AfterDawn: Tech news

News archive (12 / 2002)

AfterDawn: News

Slow-downs in forums

Written by Jari Ketola @ 30 Dec 2002 12:00

We are experiencing some slow-downs and occasional errors in our discussion forums (http://forums.afterdawn.com and http://dvdxcopy.afterdawn.com). The problems seem to be network-related, and there's unfortunately little we can do about it. If you receive an Unix socket error message, you know you've hit the problem.

We're very sorry about the problems, and hope to remedy them as soon as possible.

AfterDawn.com staff

Edit: It seems the problems are behind us for now. Thank you for your patience.




AfterDawn: News

Mitsubishi introduces 4x DVD-R media

Written by Lasse Penttinen @ 30 Dec 2002 11:56

Mitsubishi Chemicals is on the edge with DVD-R technology. Now they are the first to introduce 4x speed media.

TOKYO, JAPAN (Dec. 25, 2002) -- Mitsubishi Chemical Media Co., Ltd., (MKM) today announced the launch of a new lineup of 4x DVD-R discs for video and data use. The new products will be available at selected retail outlets in Japan from early February 2003.

MKM spokesman and CIO Shigeru Tamura said, "Our new 4x DVD-R discs will offer superior compatibility, and most DVD-ROM drives, DVD players, and game computers should be able to use them. We think these discs will serve as excellent media for recording of video images and data backup. They can be used as library media, or they can act as media for distribution."
The new DVD-R discs are based on MKM's proprietary DYN-AZO technology, which produces recording layers with 5%greater power margin and 20% better recording sensitivity than current MKM 2x DVD-R discs. This assures stable yet faster recording, achieving the same accuracy as other discs get with 1-2x recording and boosting compatibility between discs and 4x high-speed writers. In addition, the company uses the precision molding technology it proved with production of high-speed CD-R and CD-RW discs to make sure the new DVD-R 4x discs are the ideal flat shape.

Read more...


AfterDawn: News

More about 16x DVD recording...

Written by Lasse Penttinen @ 28 Dec 2002 8:10

We already published a little news blurp about the laser optics suitable for 16x speed DVD recording, but now I just found a PCWorld article on the topic that gives one a lot more information.

Each bump in the speed of optical drives means the laser, which is used to create the light beam that burns data into the disc, has to be made more powerful. When DVD writers first came out, they required 50 milliwatt lasers. The jump to 2X speeds required a 70 milliwatt laser and, beyond today's 4X drives, the next generation of 8X drives will need a 140 milliwatt laser. Such products are already well on the way to being commercialized.

For users, the eventual arrival of 16X drives will bring big benefits. At that speed drives will be capable of writing data at 176 megabits per second (mbps) which means a complete 4.7GB DVD disc can be written in three and a half minutes, according to Mitsubishi. That compares with around 14 minutes for today's fastest 4X drives and almost an hour for a first-generation drive.

Samples of the new laser are expected to become available in June 2003. With the introduction of the new laser, Mitsubishi says it expects its monthly laser production to increase from the current 1 million to 1.5 million during 2003 and reach 2 million units in 2004.

Read more...


AfterDawn: News

Mitsubishi introduces laser for 16x DVD recording

Written by Lasse Penttinen @ 27 Dec 2002 7:32

The CDFreaks have posted a translation of a press release by Mitsubishi. According to the source, Mitsubishi has already scheduled the mass production of high speed 8x and 16x laser optics for DVD-R drives (or DVD+R).

According to AV Watch, Mitsubishi Electric announced the development of 200mW laser for 16x DVD±RW on December 24, sample shipment to start from June 2003 and mass production from 2004. The company has also plans for 140mW laser for 8x DVD±RW to start 1.5 million units of monthly production from April 2003.

CDFreaks.com




AfterDawn: News

Happy Holidays!

Written by Jari Ketola @ 24 Dec 2002 12:10

The AfterDawn staff will be taking a few days off, as I'm sure will most of you, our readers and visitors. So you won't be seeing too much updates in the next few days, but we will return! We always do.

Happy holidays, everyone!

The AfterDawn.com staff




AfterDawn: News

Last week's charts

Written by Jari Ketola @ 24 Dec 2002 12:01

Last week's charts Here are last weeks chart, without too much analysis. =)

Hot programs


1. SmartRipper v2.41
2. Streambox VCR v1.0 beta 3.1
3. XviD Codec (Koepi's 04102002 bin)
4. TMPGEnc v2.59.47.155
5. DVD2AVI v1.77.3
6. Nero burning ROM v5.5.10.0
7. DVD Decrypter v3.1.4.0
8. ForceASPI 1.7
9. Alcohol 120% v1.3.6.1223
10. VirtualDub v1.4.13

Hot MP3s


1. TY JORDAN, FEATURING MICHAEL JACKSON : "I HAVE THIS DREAM(PART1)"
2. Dj Quesito/Gettopoet : "BIN LADEN vs BUSH CLUB EDIT"
3. Aethyr : "Aethyr(Master)"
4. Dj Quesito/Gettopoet : "Bin Laden vs Bush Radio Edit"
5. Riku Avanto ja Spermaiset Nakit : "Äkkiä viinaa"
6. Loud Sound Disorder : "Eminem Diss"
7. Shane Dollier : "A-bomb"
8. Bryan Edman : "Always On My Mind"
9. Alliance : "Sleep With One Eye Open"
10. 230Volts : "Stringnova"

Top forum users


1. Dela
2. VCDjunkie
3. Wizkid
4. framerman
5. A_Klingon
6. riksworld
7. DextrsLab
8. Supleh2
9. nugz77
10. Easycola




AfterDawn: News

Search within audio files

Written by Jari Ketola @ 22 Dec 2002 1:38

Fast-Talk Communications is developing an interesting technology for searching text strings within audio files. Unlike audio search tools released so far, Fast-Talk's engine converts speech to phonemes, the basic units of sound in a language, and indexes them. A written search string is also converted to phonemes, then that string of phonemes is searched within the index, and the resulting timecodes are returned.

