Blu-ray Disk with Digital Copy Not Zune Friendly

Apparently the very public desire to have one's owned videos loaded on a portable media player is starting to pay off ... sorta.

I, personally, am an avid animated movie buff.

There are a number of animated movies that have come out of the leading studios over the last couple of decades that I can watch over and over again with the kids ... and yes, even twice in the same day of we are having a -30 degree Celsius "there is no way I am going outside" kinda day.

For those of us older birds who are/were into Trek, Heinlein, Floyd, Monty Python (Just a teensie wafer), Are You Being Served, Fawlty Towers, Heavy Metal, and others of their ilk, there is an inkling into the somewhat bent nature of our humour and imaginations.

What truly amazes me in a lot of the modern adult/child oriented animated movies are the implicit and explicit references to the various entertainment sources we were really into in our younger years.

A lot of the humour in movies like Wallace and Gromit Curse of the Were-Rabbit, or Robots, or Cars taps into so much history in the way of music, print, television and movies, and so much more. It can be a bit embarrassing to "get" a moment in the movie and laugh out loud while the theatre remains relatively silent around me. Talk about "dating" myself! ;)

We picked up a Blu-ray disk based movie for the kids to watch with the family since it was the first movie I took my 4 year old daughter Anne-Marie to last Fall.

The cover says "Digital Copy Special Edition" on it. The back of the case indicates that there is an actual Digital portable copy contained in the case to.

There is a caveat though: The file is DRM enabled. Whether through iTunes, or Windows DRM, there are restrictions on the file including a serial number that is required to unlock the "download to PC".

Reading through the fine print there is another caveat: The digital copy is not compatible with both Sony PSP and the Microsoft Zune. The file is Windows Media Video, so why it is not compatible must be to do with the DRM.

We certainly hope that the struggle over fair use rights is resolved with a win-win solution for both consumer and producer. It would end the pain points of failed DRM tactics such as rootkit installations, failed DRM on systems designed to play that content, device playback restrictions as is the case here, and so much more.

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists

*All Mac on SBS posts are posted on our in-house iMac via the Safari Web browser.

Vista and Blu-ray and the LG GGC-H20L Optical Drive needs updates

For the last Intel Channel Conference we paid for the afternoon desktop build session to work with Intel engineers on their new desktop technologies.

The system build was to be a Blu-ray and HD-DVD capable system. No OS was included in the session. We opted for Windows Vista Ultimate x64 SP1.

The configuration:

• Intel DG45FC Mini-ITX
• Intel Core 2 Duo Desktop Processor E8500
• 4GB Kingston 800MHz DDR2 RAM
• 320GB Seagate Momentus 7200.3
• LG Super Multi Blue GGC-H20L
• In-Win BM-639 Mini-ITX Case
• USB based wireless (don't have yet).

When it comes to the motherboard, we made sure to install and update all of the relevant drivers from the CD that came with it along with updates via Intel's Web site.

For the LG optical drive, we were not going to run with any of the software on the accompanying CD because the OEM version of software products tend to be missing some key component or other that we would subsequently be directed to the software manufacturer's Web site to purchase.

Since Windows Vista does not support Blu-ray out of the box, we needed to run with third party. We decided to check out the included OEM PowerDVD product which is version 7 after all. Of course, this is a special edition for the OEM packaged product while CyberLink's site shows version 8 as current.

One of the installation options on the LG CD was a utility to check for any firmware updates applicable to the LG optical drive. Given the newness of the technologies in the optical drive, checking for firmware updates was a good idea.

Sure enough, there was one to bring the new drive's firmware up to 1.03:

LG Optical Firmware

The download was somewhere around 6MB in size and a reboot was not requested once installed. Just in case, we rebooted the box.

The CyberLink PowerDVD product required an update to 7.3 that was about 103MB in size.

Once we had the two updates in place, we ran a Blu-ray of Kung-Fu Panda and it looked astounding on our 22" shop wide LCD. It will look even better when tied into a wide screen LCD television via HDMI which is built into this motherboard.

