A BLOKE claims that Sony is back to its old tricks and has installed a new DRM system on its DVDs which do not work in some machines.
He called Sony who admitted that the problem was being caused by its new copy protection making these discs unplayable in some players including our own. Sony says that it does not not intend to change the copy protection.
They told him he would have to have a firmware update to his player. Unfortunately this has not been released yet. In fact they do not know when it will be released.
Obviously he is a bit miffed about spending $350 on a Sony DVD player three months ago which cannot play Sony movies. The player is still being flogged and makes no mention of this fact.
SN,
Yes, the best way you could have handled sdf’s post (which did sound like a blathering dimwit if you want my real opinion) is to delete it… rather than make yourself look worse by comparison by name calling and insulting his intelligence.
Now, as for tossing an insult or two my direction, sticks and stones… and all that… I’ll simply chalk it up to for some reason, you need to try and make yourself feel better by insulting those of questionable intelligence on the internet…. (questionable in your eyes… at least)
21. “Now, as for tossing an insult or two my direction, sticks and stones…”
Seriously, I meant it as a compliment when I said “you’re amazing” and that you watched a lot of Sesame Street! Seriously! The only show I love more than Sesame Street is Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood! Seriously.
“Yes, the best way you could have handled sdf’s post is to delete it…”
Yeah, I should have dumped it. But what’s done is done.
[edit: and SN wasn't the only one to consider that - but, I decided there's some use to including the pitiful]
Wow, what a bunch of stupid pointless comments…
Here it is, all simplified:
There isn’t a standard for ‘higher-def’ — there are two competing standards. There are also issues with millionaires not making enough money off of selling the same work over and over and over and over and over…
Welcome to the bleeding edge…
You bought too early. You bought too early. You bought too early (PS & BTW: notice the proper usage of ‘too’?)
Now, bleed. Bleed. Bleed.
They make the rules, or don’t, and you consume. Bleed. Sucks to be an “early adopter” — I’m not trying to get ahead of you, “Jones”… you just make my life more difficult by competing to see who can have the fancier TV, who can have the fancier playback device, who can have the spiffiest car.
Amerikano {moron} CONSUMERS just complicate life for the rest of us.
Ah Lauren (#20), somehow I knew we had a connection somewhere… My Denon DVD-5900 has been rock solid for three years!!!
#23, “Wow, what a bunch of stupid pointless comments… Here it is, all simplified: There isn’t a standard for ‘higher-def’ — there are two competing standards.”
Stupid comments? The story is about DVD. Not Bluray, not HD-DVD. Just plain old DVD.
“Now, bleed. Bleed. Bleed.”
As long as you read. Read. Read.
Preferably before your lovely simplification makes it clear you didn’t even read the article, and probably not even the excerpt.
Thanks to intelligent remarks on this blog . . . !
No more new Sony hardware in my house. My recent home theater upgrade, roughly 3k$, Samsung + Harmon Karden.
What I had before, bought in 1997, was a Sony Trinitron 32″, Sony DVD, Sony VHS, Sony Dolby surround. Speakers non-Sony (PSB).
My only Sony hardware left in my house currently is the aging Sony PS2. A far cry of ten years ago.
Looks like SN has got his panties in a wad again. Don’t bother arguing with him, as he always has to have the last word.
Pirate everything and if you want to take it somewhere use a USB stick, after you burn off that stupid U3, it’s probably got DRM slipped into it somehow or it will…
On the one hand they say trust us, buy our stuff and then every time we turn around they’re putting date rape drugs into our drink.
They deserve gnutella et al.
Haha way to go SN, cover up your own buffoonery, you misread his post and reacted wrongly and instead of admiting it you decided to attack. Must be those “leet” lawyering skills you possess. Either that or a bad attempt at creating controversy for it’s own sake.
[off topic]
When there is DRM all the way to the speakers (like M$ is trying to do with monitors) I’ll give up and just watch the sun set with a cold one and an old 8-track.
If you’ve never heard these speakers, I urge you to give ‘em a try.
http://www.bwspeakers.com/
#20 Lauren, I’ve got a Rotel that has served me well since 1996. Hope that Denon is still working well. Can you (or anyone posting here) recommend a PC card with audio-in that can convert A-D with precision? Thanks.
#9 (and indirectly #3) That was already invented. It happens with laserdiscs (where it was first observed, duh), cd’s & dvd’s. It’s called laser rot.
I started putting my LD collection into dvd’s just because of this. Not to mention lasers have a finite lifespan. Mechanics too.
We’re screwed anyway you look at it. The difference is that Sony just stopped pretending.
I get flamed when I say that I actually support the IDEA of DRM. My main complaint is that it sucks.
