On Sundays I offer comments on some of the most interesting information technology stories that I have found on the web that week. Please feel free to join in the discussion or suggest stories during the week.
This week’s story is from PC World.com and it reports the current conflicting stories out of Microsoft on whether or not the XBox 360 platform is ever going to support Blu-Ray movies. You may remember, that Microsoft launched with HD-DVD support and was one of its staunched supporters. Since the demise of that format, XBox 360 has not had a native HD Movie format to play and instead relied on Netflix streaming to fulfill their pledge to be a multimedia movie platform. I am not so interested in this particular platform, but the macro-level issue at play: Controls on Digital Video Distribution. Give it a read here:
PCWorld.com – Xbox 360 Finally Getting Blu-ray Peripheral Support?
"Microsoft’s wouldn’t have to move the heavens and earth to shoehorn Blu-ray peripheral support into its Xbox 360 games console. There’d be the question of first- versus third-party peripheral licensing to deal with, of course, i.e. do you craft a generic driver for multiple third-party peripherals, or scoop up all the profits with a first-party "official product" lock? There’s the license fee to consider, i.e. paying the enemy to use its formerly competing technology (that’d be a bitter pill, to be sure). And then you have the playback software to consider: Would it fold into Microsoft’s existing media playback wrapper? Or land its own application?"
My big complaint and comment on this story is that I have just about had it with conflicting digital video formats and their anti-consumer effects. This is pretty simple. I want 1080p HD quality video with 7.1 Dolby Surround Sound from my purchased content with provided or a way to downscale that same content for play on any mobile device and my PC. I want to purchase movies one time and be free to translate, convert, copy, and transfer that movie in any format that I choose onto any other digital device that I also own. I want the purchase of a movie to NOT be a license to play it in one format, but real property ownership to do with as I please. As for streaming video, I am tired of having to figure out which hardware device steams which company’s products. I want to watch my Netflix streaming on my computer, XBox, iPhone, and Sony PS3 without compromise. Most of all, I feel tired of being a pawn in corporate battles over market share being waged at my expense. This has gone on far long enough. Just as every single digital music purveyor has dropped their annoying digital rights management controls, it is time for video to follow suit.
What do you think about this topic? Do you agree or disagree with me? Please share your ideas below.
That is my Information Technology Thought of the Day (ITTOD) for October 25, 2009 by Scott Coughlin.
Image Credit: Samsung
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News Commentary: I want my Video My Way!
On Sundays I offer comments on some of the most interesting information technology stories that I have found on the web that week. Please feel free to join in the discussion or suggest stories during the week.
This week’s story is from PC World.com and it reports the current conflicting stories out of Microsoft on whether or not the XBox 360 platform is ever going to support Blu-Ray movies. You may remember, that Microsoft launched with HD-DVD support and was one of its staunched supporters. Since the demise of that format, XBox 360 has not had a native HD Movie format to play and instead relied on Netflix streaming to fulfill their pledge to be a multimedia movie platform. I am not so interested in this particular platform, but the macro-level issue at play: Controls on Digital Video Distribution. Give it a read here:
PCWorld.com – Xbox 360 Finally Getting Blu-ray Peripheral Support?
My big complaint and comment on this story is that I have just about had it with conflicting digital video formats and their anti-consumer effects. This is pretty simple. I want 1080p HD quality video with 7.1 Dolby Surround Sound from my purchased content with provided or a way to downscale that same content for play on any mobile device and my PC. I want to purchase movies one time and be free to translate, convert, copy, and transfer that movie in any format that I choose onto any other digital device that I also own. I want the purchase of a movie to NOT be a license to play it in one format, but real property ownership to do with as I please. As for streaming video, I am tired of having to figure out which hardware device steams which company’s products. I want to watch my Netflix streaming on my computer, XBox, iPhone, and Sony PS3 without compromise. Most of all, I feel tired of being a pawn in corporate battles over market share being waged at my expense. This has gone on far long enough. Just as every single digital music purveyor has dropped their annoying digital rights management controls, it is time for video to follow suit.
What do you think about this topic? Do you agree or disagree with me? Please share your ideas below.
That is my Information Technology Thought of the Day (ITTOD) for October 25, 2009 by Scott Coughlin.
Image Credit: Samsung
No related posts.
Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
This entry was posted by Scott Coughlin on October 25, 2009 at 6:54 pm, and is filed under Hardware, Information Age, Information Technology, News Commentary. Follow any responses to this post through RSS 2.0.You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.