Fast-Talk offers an a trial evaluation kit of their engine. The company, however, is not looking to make a product for the end user, but instead offers the engine and the software development kit to companies willing to utilize the features in their own products.

Read this wonderful article on InfoWorld for a closer look at the technology.

Source:
Slashdot.org




AfterDawn: News

DVD visionary quits Warner Bros

Written by Jari Ketola @ 21 Dec 2002 1:34

DVD visionary quits Warner Bros Warren Lieberfarb, one of the the driving forces behind the DVD format, has quit Warner Brothers' home video arm. Warner Bros. did not comment on the reasons for Lieberfarb's resignation. He had worked for Warner Home Video for the past twenty years, and will now be replaced internally - most likely by Ed Burns, Marcia King, or Jim Cardwell, who were executive vice-presidents below Lieberfarb.

Lieberfarb began investigating alternatives for VHS in 1992, because he felt that the home video market would soon be made extinct by video-on-demand -services, which were both easier for the consumers and offered far better quality than VHS. As a response, Digital Versatile Disc (then Digital Video Disc, or DVD) was developed in co-operation with Toshiba Corporation.

First DVD players were commercially launched in March, 1997. The format has been a huge success, finding its way to homes all over the world faster than any other electrical appliance in the history.

Source:
CNN.com




AfterDawn: News

Studios seek to ban DVDXCopy

Written by Jari Ketola @ 20 Dec 2002 6:08

Studios seek to ban DVDXCopy On Thursday seven Hollywood studios filed a claim against 321 Studios saying that they are trafficking in illegal products - namely DVDXCopy. 321 Studios filed a suit against the studios in April and sought a ruling, that DVD Copy Plus was a legal product. The lawsuit was later amended to cover DVDXCopy as well.

The studios decided to file a counterclaim, because they feel that the situation is now different with DVDXCopy on the market. Initially they sought only to dismiss the case, but now they asked U.S. District Judge Susan Illston to forbid 321 Studios and its executives from making or selling either of the two software. In addition the studios asked to be awarded all the profits of 321 Studios and its the entire inventory of DVD Copy Plus and DVDXCopy.

DVDXCopy allows the consumers to make DVD-to-DVD copies. 321 Studios argues that DVDXCopy includes features, such as a disclaimer and individual watermarking, that deter pirates. DVDXCopy is intended strictly for creating backup copies of purchased DVDs for personal use, and it refuses to make backups of backups - it only works on original DVDs.

Read more about DVDXCopy at the official site or the official DVDXCopy support forum.

Read more...


AfterDawn: News

Problems with media players

Written by Jari Ketola @ 20 Dec 2002 4:58

Malicious MP3 or WMA files can compromise system security and allow remote code to be executed, security company Foundstone announced on Wednesday. Under Windows XP it is enough to just browse to the directory with the file or even browse to a malicious website. The file does not have to be opened for the code to be run.

There are also buffer overflow bugs in Winamp v2.81 and Winamp v3.0 in ID3v2 processing that makes it possible to create a malicious MP3 file which executes remote code..

A fix has been issued by Microsoft for the Windows XP vulnerability. Updated versions of Winamp v2.81 and Winamp v3.0 are also available.

Meanwhile RealNetworks has finally managed to issue a patch for their RealOne Player. The flaws were discovered already in November, and Real issued a patch for them late November. The patch, however, didn't do the trick, which forced Real to review the RealOne Player source code thoroughly. The now issued patch should finally fix the flaws.

Read more...


AfterDawn: News

Protect fair use

Written by Jari Ketola @ 18 Dec 2002 1:03

Protect fair use A site aimed to protect the consumers' right to fair use was launched yesterday at ProtectFairUse.org. The site provides information about fair use as well as easy means to contact your congressman, and let him or her know you value your rights as a consumer.

Visit Protect Fair Use at:
http://www.protectfairuse.org/




AfterDawn: News

Nero 5.5.10.0 is released, with MP4 audio

Written by Lasse Penttinen @ 18 Dec 2002 12:49

Yes, the much anticipated software release is out. There is no full change log released yet, but this version does include the new Nero AAC MP4 audio encoder/decoder.

We here at cd-rw.org & afterdawn.com have been preparing you for the MP4 audio:

Read the interview of Ivan Dimkovic, the author of Nero MP4 AAC
Check out screeshots of the Nero MP4 AAC encoder.
Download the latest Nero!




AfterDawn: News

Peer-to-peer video streaming

Written by Jari Ketola @ 18 Dec 2002 12:39

A Carnegie Mellon University research group has developed a peer to peer streaming video content distribution system called End System Multicast (ESM). The system constructs a self-organizing and adaptive overlay network using the receivers that are tuning into the broadcast events.

The group is currenlty looking for more users to test the system more thoroughly. Amongst the streams currently available are Triumph of the Nerds by Bob Cringely, distinguished lecture by Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google, ACM SIGCOMM conference paper presentation by Dave Clark, and 2002 Sony Legged Robot Soccer Championship.

