25-May-07 18:20:28
Do you hear that sound? That's thousands of nerds cheering loudly, then coughing uncontrollably, then reaching for their inhalers thanks to a court ruling in Finland that rules CSS protection for DVDs ineffective. Why does this matter? Because under Finnish law, cracking DRM is only legal when it's "effective", and CSS has become so ineffective that it's no longer illegal.
According to the court, CSS (the DRM on DVDs) no longer achieves its protection objective. The court relied on two expert witnesses and said that "since a Norwegian hacker succeeded in circumventing CSS protection used in DVDs in 1999, end-users have been able to get with ease tens of similar circumventing software from the Internet even free of charge. Some operating systems come with this kind of software pre-installed." Thus, the court concluded that "CSS protection can no longer be held "effective" as defined in law." How long before HD DVD and Blu-ray discs get to this point? A year? Two years? M...
According to the court, CSS (the DRM on DVDs) no longer achieves its protection objective. The court relied on two expert witnesses and said that "since a Norwegian hacker succeeded in circumventing CSS protection used in DVDs in 1999, end-users have been able to get with ease tens of similar circumventing software from the Internet even free of charge. Some operating systems come with this kind of software pre-installed." Thus, the court concluded that "CSS protection can no longer be held "effective" as defined in law." How long before HD DVD and Blu-ray discs get to this point? A year? Two years? M...
Source: Gizmodo
25-May-07 16:27:03
The Sapphire HD 2600 XT Ultimate Edition isn't the first liquid-cooled graphics card in the world, but it may be uniquely suited for home theater use because of its silent operation and multichannel 5.1 audio ports on board. Sure, other companies such as Asus and BFG with their NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTX water-cooled cards came first with this quiet cooling idea, but Sapphire takes it a step further. How can a lowly graphics card make a difference in a home theater, anyway?
Most of the time, the fan on the graphics card is the loudest noisemaker inside a PC case, so when you eliminate that fan and remove the heat from that fiery ATI HD 2600 XT processor with cool, cool water, it not only cools off the card and lowers the noise level, it reduces heat all over the inside of the case as well, so you don't need such noisy fans elsewhere in there. In a home theater, a bunch of loud fan noise is the last thing you want to have competing with the quiet scenes in your movies and TV sh...
Most of the time, the fan on the graphics card is the loudest noisemaker inside a PC case, so when you eliminate that fan and remove the heat from that fiery ATI HD 2600 XT processor with cool, cool water, it not only cools off the card and lowers the noise level, it reduces heat all over the inside of the case as well, so you don't need such noisy fans elsewhere in there. In a home theater, a bunch of loud fan noise is the last thing you want to have competing with the quiet scenes in your movies and TV sh...
Source: Gizmodo
25-May-07 13:12:00
Filed under: HDTV, Home Entertainment
As if Sony's legal team hasn't dealt with enough this year already, they're getting dialed up yet again for alleged patent infringement, and this time the California-based Target Technology Company is the one pointing the finger. Apparently, the firm is suing several segments of Sony for "deliberately and willfully" infringing on a patent that Target was granted in 2006. The plaintiff claims that products "marketed under the Blu-ray name infringed on a patent for reflective layer materials in optical discs," and more explicitly, "specific types of silver-based alloys with the advantages (but not the price) of gold." The suit was actually filed as an "intellectual property" matter rather than one of chemical imbalances, and while Target Technology is purportedly seeking a "permanent injunction preventing Sony from violating its patent rights in the future, as well as damages with interest," we won't be surprised if a sizable check from Sony's wa...
As if Sony's legal team hasn't dealt with enough this year already, they're getting dialed up yet again for alleged patent infringement, and this time the California-based Target Technology Company is the one pointing the finger. Apparently, the firm is suing several segments of Sony for "deliberately and willfully" infringing on a patent that Target was granted in 2006. The plaintiff claims that products "marketed under the Blu-ray name infringed on a patent for reflective layer materials in optical discs," and more explicitly, "specific types of silver-based alloys with the advantages (but not the price) of gold." The suit was actually filed as an "intellectual property" matter rather than one of chemical imbalances, and while Target Technology is purportedly seeking a "permanent injunction preventing Sony from violating its patent rights in the future, as well as damages with interest," we won't be surprised if a sizable check from Sony's wa...
Source: Engadget
24-May-07 17:30:00
Movie studios and film companies are reportedly supporting a licensing agreement that's in the final stages of completion, and it might just let you legally copy HD DVDs and Blu-ray discs. This could be a crack in the armor, a compromise for the mess that is digital rights management (DRM). What, did hell freeze over?
Michael Ayers, speaking for the AACS (Advanced Access Content System) licensing group, said Hollywood film studios and content owners may allow buyers of HD DVD and Blu-ray discs to make one backup copy of each disc, and one digital copy to reside on a home media server. Studios may charge more for these Managed Copy privileges, and will be able to dictate just how many copies you make of your movies you bought.
