I don't believe in IP (intellectual property) as a real thing, although I do see the benefit of helping nurture ideas to make money for individuals and keep the incentive to create new things.
However, we've gone so far away and made IP equivalent to real property, and further. With that being said, I have no problem with pirating anything. I prefer to use free software to avoid any legal problems there, and I purchase or rent movies (I don't like that DVDXCopy makes you record onto multiple discs), I download music (mostly non-popular public domain stuff anyway), and I have traded copies of video games with friends rather than buying them.
I've had a longstanding feud with the motion picture industry and they've used words that I've said in the past against 2600 (a hacker magazine) in court, which really ....ed me off. The music industry is the same way. When Jack Valenti and Hillary Rosen finally kick the bucket, the Earth will sigh in relief after being polluted by those scumbags.
For a while, I refused to go to movies or buy DVDs, but then when I got married my wife wanted it enough that I had to trade in my ban for her happiness, and since she means more to me than my problems with the MPAA, I had to suck it up. However, anything I can do to cause problems for them within the confines of the law I will do. For those that read the political forums and know my opinion of Bush, I hate Jack Valenti more, because the MPAA made it personal for me.
Anyway, ummm...yeah, I copy stuff. If you have a Playstation 2 I can also tell you that it works well for making backup copies of games, but you have to have a modchip in your PS2 (easier to install than a hard drive.)
The RIAA is in charge of music, and I don't think Roxio will make a copy of a broken CD (copy protected.) They mainly are going after music downloaders now, as normal bootleggers haven't been that much of an interest to them.
The difference is that there is positive copy protection technology in DVD's and not in CD's
Ever since the DMCA it's been illegal to circumvent copy protection technology. The technology doesn't exist in the Red Book specifications for audio CD's hence it is not illegal, in itself, to copy them. Note that the content is still protected by copyright.
I think the 321 lawsuit was in Australia, not here. And all the ruling requires is that the CSS-removal portion (the encryption bypass) be removed. So, if you're Down Under and want to rip a DVD, you have to first get one of the "pirate" decrypters like DeCSS or DVDDecrypter, run the disc through that first to strip the CSS, then take the resulting file and burn it to your DVD.
I think it also stripped out the Macrovision signal-degrader so now you can copy a DVDXcopied DVD onto VHS tape.
No MisterPmosh, X Copy does not require multiple DVD's to my knowledge. My copies were simple duplicates of that which I copied.
Zixar, you are right, they were required to take out the part of the software that allows you to encode, rip or whatever the correct term is.
They still sell DVD X Copy but it can not do what it did before as of the last week or so. Best Buy even took the old versions off their shelf. And I do believe this was worldwide, not just in Australia.
The task can still be accomplished as you described, however, though not as easy as DVD X Copy.
I don't think the movie industry needs to worry too much. DVD's are cheap enough to buy at places like Sam's. And you get the case, all the art and print outs and info that comes with the DVD as well as artwork stamped on the DVD itself. I don't know about your area but my Blockbuster is still very crowded.
But no doubt, this technology will have some effect on the rental industry and movie industry.
No MisterPmosh, X Copy does not require multiple DVD's to my knowledge. My copies were simple duplicates of that which I copied.
Perhaps you have a better DVD burner than I do. Most movies have to be put on two DVDs because they are dual layer, while my burner is single layer. I didn't even know you could buy dual layer DVD burners now. What brand do you have?
"Perhaps you have a better DVD burner than I do. Most movies have to be put on two DVDs because they are dual layer, while my burner is single layer. I didn't even know you could buy dual layer DVD burners now. What brand do you have?"
I'm not speaking authoritatively here, but my understanding is that the video on studio-released DVD's is close to HDTV quality. This quality is pretty much overkill for a standard NTSC television so X-copy downsamples the data to match the resolution of your set. This frees up enough room to fit both layers on a single-sided target disk.
I'm not speaking authoritatively here, but my understanding is that the video on studio-released DVD's is close to HDTV quality. This quality is pretty much overkill for a standard NTSC television so X-copy downsamples the data to match the resolution of your set. This frees up enough room to fit both layers on a single-sided target disk.
I think it must be due to the fact that I downloaded mine over a year ago, so perhaps I have an older version.
DVDs are in MPEG-2 resolution, which is 720x576. A standard VHS tape is only about 320x240 resolution.
You can tell a difference between the two if you put them side-by-side. I'm now so used to the higher resolution, even on a standard TV, that watching old tapes is kind of annoying now, like watching a program in black and white.
That's also why I love MiniDV camcorders so much. They shoot 720x480, but without nearly so much compression as MPEG-2. You can digitally edit the footage, then downsample from DV to MPEG-2 and your home movies (can) look every bit as good as professional DVDs!
I just bought a Panasonic DVD Recorder that was on sale for $479.00, regularly $539.00. I heard somewhere that by the end of the year, these things might be had for around $200.00. I also can tape all the movies I want from my cable company thru their premium service of online movies. It costs a little more per month but I think it's worth the extra expense.