The streaming is QuickTime-based. You can join the test and start viewing the streams at:
http://www-2.cs.cmu.edu/~ESM-streaming/

Source:
Slashdot.org




AfterDawn: News

CDRWIN sold? (again..)

Written by Lasse Penttinen @ 17 Dec 2002 2:51

Once again rumours appear about a sale of Goldenhawk CDRWIN. This time the source hints towards a Japanese buyer - a buyer interested in technology, not the CDRWIN brand. This sounds a bit odd though since CDRWIN's burning core is hardly the best available, or even modern by current standards. Why would anyone buy it?

Translated with Altavista Babelfish

Again it bubbles in the rumor kitchen around Goldenhawk's CDRWIN. From a quite reliable source the Goldenhawk was by a Japanese company bought is very probable to experiences. However it is to concern to the new owners more the technology of the software than around the preservation of the software "CDRWin's" - even Jeff Arnold is to have said good-bye to some contact people... The despite do not appear occasionally on the Website still new versions. To the more or less experienced user thereby however surely it will have been noticeable thereby always at new functions liking ELT. Does Goldenhawk stand now thus nevertheless endguelig before the FROM?

Burnarchive.de




AfterDawn: News

EUCD implementation delayed in most EU countries

Written by Petteri Pyyny @ 17 Dec 2002 1:36

The European Union Copyright Directive, EU's own little clone of notorious DMCA law, should be implemented by European Union member countries into their existing legislation by 22nd of December, 2002 -- this upcoming Sunday. But now it seems that none of the countries is ready to do so in schedule.

According to various sources, the only country who might be able to implement the required changes into its existing legislation is Denmark. Other countries seem to miss the deadline -- some of them, such as United Kingdom, badly.

The EUCD, once implemented, basically makes it illegal to sell or distribute any device or software that makes it possible to circumvent a technical copy-protection mechanism. Good example of such tool is DeCSS which allows circumventing the CSS copy-protection found on DVD-Video discs.

Each member country can have their own little alternatives of the law, but basically most of the countries seem to adapt the worst possible methods for implementation. Only handful of countries, including Finland where AfterDawn.com is located, have allowed the use of such tools in their draft laws-- even though distributing is still illegal. Finnish draft of the new copyright law makes a mentionable exception -- it states that DVD region codes are not considered as "effective technical copy-protection" and allows region-free DVD players and tools that circumvent the region coding.

Read more...


AfterDawn: News

DVD player sales grew 61% in 2002

Written by Petteri Pyyny @ 17 Dec 2002 11:19

DVD player sales grew 61% in 2002 According to a research concluded by In-Stat/MDR, the DVD player shipments grew by 61 percent in 2002 compared to the numbers in 2001. The growth was fuelled partly by super-cheap Chinese players and partly by increasing sales of DVD recorders.

According to numbers, the U.S. will remain the biggest market for DVD players until 2006 when China surpasses it and becomes the biggest single market in the world for DVDs. The growth rate in the European Union will surpass the rate in the U.S. through 2005.

Study also predicts that the prices of DVD recorders will drop under $300 (£187 or €300) by end of the year 2003. The sales growth of DVD players will stop in 2006 when all of the growth in the market is provided by the DVD recorders.

Source: InStat




AfterDawn: News

Closing arguments of Norway's DeCSS case

Written by Petteri Pyyny @ 16 Dec 2002 3:11

Closing arguments of Norway's DeCSS case The trial Norway vs Jon Johansen ended today with both sides delivering their closing arguments to the court. Prosecution is seeking $1,400 in court fees, three-month probation sentence and taking Johansen's computers away from him.

Johansen's attorney, Halvor Manshaus, said Johansen had to copy DVD movies to test the DeCSS software. Manshaus called copying a few bits of DVD data no different from copying parts of an encyclopedia for studying later.

Johansen said in his testimony that he owns almost 200 original DVDs, each costing appx. $35 in Norway and said that he has only used those movies that he owns to test the DeCSS software, that allows breaking the weak copy-protection found on DVD-Video discs, called CSS.

Manhaus also argued that the DVDs were copyprotected by technical methods, but not protected by Norwegian law. Johansen is accused of breaking into a computer system -- in this case, into a DVD that he owns.

The verdict in the case is expected in beginning of January, 2003.

Sources:

Aftenposten
Reuters/Yahoo!
Associated Press/Yahoo!




AfterDawn: News

KiSS is the first to deliver OGG Vorbis support in a DVD player.

Written by Lasse Penttinen @ 16 Dec 2002 1:12

According to this German source, the KiSS Technologies are the first to provide support for OGG Vorbis in a stand-alone home player. OGG Vorbis is an audio file format that is similar to MP3, but is totally free of patents or license fees. OGG also delivers possibly the best audio quality for low bitrates (<128kbps) in current audio formats.