It seems to me that without some sort of DRM the authors of works will not get paid for their work. Do we – as a society — really want this?
I have lived in countries where there are no copyright laws (or not enforced) and the creative community is teeny. The whole culture is poorer for it.
hmm.. i highly doubt that without some sort of DRM the authors of works will not get paid for their said “works”.
plain and simple..
if it’s good. it’ll make money. without drm thanx
DRM? Just say NO!
#31. thing is, the vast majority of music sold (CDs) is un-DRMed. music sales are sliding, and no doubt some of that is due to piracy, but there is no sign that music as an artistic (or commercial) format is going to disappear.
my issue with DRM is practical, not ideological. it makes hassles for the people who have the DRMed media (ie the people who paid for it), while not doing anything to those who obtained it illegally (stripped of DRM on BitTorrent). not to mention that it puts the media companies in an arms race (vs millions of bright teenagers) that it cannot possibly win.
Why does this surprise anyone? This is rootkit Sony for crying out loud. If nothing else history should be your guide with Sony. If you still choose to buy anything Sony then you should be fully prepared for it to not work, you to be out money and Sony to have the law on its side. With these unfortunate facts it would be in the best interest of your money to forgo any purchases from the Sony Corporation. I avoid any and all Sony products if at all possible. In addition to CD’s, DVD, PSP, PS2 or 3 (I had a hard time with my son on some of these items) I also avoid batteries, phones, CD or floppy drives in fact anything Sony can or does make even re-branded for another manufacturer I steadfastly avoid purchasing. I avoid Sony because of bad business practices, unlike Enron’s and WorldCom poor business practices you have been warned with Sony time and time again so continuing to do business with Sony means your willing to accept the practices like them or not.
I haven’t bought anything Sony since they revealed their attitude toward their customers with the root kit fiasco. When a company is rotten at the core like that, spending money on them makes no sense. As SN pointed out (#13), Sony’s interests no longer align with those of its customers. Or erstwhile customers, like me.
#29 – Lauren – Thanks for the tip. Denon and Meridian. I need a new player and appreciate the info. You too, BubbaRay.
36 – Doug – I’ve seen a good argument that killing off the music communities centered around P2P in a time of homogenous corporate radio is what really sank CD sales. And now they (and their owned senators, like Diane Feinstein grrr) are killing off internet radio, the last remaining open non-fee music community. If that argument is right, CD sales will now slip even further. I haven’t bought an RIAA-member CD for a long time now and I’m not about to start, but if Folk Alley and a few other radio stations fail the way Sisyphus Tracks recently did, I will certainly miss them.
SN – sorry I came to this thread so late. Grouching aside, it’s quite interesting.
Just riffing here…
would people complain about DRM if the company GAVE AWAY the hardware — and a basic package of content — and then payed for it with advertising?
One thing I resent about DRM is that it violates my belief that I own the music and should be able to copy to my various players.
But if the hardware and content were FREE, then I wouldn’t resent so much being forced to listen to commercials or not making copies.
I imagine that a some sort broadband audio/video player would be pretty cheap to manufacture in mass quantities.
#30 – BubbaRay
“Can you (or anyone posting here) recommend a PC card with audio-in that can convert A-D with precision?”
Well, as Paul Rodriguez sez: “Could you be a little more vague?”
You didn’t say how precise – or how much… but I tell anyone who’ll listen that unless you simply must have the best (for ~10X the price, or more), then you can’t go wrong with one of M-Audio’s cards.
If stereo 24/96 in and 8 channels of 24/192 out covers your needs, then the Revolution 7.1 is the ticket. I find it gives up very little sonically to my FireWire MOTU D/A (which cost me 8X as much… I’d bet one or another of their cards’ll do what you need. I can’t tell you about how good their support is since I’ve never had to call ‘em.
BTW, I too worship at the altar of Bowers & Wilkins. One day, I’m going to retire my beloved all-KEF main system to another location and replace ‘em with B&W 800s powered by Krell HTS. But no time soon, the KEFs still transport me to musical paradise…
- – - – - – -
#37 – TJG
“Thanks for the tip. Denon and Meridian. I need a new player…”
Depending on what you’re willing to spend, even the entry-level Denon universal player DVD-1930CI is the most bang-for-buck of any player out there at ~$300 street price. But for under $700 you can step up to the 2930 – and it’s worth every penny. Above that, the price / performance ratio falls off rapidly…
As far as Meridians are concerned, don’t even look at ‘em before taking your heart meds first… their entry-level player is $4000; at the other end, their 808 Signature Reference CD player / preamp is ~$15,000 – but you can save big money on power amps by connecting them directly to Meridian’s own DSP7000 digital speakers, for a mere $27,500 additional…
My advice: unless you just hit the lottery, get a Denon.