, as well as the audio version of an older Carnegie Hall show he performed in 2010. The price point is still at $5, and it's still DRM free.

With HBO catching a bit of flak over copyright issues, specifically with Game of Thrones officially one of the most pirated shows ever, it was interesting to hear Louis, via an email sent out to buyers of his first DRM-free show, praise HBO for allowing the release of Shamless on the comedian's own website, and in the only way he prefers: without DRM!

So it's time again, for those rallying against DRM, and in need of a bit of good comedy, to put their money where their mouth is and splurge a whole $5 on Louis' latest old stuff. ]]> Latest News admin http://forum.digital-digest.com/f145/louis-ck-back-again-time-releasing-drm-free-audio-only-show-95763.html http://forum.digital-digest.com/f14/interesting-idea-opportunity-dvd-blu-ray-authors-95762.html Fri, 11 May 2012 23:57:11 GMT Apologies if this is not the right place to post this.

We are a LA-based company called Leaping Brain Labs that has developed a media distribution platform called MOD Machine. We have a potentially lucrative opportunity for DVD & Blu-ray authors who work with video publishing clients that sell discs directly to customers or through retail or mail-order.

We'd love to have DVD authors/encoders look over our site and check us out! ]]> DVD Authoring and Editing leapingbrain http://forum.digital-digest.com/f14/interesting-idea-opportunity-dvd-blu-ray-authors-95762.html http://forum.digital-digest.com/f145/anonymous-strikes-uk-isp-virgin-media-pirate-bay-block-but-tpb-condemns-attack-95761.html Thu, 10 May 2012 09:40:55 GMT Anonymous has attacked the website of ISP Virgin Media, one of the ISPs that was forced by the UK High Court to ban visitor access to The Pirate Bay. But The Pirate Bay has come out condemning the attack, calling it a form of censorship. The website of Virgin Media, virginmedia.com... Anonymous has attacked the website of ISP Virgin Media, one of the ISPs that was forced by the UK High Court to ban visitor access to The Pirate Bay. But The Pirate Bay has come out condemning the attack, calling it a form of censorship.

The website of Virgin Media, virginmedia.com, as taken down on Tuesday after a sustained distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack. A faction of the hacktivist group Anonymous, calling themselves @AnonAteam on Twitter, was later identified as being responsible via twitter.

Many instantly criticized the target of the attack, saying ISPs have been forced to adopt these filters and are as helpless as their own customers when it comes to having a choice about the matter. British ISPs have been fighting in the courts to prevent filtering from happening. AnonAteam defended their actions, calling them necessary to "protect freedom of expression". "ISPs are the gateways to democracy in this technology age, to censor access to websites with such an abuse of the legal process, outside parliament our a Humans Right court is unlaw and an abuse of power," the group posted on their Tumblr.

But The Pirate Bay says DDoS attacks are no different to the block being put in by ISPs like Virgin, and "are both forms of censorship", a post on the website's Facebook page noted.

The Pirate Bay says there are better ways to help, if you truly believe in an open Internet, including setting up your own proxy, as well as getting involved in the political process, including joining a local branch of The Pirate Party, to get your views heard. ]]> Latest News admin http://forum.digital-digest.com/f145/anonymous-strikes-uk-isp-virgin-media-pirate-bay-block-but-tpb-condemns-attack-95761.html http://forum.digital-digest.com/f145/more-incentive-download-movies-anti-piracy-warning-doubles-discs-95760.html Thu, 10 May 2012 09:09:40 GMT The annoying anti-piracy messages people have to sit through at the start of DVDs and Blu-rays have just gotten worse - twice as worse! Instead of just a single screen (http://www.digital-digest.com/images/newsimages_ftp/fbi_warning_old.jpg) warning of the dire consequences of movie piracy,... The annoying anti-piracy messages people have to sit through at the start of DVDs and Blu-rays have just gotten worse - twice as worse!

Instead of just a single screen warning of the dire consequences of movie piracy, movie lovers will now have to wait through two, possibly unskippable, warnings screens. And it's not just the FBI that's threatening to jail people for 5 years for torrenting a movie, the Department of Homeland Security adds its badge to the first warning screen, while the menacing eagle logo of the National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center (IPR Center) graces the newly added second screen.

The second screen also shows a link to www.iprcenter.gov, the tax-payer funded website that some critics have labeled as nothing more than an outlet to espouse pro-copyright views, often at the expensive of reality.

Movie fans, especially those that choose to do the right thing and pay for their movies, have often expressed their frustration at at these types of potentially unskippable warning screens. Ironically, pirated copies normally make the screen skippable, or remove them entirely, and gives movie watchers a much better user experience as a result.

For those that want to stay on the right side of the law, but also don't want to watch these condescending screens, can opt for certain subscription streaming or legal downloads that allow movie lovers to get right into the action in seconds, as opposed to minutes. For those that don't, well, they can still get their favourite movies via the usual places, still free of all annoying warning screens. ]]> Latest News admin http://forum.digital-digest.com/f145/more-incentive-download-movies-anti-piracy-warning-doubles-discs-95760.html http://forum.digital-digest.com/f105/codec-not-registering-my-program-95759.html Wed, 09 May 2012 22:47:53 GMT I have an engineering program that can generate an AVI video of a simulation I run. During setup for the AVI the software will open a window and asks me to select a Codec. Only the windows and Intel codecs appear in the list, and not my Xvid or even x264, though they are installed and show up in... I have an engineering program that can generate an AVI video of a simulation I run. During setup for the AVI the software will open a window and asks me to select a Codec. Only the windows and Intel codecs appear in the list, and not my Xvid or even x264, though they are installed and show up in program files.