Translated with dictionary.com

Of the MUSE kissed starting from Wednesday, 18 December, is to play the Kiss DP-450 also Ogg Vorbis Audiotitel - as first Hardwareplayer at all. Almost already secondary matter: With the updating the DVD player outputs also Pal pictures progressively. Advantage Denmark is called it, if it concerns the DVD player with the most supported video and audio formats. The Kiss DP-450 (500 euro, test in video 2/2003) (www.kiss technology.com) already in front away from the start with the support of the MPEG-4-basierten DivX 4 and 5 as well as Apple Quicktime 6 the nose had video codecs. Now the Danes put after: Starting from that 18. 12. 2002 are to be able to play the Kiss owing to new firmware (version 2.53) also audio data in the datareduced Vorbis format (www.vorbis.com) - as the first hardware playing device for this standard at all. Vorbis gemausert itself in shortest time for the favourite of audiophiler computer users: Differently than AAC, MP3, MP3pro or WMA the Vorbis Audiokompression is according to specification of its honorary developers license and patent-free - everyone may use her as desired. Since Ogg Vorbis besides with low as with high bit rates sounds clearly better than most contention modes, many music fan their own music collections even change over from MP3 to Ogg Vorbis.

Read more...


AfterDawn: News

Prosecution changes charges in DeCSS case -- in middle of the case

Written by Petteri Pyyny @ 14 Dec 2002 4:39

Prosecution changes charges in DeCSS case -- in middle of the case In very, very weird legal issue, the prosecution, representing the people of Norway, has presented amended charges against Jon Johansen in the case that's well-known as the "DeCSS case".

According to various Norwegian sources, the changes in the charges mostly add new aspects to the prosecution's case. Most notably, prosecution wanted to add charges that Johansen also cracked code that revealed a repository of protection keys.

At first, Johansen's defence opposed the changes, but because raising a formal objection would mean that the defence would also have to present fresh evidence against the new charges and that would delay the case, the defence counsel dropped the formal objections at this point.

The delays in the case, all of them caused by the prosecution, have pushed the case's closing arguments to be presented on next week's Monday instead of this week's Friday.

Source: Aftenposten




AfterDawn: News

DVDXCopy v1.3 released

Written by Petteri Pyyny @ 14 Dec 2002 3:38

DVDXCopy v1.3 released 321Studios just released the latest version of their DVD to DVD-R (as well as DVD+R, DVD-RW or DVD+RW) software, DVDXCopy.

New version, DVDXCopy v1.3 has couple of much-requested enhancements, most notably a fully-integrated burning engine of Ahead NERO. The changelog is here:


  • Full integration of the new, advanced burning engine
  • New low calorie download: The full installation of DVDXCopy is now just over three megabytes.
  • Advanced Options on the main screen lets you set Player compatibility mode to be either UDF/ISO or just UDF. Just UDF mode helps some players recognize DVD+RW discs as valid media (although UDF/ISO is the correct selection by DVD specs).
  • New "no questions asked" mode for users who have separate DVD writer and DVD-ROM drives. You can now put the output disk in your writer and the source disk in your reader and check the "Output disk is ready" box and once the first disc is processed, it will start burning it immediately to the blank disc in writer drive. After that, program will continue by processing the disc 2. Now the checkbox is unselected again, but you can switch the burned disc 1 to a new blank disc and check the box again while the software processes disc 2 and it will do the 2nd burning automatically as well.
  • DVDXCopy now remembers what drive was last used to burn, and will automatically attempt to use that drive again.

You can get the DVDXCopy from here.

Read more...


AfterDawn: News

TEAC joins the DVD-R/W club

Written by Lasse Penttinen @ 13 Dec 2002 1:44

TEAC is kind of an odd ball in the optical storage sector. It has been around for a long time, but it seems that it has never been a very popular brand. On the other hand it has always been one of the most respected CD-R manufacturers, up there with Yamaha and Plextor. TEAC also introduces their first DVD-R drive. And yes, TEAC also has chosen the "minus", which isn't a negative thing at all.(See our glossary for DVD+R)

With the new TEAC DV-W50E (4x DVD-R, 2x DVD-RW, 16x CD-R and 8x CD-RW), recording DVDs on
the PC is now quicker and easier than ever. TEAC brings the new burner to the market
together with the award-winning Studio software, version 8 from Pinnacle, which has
comprehensive video editing and enhanced publishing functions. Creating diapresentations
and holiday or company DVDs is consequently made significantly easier.

The TEAC DV-W50E burns DVD-Rs at 4x speed and DVD-RWs at 2x speed. CD-Rs are burnt at 16x
speed, CD-RWs at 8x speed. In addition to current CD and CD-R/RW formats, the recorder
supports DVD-ROM and DVD-Video (single + dual layer) as well as DVD-R and DVD-RW.
According to the producers, transfer rates of up to 5.54 MB/s are reached in the DVD-R
mode, 2.77 MB/s in DVD-RW mode, 2.4 MB/s in CD-R and 1.2 MB/s in the CD-RW mode. Access
times are 140 ms in the DVD-ROM mode and 130 ms with CD-ROMs.

Read more...


AfterDawn: News

Last week's charts

Written by Jari Ketola @ 12 Dec 2002 4:10

Last week's charts Whoopsie! Almost forgot to post last week's charts.

Not that there's too much to say, but hey - it's a tradition. On the software charts the only new entry is the ForceASPI, which managed to squeeze in at tenth.

Ty Jordan grabbed the nr. 1 position on the MP3 chart again, with Dj Quesito/Gettopoet grabbing the second and third. Loud Sound Disorder climbed all the way from ninth to fourth - quite nice!

Dela, again, was the top forum poster. Well done, mate!