P-Mosh: You want FireWire throughput, an external microphone jack, and s-video throughput. 3-chip recorders are the best, but there are some nice sub-$1000 1-chip models out there.
Where you don't want to skimp is the editing software. Get a hold of Vegas 4 + DVD Architect. I like it better than Adobe Premiere 6.5.
There is a great little program out there called DVD Shrink that lets you edit the DVD to fit it onto a single DVD-R. You can remove the different language versions, subtitles, etc and then recomplie it to fit. You then use your DVD burning software (I user NERO) to burn it to a DVD.
John: How long has it taken? If it's only taking about 20 minutes, then you lucked out on short movies. If it's taking a couple of hours, your software is downgrading the image to fit.
I downloaded dvdshrink a couple of days ago. The tech where I work says that he thinks it is easier to use than dvdxcopy, works more smoothly, gives you more options, & produces a better product than dvdxcopy. I haven't tried it yet.
I tried DVDShrink on Disc 1 of LOTR: Two Towers Extended, and it only took about an hour to downsample, including a DVD burn at 2x. The picture was a bit softer than the original, but unless you were specifically looking for it, you'd probably never notice.
It takes a long time because it apparently copies it to the hard drive first. I also saw something about compression. I think the files are being compressed so that they fit on to one disc. The burning process does not take very long.
Two step process according to the simple menu.
Step 1 says "copying files". No activity on the burner but lots of hard drive and processing power going on. Takes a long time.
Step 2 says: Writing files to disc. That's when the burn is taking place and it does not take very long. This burner claims 8x speed but I doubt the discs handle that speed at this point.
Quality of original vs copy? Not sure but the one I watched so far seemed as good as the original. If the quality sucks very much I will let you know. We'll test it on a good player on 50" HDTV as see if there are differences.
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Zixar
Because the hardware does not circumvent the CSS encryption on DVDs like the software does.
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igotout
Then why don't they sue Roxio for making software that burns perfect copies of CD's? Music CD's cost about as much as a DVD movie.
http://roxio.com/adban/creator_6_microsite/index.jhtml
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Mister P-Mosh
I don't believe in IP (intellectual property) as a real thing, although I do see the benefit of helping nurture ideas to make money for individuals and keep the incentive to create new things.
However, we've gone so far away and made IP equivalent to real property, and further. With that being said, I have no problem with pirating anything. I prefer to use free software to avoid any legal problems there, and I purchase or rent movies (I don't like that DVDXCopy makes you record onto multiple discs), I download music (mostly non-popular public domain stuff anyway), and I have traded copies of video games with friends rather than buying them.
I've had a longstanding feud with the motion picture industry and they've used words that I've said in the past against 2600 (a hacker magazine) in court, which really ....ed me off. The music industry is the same way. When Jack Valenti and Hillary Rosen finally kick the bucket, the Earth will sigh in relief after being polluted by those scumbags.
For a while, I refused to go to movies or buy DVDs, but then when I got married my wife wanted it enough that I had to trade in my ban for her happiness, and since she means more to me than my problems with the MPAA, I had to suck it up. However, anything I can do to cause problems for them within the confines of the law I will do. For those that read the political forums and know my opinion of Bush, I hate Jack Valenti more, because the MPAA made it personal for me.
Anyway, ummm...yeah, I copy stuff. If you have a Playstation 2 I can also tell you that it works well for making backup copies of games, but you have to have a modchip in your PS2 (easier to install than a hard drive.)
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Mister P-Mosh
The RIAA is in charge of music, and I don't think Roxio will make a copy of a broken CD (copy protected.) They mainly are going after music downloaders now, as normal bootleggers haven't been that much of an interest to them.
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Jim
Close, but no cigar.
The difference is that there is positive copy protection technology in DVD's and not in CD's
Ever since the DMCA it's been illegal to circumvent copy protection technology. The technology doesn't exist in the Red Book specifications for audio CD's hence it is not illegal, in itself, to copy them. Note that the content is still protected by copyright.
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GarthP2000
John,
I went to 321's site and looks like they are still advertising their DVD copying software. Could it still be ordered through their site or not?
My own secret sign-off ====v,
Rational logic cannot have blind faith as one of its foundations.
Prophet Emeritus of THE,
and Wandering CyberUU Hippie,
Garth P.
www.gapstudioweb.com
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Zixar
I think the 321 lawsuit was in Australia, not here. And all the ruling requires is that the CSS-removal portion (the encryption bypass) be removed. So, if you're Down Under and want to rip a DVD, you have to first get one of the "pirate" decrypters like DeCSS or DVDDecrypter, run the disc through that first to strip the CSS, then take the resulting file and burn it to your DVD.
I think it also stripped out the Macrovision signal-degrader so now you can copy a DVDXcopied DVD onto VHS tape.
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igotout
No MisterPmosh, X Copy does not require multiple DVD's to my knowledge. My copies were simple duplicates of that which I copied.
Zixar, you are right, they were required to take out the part of the software that allows you to encode, rip or whatever the correct term is.