Note that PowerDVD version 8 does not support HD-DVD decoding: Does PowerDVD 8 support HD DVD playback? From the link:

After Toshiba made their announcement that it will no longer develop, manufacture and market HD DVD format discs and the fact that there will be limited new title releases in HD DVD format, CyberLink has decided to remove HD DVD support from PowerDVD 8. However, CyberLink will continue to support and maintain HD DVD movie playback in PowerDVD Ultra (version 7.3).

Now, after a bit of research as a result of the above, we came up with this gem from the We Got Served blog: How To: Play Blu-ray and HD DVD Movies from Vista Media Center.

The suggested products are a software player that integrates with MCE which PowerDVD also does not do:

• Blu-ray/DVD Archiving to Disk: SlySoft’s AnyDVD HD
• Blu-ray/HD-DVD Payer: ArcSoft’s TotalMedia Theatre

We will be purchasing the above software to round out our new home theatre PC.

And, at some point in the near future we will put together a Windows Home Server to sit beside our home SBS 2003 R2 Premium server! :)

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists

*All Mac on SBS posts are posted on our in-house iMac via the Safari Web browser.

HD-DVD vs. Blu-Ray HD - Voting by Wallet

For those of us old enough to remember some Sony related product format struggles and proprietary nonsense (wikipedia links):

• VHS vs. Beta
• DAT (Digital Audio Tape)
• MiniDisc
• Trinitron Monitors (never could get use to the lines)
• SACD (Sony) vs. DVD-Audio (Consortium)
• MultiMedia Compact Disk (MMCD - Sony) vs. Super Density disc (SD - Toshiba)

In the last example, Sony did capitulate to Toshiba with the requirement that one technology aspect of the MMCD be brought into the SD spec ... and the DVD was born in 1997.

Are we seeing a pattern here yet?

Is there going to be a time where Sony will play in the sandbox nicely with others?

Given the company's history, there is very little doubt that Johnny is always going to try to keep that toy to himself.

It is unfortunate, because we lose. All of us.

Instead of having a plethora of manufacturers producing the stand-alone HD players and optical drives for PC/Laptop, we have one manufacturer producing one type of product and others producing another type of product.

Then there is the whole rigmarole behind which movie studio will back which HD disc format.

Yikes!

So, after our home DVD player tanked, we decided to weigh in on the battle with our pocketbook. And, we chose HD DVD.

There are many sides to this story, with who believes which product is better and why we should support it. For the last couple of weeks or so, I made sure to ask every representative at the various electronic stores I visited as well as doing some online research to see which would be the best choice.

In the process, there have been some very clear answers with good information, and a few passionate ones with less information. All in all, things came out fairly balanced.

Blu-ray does seem to have a bit of a technology edge, but the biggest factor: economics - that is the wallet - will win and that is where I believe HD DVD will come out ahead.

It seems pretty clear that when an HD DVD player at $250CA and a Blu-ray player at $500CA sit close together on a shelf, people will purchase the HD DVD player.

Most people, as many have mentioned to me in person as well as online, just want to watch a movie and do not really care of one disc can hold more data or has a bit more protection from scratches.

For many of us who have been burned in Sony based format wars before, the decision is fairly clear: Anything but Sony.

Some good information links:

• Blu-ray vs. HD DVD: The Format Wars (A little dated but has some good info to start from)
• CNET's Quick gude: HD DVD vs. Blu-ray (A little dated but still being updated)
• The High Definition DVD FAQ (Good explanations of the tech and circumstances)
• Blue-ray Disc Site (Promotional Site)
• HD DVD - The Look and Sound of Perfect (Promotional Site)

After bringing home the HD DVD player and plugging it into the Acer AT3505-DTV (true 1080p) LCD we have hanging on the wall, Monique and I were blown away. The difference between standard definition and the high definition was readily apparent.

While the Acer is not a 120hz (wikipedia on HD Blur) capable, the image clarity and detail was simply amazing.

In the market for an LCD television? Some things to watch out for:

• 1920 x 1080 (not 1366 x 768) for true 1080P High Definition resolutions
• 5-8ms grey to grey
• 120hz capable for HD motion blur reduction
• HDMI 1.2+ (wikipedia)

Now, if only The Incredibles was available in HD DVD format! ;)

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists

*All Mac on SBS posts are posted on our in-house iMac via the Safari Web browser.