Here are the charts:

Hot programs


1. SmartRipper v2.41
2. Streambox VCR v1.0 beta 3.1
3. XviD Codec (Koepi's 04102002 bin)
4. TMPGEnc v2.59.47.155
5. DVD2AVI v1.77.3
6. DVD Decrypter v3.1.4.0
7. VirtualDub v1.4.13
8. Alcohol 120% v1.3.5.1125
9. StreamBox VCR v1.0 beta 3.1 SMF+ Update v2
10. ForceASPI 1.7

Hot MP3s


1. TY JORDAN, FEATURING MICHAEL JACKSON : "I HAVE THIS DREAM(PART1)"
2. Dj Quesito/Gettopoet : "BIN LADEN vs BUSH CLUB EDIT"
3. Dj Quesito/Gettopoet : "Bin Laden vs Bush Radio Edit"
4. Loud Sound Disorder : "Eminem Diss"
5. georgex : "boys boys boys - sabrina remix"
6. 230Volts : "Chemical Chill"
7. MC-J81 : "SairaanKaunisMaailma"
8. Riku Avanto ja Spermaiset Nakit : "Äkkiä viinaa"
9. Blind Lesbians of Uganda : "Masturbating Is A Crime (Wankers Will Be Punished)"
10. Bryan Edman : "Always On My Mind"

Top forum users


1. Dela
2. jnihil
3. Wizkid
4. bang
5. bobby5411
6. VCDjunkie
7. Smartman1
8. TripleX
9. HomerJ
10. Biosgain




AfterDawn: News

DVD CCA's boss testifies in Johansen's case

Written by Petteri Pyyny @ 12 Dec 2002 3:21

DVD CCA's boss testifies in Johansen's case DVD CCA's (DVD Copy Control Association) president and COO, John Hoy, testified today in mockery of lawsuit that we know today as the case of Norway (government sponsored by MPAA) vs Jon Johansen. His testimony took the farce even further, since he was allowed to testify over the phone from the U.S. (mental note: if AfterDawn.com ever gets sued, I will make all my court appearances via email). He is one of the prosecutions main witnesses.

The case, which has history dating back from 1999, relates to a weak copy-protection mechanism found on DVD-Video discs called CSS and a program called DeCSS which allows users to crack this copy-protection. The prosecution claims that Jon Johansen has created this tool and has sued him for breaking into a third party data system, when he in fact has merely broken into a DVD-Video disc that he owns.

And as the DeCSS history tells us, Jon Johansen hasn't even cracked the code, he has merely bundled the original code into some other functional parts and created the package -- but he hasn't programmed the CSS cracking algorithms. And as the history tells us as well, the CSS was never actually cracked, but merely opened with codes

Read more...


AfterDawn: News

Nero MP4 AAC encoder preview

Written by Lasse Penttinen @ 12 Dec 2002 5:51

Nero MP4 AAC encoder preview I think we are the first to show you something about the much anticipated upcoming MP4 audio encoder.

It will be very interesting to see if this encoder has an effect on the audio scene. MP4 AAC is the commercial audio alternative for the future. Basically it has similar uses than the open-source OGG Vorbis. MP4 AAC will get a flying start with the user base of Nero, which is one of the most popular, if not the most popular, CD-R applications out there.

Thanks to our friends at the Ahead Software, we are able to show you a little sneek-a-peek about the upcoming MP4 audio encoder. It should be included in the next Nero release. No in depth reviewing or analysis here - just some pictures and introduction to some of the functions.

Nero MP4 AAC preview
Read Ivan Dimkovic interviewed, the author of Nero MP4 AAC encoder.




AfterDawn: News

QuickTime for cell phones in Japan

Written by Petteri Pyyny @ 11 Dec 2002 3:31

One of the world's biggest mobile phone operator's, Japan's NTT DoCoMo and Apple announced on this week series of 3G phones in Japan that use 3GPP, a mobile phone video standard based on MPEG-4. Apparently Apple's QuickTime core will act as a decoder in these phones.

While 3G hype has failed to materialize in most of the phone-crazed countries in the world -- Orange UK announced on last week that their 3G schedule will be delayed dramatically -- Japan seems to be pushing the technology ahead.

NTT DoCoMo will offer services that its customers can subscribe to such as watching news and sports clips in QuickTime. Customers can also watch movie trailers on their phone, find out where the movie is playing and then buy tickets. For Apple this is also an opportunity to make its QuickTime brand more widely known brand and get customers to associate it into multimedia content.

Source: Yahoo!




AfterDawn: News

MPAA sues group of eBay sellers over pirated DVDs

Written by Petteri Pyyny @ 11 Dec 2002 8:34

MPAA sues group of eBay sellers over pirated DVDs MPAA (Movie Picture Association of America) has sued several American eBay sellers for allegedly selling pirated DVDs through the auction site. Association claims that individuals, from eight different U.S. states, have sold totally over 1,000 pirated DVDs during the last 30 days.

Auction site eBay is not involved with the lawsuit, but according to its spokesperson, it is "delighted" that copyright owners have directly responded to illegal material sales in its service and have not dragged it into the process.

Most of the individuals named in the lawsuit have remained silent in the public, but some of them have come forward to the press and have claimed that they've been merely re-selling DVDs that they've purchased from so-called "eBay Power Sellers" that have claimed that their products are legal and official Asian releases of hit movies, not yet released in the States.

Source: OS Opinion




AfterDawn: News

Johansen denies charges

Written by Jari Ketola @ 09 Dec 2002 12:22

Johansen denies charges The DeCSS trial got underway today in Oslo, Norway. As anticipated Jon Johansen, or DVD Jon, like the Norwegians like to call him, pleeded not guilty to the charges on developing a software, that makes it possible to copy movies. Namely he is charged with helping to crack the CSS code, and develop and distribute a program taking advantage of the cracked code.