This is a step in the right direction. After all, DRM can go beyond an all-or-nothing equation. If the studios would simply let people make enough copies so they can use their paid-for media on whatever hardware they own, the problem of oppres...
Michael Ayers, speaking for the AACS (Advanced Access Content System) licensing group, said Hollywood film studios and content owners may allow buyers of HD DVD and Blu-ray discs to make one backup copy of each disc, and one digital copy to reside on a home media server. Studios may charge more for these Managed Copy privileges, and will be able to dictate just how many copies you make of your movies you bought.
This is a step in the right direction. After all, DRM can go beyond an all-or-nothing equation. If the studios would simply let people make enough copies so they can use their paid-for media on whatever hardware they own, the problem of oppres...
Source: Gizmodo
24-May-07 17:03:00
Filed under: HDTV, Home Entertainment
Remember managed copy? Aw c'mon, it hasn't been that long! Managed copy is / was the answer to people's desire to do totally reasonable things like rip their movies to a portable device, or to a central home server for streaming around the house. Basically the provision in AACS DRM allows users to legally rip however many copies the studio specifies, but those legal rips will still be heavily encased in dark, slippery DRM-goo. You know, just in case you should have friends over with a laptop and sticky fingers. Well, Blu-ray and HD DVD have long since landed, seemingly without any plans for managed copy; shocker, the studios didn't take advantage of the provision. But seeing as how AACS is crackable by a single, simple hex key, the high def DRM obviously wasn't able to cut the mustard in keeping users from doing with their content what they please. The AACS LA's solution? Let them eat cake. The DRM-maker's new plan to distract people from the f...
Remember managed copy? Aw c'mon, it hasn't been that long! Managed copy is / was the answer to people's desire to do totally reasonable things like rip their movies to a portable device, or to a central home server for streaming around the house. Basically the provision in AACS DRM allows users to legally rip however many copies the studio specifies, but those legal rips will still be heavily encased in dark, slippery DRM-goo. You know, just in case you should have friends over with a laptop and sticky fingers. Well, Blu-ray and HD DVD have long since landed, seemingly without any plans for managed copy; shocker, the studios didn't take advantage of the provision. But seeing as how AACS is crackable by a single, simple hex key, the high def DRM obviously wasn't able to cut the mustard in keeping users from doing with their content what they please. The AACS LA's solution? Let them eat cake. The DRM-maker's new plan to distract people from the f...
Source: Engadget
24-May-07 00:33:00
Filed under: Storage
Those of you itching to take arms in the epic struggle for Blu-ray glory have a few more options today, as both Buffalo and Optiarc announced that they're shipping their second generation of BD drives. The Buffalo units (pictured) use the Pioneer BDC-202 mechanism we've seen popping up lately, so while they can't author Blu-ray discs, they'll read BD-ROM, BD-R and BD-RE discs at 5x, dual-layer recordable Blu-ray discs at 2x and write to the various CD and DVD formats at 1-32x. The ¥53,000 ($436) BRC-5125U2 is the internal model, while the ¥63,700 ($525) BRC-5125FBS-BK comes in a monolith-looking USB 2.0 external case. Both prices seem a bit high to us, since you'll be able to score the exact same drive labeled as the Pioneer BDC-2202 for like $300 next month, but maybe all that CyberLink software Buffalo bundles is worth the extra coin to you -- after all, it's not like Vista supports Blu-ray out of the box.
On the other hand, if your...
Those of you itching to take arms in the epic struggle for Blu-ray glory have a few more options today, as both Buffalo and Optiarc announced that they're shipping their second generation of BD drives. The Buffalo units (pictured) use the Pioneer BDC-202 mechanism we've seen popping up lately, so while they can't author Blu-ray discs, they'll read BD-ROM, BD-R and BD-RE discs at 5x, dual-layer recordable Blu-ray discs at 2x and write to the various CD and DVD formats at 1-32x. The ¥53,000 ($436) BRC-5125U2 is the internal model, while the ¥63,700 ($525) BRC-5125FBS-BK comes in a monolith-looking USB 2.0 external case. Both prices seem a bit high to us, since you'll be able to score the exact same drive labeled as the Pioneer BDC-2202 for like $300 next month, but maybe all that CyberLink software Buffalo bundles is worth the extra coin to you -- after all, it's not like Vista supports Blu-ray out of the box.
On the other hand, if your...
Source: Engadget
23-May-07 05:00:00
Three weeks after sparking an internet user rebellion, the processing key used to encrypt HD DVD and Blu-ray discs is now obsolete -- and the replacement key has been cracked, too.