I have no idea wha is causing this or where to begin to look. Have installed, uninstalled, reinstalled, etc.

Anyone have any thoughts?

I am using a Win7 64-bit PC. ]]> General Computing bobsalas http://forum.digital-digest.com/f105/codec-not-registering-my-program-95759.html http://forum.digital-digest.com/f145/dvd-playback-media-center-not-included-mainstream-windows-8-version-95758.html Mon, 07 May 2012 09:01:21 GMT The expected most popular version of Windows 8 will not feature built-in DVD playback or include Media Center, both of which are currently available as part of the equivalent Windows 7 Home Premium version. Microsoft has simplified the Windows 8 line-up, and in a blog post... The expected most popular version of Windows 8 will not feature built-in DVD playback or include Media Center, both of which are currently available as part of the equivalent Windows 7 Home Premium version.

Microsoft has simplified the Windows 8 line-up, and in a blog post last month, revealed that there will only be two purchasable versions of the new OS, the mainstream standard version simply labeled as "Windows 8", and the more fully featured "Windows 8 Pro".

But since that announcement, and subsequent press releases to clear up the issue further, a mini furor has erupted over the removal of both built-in DVD playback and the Media Center component from the mainstream version of Windows 8. Even buyers of the Pro version would still have to shell out extra money to add Media Center, and DVD playback, back to the OS. The upgrade is expected to cost less than $10.

Unlike DVD playback, Blu-ray movie playback has never been built in to any version of Windows, and this remains unchanged in Windows 8.

Microsoft cites the diminishing popularity of DVDs and even Blu-ray on PCs as the reason for this move, and the "significant amount in royalties" required to offer support. It is estimated that including DVD and Blu-ray playback would cost the Redmond giant $5 to $15 in terms of additional licensing fees.

Some analysts also say this is also Microsoft's way of promoting its "physical disc free" video streaming offerings, available via Windows 8's Video app, allowing users to buy, rent and even streaming purchased videos to their Xbox 360 console.

For those that still do use their PCs to play DVDs (and Blu-rays), the free VideoLAN (VLC) seems like the perfect alternative. Based in France where software patents do not exist, the team behind VLC is able to offer DVD (and Blu-ray) playback without having to pay royalties. Its hard working developers have also promised to provide Windows 8 support and enhanced Blu-ray playback by the time the new OS is released. ]]> Latest News admin http://forum.digital-digest.com/f145/dvd-playback-media-center-not-included-mainstream-windows-8-version-95758.html http://forum.digital-digest.com/f21/iso-backup-95757.html Fri, 04 May 2012 19:36:55 GMT i have had this on my desktop computer for a few years and it always backed up files in an ISO format. i recently put dvd shrink on my laptop and it will not backup in iso. i thought i had looked at everything but i may have just missed it. everytime i video my grandson doing some cutey pie stuff,... i have had this on my desktop computer for a few years and it always backed up files in an ISO format. i recently put dvd shrink on my laptop and it will not backup in iso. i thought i had looked at everything but i may have just missed it. everytime i video my grandson doing some cutey pie stuff, i want to put it on dvd and when it would save in iso format i had no problem whatsoever. how can i make it do that again? ]]> Other File Formats Carie722 http://forum.digital-digest.com/f21/iso-backup-95757.html http://forum.digital-digest.com/f145/pirate-bay-traffic-up-12-million-after-news-uk-block-95755.html Fri, 04 May 2012 10:34:18 GMT It seem the music industry's attempt to have The Pirate Bay blocked in the UK by ISPs may have backfired, at least temporarily, as The Pirate Bay reports a surge in traffic in the last few days.

Some ISPs have already turned on their filter for The Pirate Bay after a High Court decision earlier in the week, including blocking DNS resolution (which converts domain names to the IP addresses of the website) and also IP address filtering.

But despite these measures, a site insider speaking to TorrentFreak said that traffic to the BitTorrent indexer has actually increased, dramatically, over the last week. 12 million more, to be exact.

The extra visits most likely came from those who had previously had little knowledge of the Swedish based website, and had been informed about its existence via the various news reports covering the UK filtering court order. And TPB is making the most of these extra visits, by informing incoming visitors the various simple ways to defeat any filters the UK and other countries may be implementing.

A blog post on the website lists the various ways to defeat these filters, such as using a VPN (including The Pirate Bay's own iPredator service, or free alternatives such as VPNReactor), using anonymizer tools such as Tor and I2P. At the very least, people can circumvent any DNS based blocks by switching to Google's DNS servers or OpenDNS, or using the MAFIAAFire plugin, although these would only work if the associated IP addresses for The Pirate Bay aren't being filtered as well. An even simpler solution, provided by the UK branch of the Pirate Party, is a web based proxy URL that lets users get access to the website without the need to install anything.

The increasing use of VPNs, Virtual Private Networks, where activities cannot be monitored for anti-piracy purposes, will present anti-piracy groups with enormous problems in the future. And it appears that the hard-line actions they've been taking around the world has only served to drive more customers to VPN providers. A recent study in Sweden showed a 40% jump in the number of VPN subscribers in the last two and half years, with nearly 8% of the Internet using population, and 15% of all young people, now subscribers to some sort of VPN service.

VPN services can also be used by bypass the geographical locking of legitimate content delivery services, such as Netflix, in countries where the service is not yet available. This week, British ISPs called on the entertainment industry to also improve legal alternatives for content access, to further combat the piracy problem. ]]> Latest News admin http://forum.digital-digest.com/f145/pirate-bay-traffic-up-12-million-after-news-uk-block-95755.html