According to prosecutor Inger Marie Sunde, Johansen collaborated with people from Germany, Russia, Britain, the Netherlands, and the United States on making and publishing DeCSS in 1999 and 2000. At the time Johansen was 15 and 16 years old.

Even though it's true that Johansen took part in developing DeCSS, he had nothing at all to do with cracking the CSS code, which makes the already weak case against him even weaker.

Just to refresh our memory, here's a quote from a three-year-old article written by deZZY/DoD about DeCSS and cracking the CSS code.

Lately, Jon Johansen of MoRE has been pretty much all over the news in Norway, though he had NOTHING to do with the actual cracking of the DVD CSS protection. Yes, it was MoRE who did DeCSS, but the actual crack was not a team effort, MoRE didn't even exist back when the anonymous German (who is now a MoRE member) cracked it...

Read more...


AfterDawn: News

"DeCSS" Johansen goes to court

Written by Jari Ketola @ 06 Dec 2002 3:01

"DeCSS" Johansen goes to court Jon Lech Johansen, also known as 'DVD Jon', goes to court next week in Oslo, Norway.

Johansen co-authored DeCSS, the software which makes it possible to bypass the CSS copy-protection used on most DVD-Video discs. Norwegian prosecutors, the MPAA, and the DVD Copy Control Association claim that the software can contribute to illegal copying of DVDs. It's basically about consumer right versus the authors' rights to control the content of their product.

Professor Olav Torvund, a law professor at the University of Oslo, says that the case is weak. In his view all that Johansen did was broke into a product that he had bought and thus owned. It's like buying a car, picking it's lock, and then being sued by the car manufacturer. Torvund says that the industry is trying to shove the consumer rights aside by setting technical barriers on the product. Copying videos for personal use is perfectly legal in Norway, as it is in most countries around the world. All Johansen ever did was spread the information on how to open the DVDs using something else than an expensive DVD-player.

Source:
Aftenposten




AfterDawn: News

Webcaster bill passed by Bush

Written by Jari Ketola @ 06 Dec 2002 2:29

President George W. Bush yesterday passed bill HR.5469, aka the Small Webcasters Settlement Act. The bill, however, is very vague in serveral aspects.

There have been three drafts of the bill so far. The latest version, created by Senator Jesse Helms' office, doesn't specify any rates, but instead gives the parties involved, RIAA and the webcasters, until December 15 to reach a settlement. It is, however, unknown who actually will be taking part in the negotiations.

We'll know more in a week.

Source:
The Register




AfterDawn: News

BlindWrite author interviewed

Written by Lasse Penttinen @ 06 Dec 2002 12:23

Blue-Hardware has interviewed the author of BlindWrite Suite - one of the most advanced CD-R replication tools.

VSO-Software is a software editor specialized in burning softwares, it publishes in particular BlindWrite Suite and CopyToCD. The first is able to reproduce CDs (protected or not) : Audio CD, Data CD, etc... For its part, CopyToCD is a rather original software making it possible to back up quickly and easily data on CD by a right click mouse.

Perhaps you know these softwares, perhaps you even already used them, but do you know that "VSO-Software" is a team of French developers? In order to have more informations about VSO Software, about their actual software and the futures, we have realised an interview of Fabrice Meuwissen. I invite you to discover it. Follow the guide...


Download latest BlindWrite Suite
Read the interview




AfterDawn: News

Liquid Audio will dissolve

Written by Petteri Pyyny @ 06 Dec 2002 6:45

Liquid Audio will dissolve Liquid Audio, one of the online music pioneers, will disappear soon. Company's board of directors has voted to dissolve the company and return the remaining assets to company's shareholders.

Company has been known one of the first companies to develop legal methods of delivering and selling music online in digital format. Company sold its DRM technology to Microsoft earlier this year for $7M.

Source: News.com




AfterDawn: News

DVDXCopy v1.2.2 released

Written by Petteri Pyyny @ 06 Dec 2002 12:50

DVDXCopy v1.2.2 released 321Studios has been busy over the last couple of days fixing some of the issues found in DVDXCopy v1.2 and in the v1.2.1 patch released after that.

Now they've released a latest version which fixes various installation problems that might effect on other software items installed on the same system. Latest version is DVDXCopy v1.2.2.

More info: DVDXCopy




AfterDawn: News

Real to release Helix Producer on Monday

Written by Petteri Pyyny @ 05 Dec 2002 2:38

Real to release Helix Producer on Monday RealNetworks will continue on its chosen open-source path on Monday when it will release Helix Producer, a streaming media producer, and its source code on public.

Company shocked the streaming media world earlier this year first announcing its plans to release much of its propietary software under open source license and when it delivered the Helix media player software for community couple of months ago.

Source: News.com




AfterDawn: News

CDRInfo.com reviews: TEAC CD-W548E, CyberDrive CW099D, INcoder GH32U-A1

Written by Lasse Penttinen @ 05 Dec 2002 2:04

Today we post three new reviews. This time we examined the faster recorders from TEAC (CD-W548E), CyberDrive (CW099D) and a DVD/CD-RW combo drive from INcoder (GH32U-A1)...

- TEAC CD-W548E: At last, Teac decided to support the 48X recording speed with the CD-W548E. The previous CD-W540E series deserved our "Editors Choice Award" given for the widely media compatibility, the high recording speeds and the low seek times. In the CD-W548E series, TEAC moved from SANYO to MediaTek chipsets and we will try to examine the possible effects and changes in the drive's performance. As usual we compare the drive with competitor drives from ASUS, Plextor, CyberDrive and SONY.