They still sell DVD X Copy but it can not do what it did before as of the last week or so. Best Buy even took the old versions off their shelf. And I do believe this was worldwide, not just in Australia.
The task can still be accomplished as you described, however, though not as easy as DVD X Copy.
I don't think the movie industry needs to worry too much. DVD's are cheap enough to buy at places like Sam's. And you get the case, all the art and print outs and info that comes with the DVD as well as artwork stamped on the DVD itself. I don't know about your area but my Blockbuster is still very crowded.
But no doubt, this technology will have some effect on the rental industry and movie industry.
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Mister P-Mosh
Perhaps you have a better DVD burner than I do. Most movies have to be put on two DVDs because they are dual layer, while my burner is single layer. I didn't even know you could buy dual layer DVD burners now. What brand do you have?
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Zixar
Some movies will fit on a single DVD-R, but most require at least 2, even if you strip out all the extras.
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Jim
"Perhaps you have a better DVD burner than I do. Most movies have to be put on two DVDs because they are dual layer, while my burner is single layer. I didn't even know you could buy dual layer DVD burners now. What brand do you have?"
I'm not speaking authoritatively here, but my understanding is that the video on studio-released DVD's is close to HDTV quality. This quality is pretty much overkill for a standard NTSC television so X-copy downsamples the data to match the resolution of your set. This frees up enough room to fit both layers on a single-sided target disk.
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Mister P-Mosh
I think it must be due to the fact that I downloaded mine over a year ago, so perhaps I have an older version.
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Zixar
In some cases, you can fit a movie onto a plain old CD, if you downsample all the way down to MPEG-1 quality.
But blank DVDs are cheap nowadays, so splitting a movie across two is no big deal.
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Zixar
DVDs are in MPEG-2 resolution, which is 720x576. A standard VHS tape is only about 320x240 resolution.
You can tell a difference between the two if you put them side-by-side. I'm now so used to the higher resolution, even on a standard TV, that watching old tapes is kind of annoying now, like watching a program in black and white.
That's also why I love MiniDV camcorders so much. They shoot 720x480, but without nearly so much compression as MPEG-2. You can digitally edit the footage, then downsample from DV to MPEG-2 and your home movies (can) look every bit as good as professional DVDs!
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Mister P-Mosh
I'm probably going to buy a MiniDV recorder by this summer. Are there any suggestions on what to look for? I've not dealt with stuff like that before.
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oldiesman
I just bought a Panasonic DVD Recorder that was on sale for $479.00, regularly $539.00. I heard somewhere that by the end of the year, these things might be had for around $200.00. I also can tape all the movies I want from my cable company thru their premium service of online movies. It costs a little more per month but I think it's worth the extra expense.
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Zixar
P-Mosh: You want FireWire throughput, an external microphone jack, and s-video throughput. 3-chip recorders are the best, but there are some nice sub-$1000 1-chip models out there.
Where you don't want to skimp is the editing software. Get a hold of Vegas 4 + DVD Architect. I like it better than Adobe Premiere 6.5.
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Andy
There is a great little program out there called DVD Shrink that lets you edit the DVD to fit it onto a single DVD-R. You can remove the different language versions, subtitles, etc and then recomplie it to fit. You then use your DVD burning software (I user NERO) to burn it to a DVD.
The address is http://www.dvdshrink.org
It's totally free, and it's pretty small.
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igotout
Hmm. Not sure what I am doing right but I have copied 4 movies so far, each on one disc. I even watched one movie to the end.
I am using Memorex DVD+ R. They are 4.7GB 120 minute video, 4x. Couple dollars each I think.
Maybe its this awesome software. Not real sure.
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Zixar
John: How long has it taken? If it's only taking about 20 minutes, then you lucked out on short movies. If it's taking a couple of hours, your software is downgrading the image to fit.
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Tom
Andy,
I downloaded dvdshrink a couple of days ago. The tech where I work says that he thinks it is easier to use than dvdxcopy, works more smoothly, gives you more options, & produces a better product than dvdxcopy. I haven't tried it yet.
Tom
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Tom
BTW, I purchased my dvdxcopy on ebay, & I just checked. Apparently, they are still selling them there.
Tom
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Zixar
I tried DVDShrink on Disc 1 of LOTR: Two Towers Extended, and it only took about an hour to downsample, including a DVD burn at 2x. The picture was a bit softer than the original, but unless you were specifically looking for it, you'd probably never notice.
Nice freeware. Thanks, Andy!
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igotout
It takes a long time because it apparently copies it to the hard drive first. I also saw something about compression. I think the files are being compressed so that they fit on to one disc. The burning process does not take very long.
Two step process according to the simple menu.
Step 1 says "copying files". No activity on the burner but lots of hard drive and processing power going on. Takes a long time.
Step 2 says: Writing files to disc. That's when the burn is taking place and it does not take very long. This burner claims 8x speed but I doubt the discs handle that speed at this point.
Quality of original vs copy? Not sure but the one I watched so far seemed as good as the original. If the quality sucks very much I will let you know. We'll test it on a good player on 50" HDTV as see if there are differences.
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