Source: Wired
22-May-07 21:54:00
Filed under: Storage
In great news for torrent freaks worldwide, Taiwanese optical disc giant Ritek has announced its accreditation to manufacture rewritable versions of both HD DVD and Blu-ray discs, meaning that pricing on the still-rare media should begin to drop once production ramps up in the third quarter. According to a company spokesperson, archiving all those TV shows and movies onto 20GB HD DVD-RE and 25GB BD-RE discs will set you back around $10-per-platter, though you are getting either quadruple or quintuple the capacity, respectively, of a regular DVD-RW. No matter, we'll be tossing these things around like cheap CD's in no time anyway.
[Via Gadget Lab]
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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!
In great news for torrent freaks worldwide, Taiwanese optical disc giant Ritek has announced its accreditation to manufacture rewritable versions of both HD DVD and Blu-ray discs, meaning that pricing on the still-rare media should begin to drop once production ramps up in the third quarter. According to a company spokesperson, archiving all those TV shows and movies onto 20GB HD DVD-RE and 25GB BD-RE discs will set you back around $10-per-platter, though you are getting either quadruple or quintuple the capacity, respectively, of a regular DVD-RW. No matter, we'll be tossing these things around like cheap CD's in no time anyway.
[Via Gadget Lab]
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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!
Source: Engadget
22-May-07 20:16:22
It's a good thing Dell's new XPS 720 H2C has some serious cooling going on 'cause otherwise this thing would explode. Not only does it come with an overclocked CPU (up to a 3.73GHz QX6800), but it also has overclocked memory modules and a dual 8800 GTX set up. It's essentially a big brother to the XPS 710 we saw back at CES. Pricing starts at $5,999. Full specs after the jump.
· Intel Core 2 Extreme quad-core processor QX6700 at 2.66GHz (factory overclocked1 to 3.46GHz) combined with nVIDIA nForce 680i SLi MCP
· Dell H2C thermo-electric/liquid cooling system
· 2GB 800MHz Corsair DOMINATOR DDR2 memory featuring EPP (factory overclocked1 to 1066MHz)
· SLI-enabled dual 768MB nVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTX graphics cards
· Dual 160GB SATA 3GB/s 10,000RPM hard drives that support RAID 0, 1, 0+1 and 54
· 2X Blu-ray disc drive
· Sound Blaster™ X-Fi™ XtremeMusic (D)** sound card
· 24-inch UltraSharp™ 2407FPW widescreen digital displ...
· Intel Core 2 Extreme quad-core processor QX6700 at 2.66GHz (factory overclocked1 to 3.46GHz) combined with nVIDIA nForce 680i SLi MCP
· Dell H2C thermo-electric/liquid cooling system
· 2GB 800MHz Corsair DOMINATOR DDR2 memory featuring EPP (factory overclocked1 to 1066MHz)
· SLI-enabled dual 768MB nVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTX graphics cards
· Dual 160GB SATA 3GB/s 10,000RPM hard drives that support RAID 0, 1, 0+1 and 54
· 2X Blu-ray disc drive
· Sound Blaster™ X-Fi™ XtremeMusic (D)** sound card
· 24-inch UltraSharp™ 2407FPW widescreen digital displ...
Source: Gizmodo
22-May-07 18:11:00
Filed under: Desktops, Gaming
We already knew it was coming and knew what it'd look like, but we've now got the official word from Dell on its new high-end XPS 720 H2C Edition, which is sure to delight those with big pocketbooks and a penchant for slanted boxes. Boasting a starting price in the neighborhood of $6,000, this mammoth rig comes equipped with your choice of factory overclocked QX6700 or QX6800 Core 2 Extreme processors, dual GeForce 8800 GTX or GeForce 8800 Ultra graphics cards, a pair of 160GB SATA hard drives, some overclocked Corsair Dominator DDR2 memory, a Blu-ray drive, and, of course, Dell's trademark H2C thermo-electric/liquid cooling system. As of yet, there's no word on a non-H2C model. Those in the U.S. can get their orders in now, while those in Europe will have to wait a few more weeks.
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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!...
We already knew it was coming and knew what it'd look like, but we've now got the official word from Dell on its new high-end XPS 720 H2C Edition, which is sure to delight those with big pocketbooks and a penchant for slanted boxes. Boasting a starting price in the neighborhood of $6,000, this mammoth rig comes equipped with your choice of factory overclocked QX6700 or QX6800 Core 2 Extreme processors, dual GeForce 8800 GTX or GeForce 8800 Ultra graphics cards, a pair of 160GB SATA hard drives, some overclocked Corsair Dominator DDR2 memory, a Blu-ray drive, and, of course, Dell's trademark H2C thermo-electric/liquid cooling system. As of yet, there's no word on a non-H2C model. Those in the U.S. can get their orders in now, while those in Europe will have to wait a few more weeks.
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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!...
Source: Engadget
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