-CyberDrive CW099D: CyberDrive enters the 52X recording market with the CW099D. The drive supports the CAV recording technology for the CD-R format and the P-CAV for the US-RW format, making the drive an attractive proposal for the end users who wish the top and faster available recorder. We have already tested three other 52X recorders from ASUS, AOpen and SONY and the comparison is expected at least be interesting.

-INcoder GH32U-A1: INcoder is a new company that aims to ship optical storage solutions for the portable users. External USB2.0 is the latest trend of the optical storage industry. Many manufacturers ship external drives, mostly based on the USB2.0 connection interface, since it offers increased portability among with easy installation. The GH32U-A1 supports both CD/DVD formats in one package.

Read more...


AfterDawn: News

Toshiba pushes the DVR/DVD-R storage capacity further

Written by Petteri Pyyny @ 04 Dec 2002 1:36

What we who live in Western countries consider to be the top-of-the-range in personal digital video, is getting pretty antique in Japan. Here in the UK Philips and others are pushing strongly stand-alone DVD-/+R/W recorders to the markets, but the devices are priced so that only early-adopters can afford them. Meanwhile in Japan, combined DVR (think of TiVo) and DVD-R devices are getting rapidly more popular.

Now, Toshiba has set a new storage capacity record for these type of devices, by releasing a 160GB DVR device that's combined with DVD-R/W recorder. Short blurp from their press release:

The RD-X3 offers home users a 160GB HDD, the largest drive of any HDD & DVD video recorder*1, capable of recording a maximum of 208 hours*2 *3 of programming. The recorder also supports a DVD-RAM/-R drive that can record up to 12 hours of video on a 9.4GB double-sided DVD-RAM disc.

A wide range of enhancement technologies supports superb image quality. A progressive scan video circuit delivers the impressive 540 horizontal line resolution that brings out the best of DVD images, while a Ghost Reduction Tuner (GRT) assures clearer, sharper picture reproduction. Other imaging technologies include Digital Noise Reduction (DNR), a 12bit 108MHz Video Digital to Analog Converter (DAC), and D1 terminal input that enables reception of high-quality images from other tuners.
Read more...


AfterDawn: News

German DVDs added to our "DVD-5 or DVD-9?" tool

Written by Petteri Pyyny @ 04 Dec 2002 8:19

Ok, we just added a possibility in our "DVD-5 or DVD-9" database to search for German Region 2 DVD releases as well.

Currently our tool includes almost 11,000 movie releases from R1/USA, R2/UK, R2/Germany and R4/Australia. We've also received over 400 user submissions to our database and hopefully this number will grow in the future as well.

Now, if people from countries not covered by our database at the moment, know good DVD stores or other similiar websites that include technical details of the DVD releases, please let us know. Having Japanese R2 releases in the database would be a very nice addition :-)

For those who don't know what the heck this is; our database contains lists of movies and tells whether the movie is in DVD-5 or DVD-9 format. DVD-5 discs can be copied directly to recordable DVD discs by using our guide, but DVD-9 discs have to be split to two separate discs or tweaked in order to fit them into one recordable DVD disc.

The tool is available at this URL:

Read more...


AfterDawn: News

Judge issues a temporary restraining order to Madster

Written by Petteri Pyyny @ 04 Dec 2002 2:48

Judge issues a temporary restraining order to Madster Chicago federal judge Marvin Aspen issued a temporary restraining order against P2P operator Madster, demanding company to shut down all of its servers that are connected to the Internet.

The order came after RIAA complained to the court that Madster (formerly known as Aimster) is violating court's earlier order to cease all illegal activity in its network. Judge said that Madster should shut down the service because it is still violating copyright owners' rights with its service. Judge also said that if the company doesn't do it by itself, judge will grant a permission for RIAA to ask Madster's ISP to shut down the service.

The case against Madster is not over yet, but the temporary restraining order will stay in place until the court makes its final decision on the case. Court scheduled a hearing on December 19th to discuss whether Madster's owner, Johnny Deep, should be held in contempt of the original song-blocking order.

Source: News.com




AfterDawn: News

New CDRInfo.com reviews: INcoder INC-TS24C-C1, MSI MS-8152 CD-ROM

Written by Lasse Penttinen @ 03 Dec 2002 7:03

Today we post two new reviews. This time we examine the INcoder TS24C-C1 external DVD/CD-RW slim line and the MSI MS-8152 CD-ROM drives...

-INcoder INC-TS24C-C1: The drive offers nothing less than its specifications state. Besides the very stylish and robust metal design, the drive comes in a complete retail package with all the essentials for easy usage, among with some extra goodies such as the foot-stands and a pad for horizontal operation. The metal material of the drive is there to reduce the noise & vibration during operation.. The drive also can operate in a vertical position, for saving space in the working environment of users.

-MSI MS-8152 CD-ROM: A CD-ROM drive is possibly not the best selling optical storage product, since the technology nowadays offers the essential reading feature in more complicated CD or DVD recorders or combo drives. However, there is a common though that the more complicated a device is the less accurate may be turned out, in specific areas, such as in the writing or reading accuracy. Can it be proven through testing? The MSI developed a new 52X CD-ROM drive, in order to fulfill our daily needs for accurate and fast reading for the CD format.

Read more...


AfterDawn: News

Judge delays his decision on FastTrack P2P case

Written by Petteri Pyyny @ 03 Dec 2002 2:50

Judge delays his decision on FastTrack P2P case In a surprise move, federal court Judge Stephen Wilson, delayed his decision on FastTrack P2P case where both parties -- RIAA and MPAA and two of the FastTrack P2P software vendors, Grokster and Streamcast (owner of the Morpheus) -- are seeking for summary judgment motions before the case goes to an actual trial.

The third FastTrack company, Sharman Networks, the owner of the Kazaa and the owner of the FastTrack technology, didn't attend to the court hearing, because the court still has to decide whether the U.S. court has jurisdiction over the company or not. Sharman Networks has headquarters at Australia, is incorporated in small island of Vanuatu and doesn't have any servers in the U.S. soil.

Basically in the hearing both parties referred to a famous P2P case of Napster -- copyright owners' lawyers stating that FastTrack operators are identical to that of Napster and "FastTrack companies" arguing that because they don't operate any central servers (unlike Napster did), the Napster ruling doesn't apply to them.

Judge basically stated after the hearing that he is not ready to issue summary judgments at this point and needed more time to determine if the case should go to trial or not. Also, he probably needs time to determine whether or not the Sharman Networks should be included to the case.

Read more...


AfterDawn: News

Last week's charts

Written by Jari Ketola @ 02 Dec 2002 2:20

Last week's charts Last week's charts shaped up in the following manner.

The XviD codec climbed from fourth to third, pushing TMPGEnc down one place. The SMF+ Update to StreamBox VCR forced DV-Tool out of top ten.

Dj Quesito's ongoing fight between Bin Laden and Bush stays firmly at number one on the MP3 chart. MC-J81 enters the chart with SairaanKaunisMaailma.

At our discussion forums Dela holds on to his number one spot, while HomerJ and Wizkid make impressive climbs to top three.

Here are the charts in full:

Hot programs


1. SmartRipper v2.41
2. Streambox VCR v1.0 beta 3.1
3. XviD Codec (Koepi's 04102002 bin)
4. TMPGEnc v2.59.47.155
5. DVD2AVI v1.77.3
6. DVD Decrypter v3.1.4.0
7. StreamBox VCR v1.0 beta 3.1 SMF+ Update
8. VirtualDub v1.4.13
9. Alcohol 120% v1.3.5.1125
10. Nero burning ROM v5.5.9.17.1

Hot MP3s


1. Dj Quesito/Gettopoet : "BIN LADEN vs BUSH CLUB EDIT"
2. TY JORDAN, FEATURING MICHAEL JACKSON : "I HAVE THIS DREAM(PART1)"
3. Dj Quesito/Gettopoet : "Bin Laden vs Bush Radio Edit"
4. 2CoXX : "Full Frontal Nudity"
5. georgex : "boys boys boys - sabrina remix"
6. Blind Lesbians of Uganda : "Masturbating Is A Crime (Wankers Will Be Punished)"
7. Bryan Edman : "Always On My Mind"
8. MC-J81 : "SairaanKaunisMaailma"
9. Loud Sound Disorder : "Eminem Diss"
10. Riku Avanto ja Spermaiset Nakit : "Äkkiä viinaa"

Top forum users


1. Dela
2. HomerJ
3. Wizkid
4. Biosgain
5. chrisw
6. CTC
7. DVDPlanet
8. A_Klingon
9. jnihil
10. malum

Read more...


AfterDawn: News

DivX player for PS2

Written by Petteri Pyyny @ 02 Dec 2002 1:52

According to a blurp at Slashdot, there's finally a working DivX player for Sony Playstation 2 available.

The player obviously requires a modchip in order to work correctly (otherwise you can't load "homebrew" software items) and according to the Spanish site that hosts the software, it is capable of playing all flavors of DivX (DivX3.11alpha, DivX4.x and DivX5.x).

More info:

Slashdot
PS2Reality




AfterDawn: News

New article: Interview of the man behind The Nero AAC Encoder

Written by Lasse Penttinen @ 02 Dec 2002 11:15

The CD-RW.ORG interviewed Ivan Dimkovic, the man responsible for the upcoming Ahead Software Nero AAC encoder.

As I write this Ahead Software, the makers of famous Nero Burning ROM, are about to release an AAC audio encoder as a add-on to Nero. The creator of this new AAC encoder is a well known character in the "Hi-Fi audio compression scene" due to his excellent PsyTEL AAC Encoder. We asked Ivan to tell the readers of this site about the nature and benfits of AAC.

Read the interview!




AfterDawn: News

DVDXCopy v1.2 released

Written by Petteri Pyyny @ 01 Dec 2002 3:13

DVDXCopy v1.2 released 321Studios released a new version of their popular DVD to DVD-/+R/W backup tool, DVDXCopy that allows 1:1 copies of DVD movies to be made on recordable DVD discs (DVD-9 discs will be split to two recordable DVDs).

New version adds various features, including highly anticipated official PAL support for European/Australian/etc customers, possibility to use Ahead's Nero as a burning application instead of the integrated GEAR burning engine, full chapter selection on how to split the discs, etc.

321Studios also announced a new affiliate marketing policy. From now on, they will dismiss all the affiliate commissions earned by affiliates who use spam or so-called "opt-out" lists. This has to be a good thing -- commercial DVD ripping spam emails are one of the biggest part of the daily spam amount I receive to my inbox.

Source: 321Studios





  Newer entries (2003 / 01) Older entries (2002 / 11)  

News archive