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DVD The Media of the Millennium
First Published: March 2000
Last Update: April 2002
Author: Computer Partners
DVD hit the market less than three years ago but it has
already become the most successful consumer electronics product of all time. If
you aren't familiar with DVD then you probably don't know what all the fuss is
about.
The DVD
Fact Page is an excellent resource for information on DVD. The main thing to
know about DVD is that it is a single digital format that can encompass most
forms of media and is projected to replace audio CD, videotapes, laserdiscs,
CD-ROMs and video game cartridges.
You can play DVD movies on your home computer or through a
DVD video player hooked up to your TV. The DVD-ROM that you see advertised with
new home computers is also used for interactive DVD software, such as games. You
aren't able to play this interactive software on the DVD player hooked up to
your TV. That particular player is used strictly for DVD movies and is projected
to replace your current VCR.
,
One interesting feature of the DVD-video disc is the fact
that some discs can provide up to nine different camera angles which allows you
to select different viewpoints on playback. Some can also provide 8 tracks of
digital audio for providing multiple languages. Another feature is the fact that
they can be instantly rewound and fast forwarded. DVD discs are the same size as
CD ROM discs making them compact and durable.
DVD also has the capability of producing near studio quality
video and better than CD quality audio. DVD is vastly superior to videotape and
generally better than laserdisc. However, as the Fact Page points out, a lot of
the quality of the final product is determined by production.
If production is poor you may experience blurriness, fuzzy
dots, shimmering and missing detail. Another problem is the fact that most TVs
have the sharpness set too high for the clarity of DVD. This exaggerates high
frequency video and causes distortion.
According to the Fact Page, many DVD players output video
with a black level setup of 0 IRE (Japanese standard) rather than 7.5 IRE (US
standard). On TVs that are not properly adjusted this can cause blotching in
dark scenes.
Another disadvantage listed on the Fact page is that there
are incompatibilities between some discs and players.
Another drawback to DVD is the fact that it has built-in copy
protection and regional lockout. Because theatre releases aren't simultaneous,
motion picture studios want to control the home release of movies in different
countries.
As a result, each DVD player is given a code for the region
in which it is sold. The player won't be able to play discs that are not
designated for that region.
Movie studios also added (CSS) Content Scrambling System. CSS
is a data encryption and authentication scheme intended to prevent copying video
files directly from the disc.
Associated Press reported that Jon Johansen cracked the code
in January using reverse engineering. The 16 year old Norwegian boy and his
father Per were subsequently charged with copyright violations.
The boy cracked the code so that he would be able to play his
DVDs on the Linux operating system. He then put his program, known as DeCSS, on
his father's Web site to make it widely available to other users.
In the AP article, the boy denied breaking any laws and was
quoted as saying that, "the charges are wrong. The codes on the DVDs are
not to prevent copying but to prevent playing. All we have done is made it
possible to play DVD films on our computers," he told the Oslo newspaper
Verdens Gang.
Reuters reported that the movie industry had contacted the
boy earlier and had asked him to remove the source code. He had apparently
complied to avoid a lawsuit, but was sued anyway.
Reuters further reported that major Hollywood studios, which
use an encryption scheme on their DVDs had already taken legal action against
three people in the United States who displayed Johansen's program on their Web
sites.
According to Associated Press the Hollywood based Motion
Picture Association, an association of the seven largest U.S. movie studios, and
the DVD Copyright Control Organization filed a police complaint against Johansen
in early January. The maximum sentence for copyright violations is three years
in prison.
Sandeep Junnarkar of CNET also reported that the Motion
Picture Association of America had sent out an additional 500 letters to Web
site operators accusing them of violating copyright law.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), a nonprofit
organization providing pro bono legal counsel to the defendants in a case in New
York and one in California, was quoted as saying that `many of the sites did not
offer copyright cracking tools but merely discussed "the technical
insecurity of DVD." '
`"These cases are not about piracy or hacking,"
Tara Lemmey, EFF's executive director, said in a statement. "They are about
censorship of speech critical to science, education and innovation."'
In the article, the EFF also drew attention to the fact that
the DVD case "strikes at the heart of reverse engineering."
`"Many in the software industry consider reverse
engineering both legitimate and important for the development of systems'
interoperability, citing the importance of the open source movement in
challenging Microsoft's control of the desktop with its Windows operating
system...Today's decision is a major wake-up call for the $30 billion Linux
community," EFF cofounder John Gilmore said in a statement.
"If Judge Kaplan's reading of the Digital Millennium
Copyright Act (DMCA) holds, then it will become illegal to build open source
products that can interoperate and or compete with proprietary ones for
displaying copyrighted content."'
It is difficult to say what will happen in the cases but the
disadvantages of DVD has been overshadowed by the obvious advantages.
As of February 2000 there were just over 6,000 DVD titles
available in the US and over 9,000 worldwide. By the end of 1999, there were
almost 5 million DVD Video players in the US, and about 30 million DVD PCs.
At the Consumer Electronic Show in Las Vegas in January,
DVD-Video was named the ``Medium of the Millennium'' by industry executives.
As Philip Allingham reported in January, DVDs aren't just
movies anymore. Reporting on the Consumer Electronics Show, he said that,
"Last year Panasonic introduced the PalmTheater, a DVD player the size of a
personal CD player with an integrated LCD viewing panel and speakers. This year,
Sony, Pioneer, and Toshiba have all followed suit. To our delight, the race is
on to make DVD players smaller and cheaper.
One company, G.A.T.T. from Hong Kong, has added the beloved
Asian capability of Karaoke to its PalmPal. Bring on those Wayne Newton
anthems!"
He also talked about the integration of the DVD player into
the TV unit itself. A Chinese company, Konka showed off the highly stylized
TD278U, which is a 27 -inch flat-screen TV with a DVD player built into it.
There were also DVDs shown that can hold 28 gigabytes of data.
China Ease Enterprises displayed its DVD Jukebox. "It's
a full-size, old-school looking jukebox, but instead of playing 45 RPM records
it holds 500 discs and has a TV display in the front. It also plays MP3s, has a
radio and television, works as a Karaoke machine, and has four-way 200-watt
speakers", Allingham reported.
Clarion received the Consumer Electronics Show Innovations
2000 Award in the Mobile Electronics category. In a press release by the company
it said that using DVD technology, "Clarion's second-generation AutoPC
320DV offers hands-free, voice-activated control of in-car entertainment,
computing, GPS satellite navigation, and vehicle diagnostics, as well as
hands-free telephony for the driver. To provide rear-seat passengers with
theater-quality video and audio, the company designed Sigma's REALmagic EM8400
decoder into the AutoPC DVD-Video playback and viewing subsystem."
Another spin off of the DVD industry is Sonic DVDit. It gives
video professionals and enthusiasts the power to create interactive DVD content
from virtually any video and audio file on their PC.
According to a company press release, the product "is
being used by video producers worldwide to publish high-quality DVD versions of
client presentations, merchandising and promotional materials, advertising
comps, interactive training materials, multimedia presentations and even special
events and weddings."
In January, Business Wire reported that Daikin U.S. Comtec
Laboratories had shipped Version 1.0 of Scenarist Enhanced DVD Kit (EDK)
bringing together DVD-Video format with Web applications.
In an article in February, Business Wire also talked about
Ravisent Technologies who had begun shipping its DVD/MPEG-2 decoder/player
products, which they reported as being ``HDTV-ready.'' The product allows the
decoding of all eighteen (18) digital television formats specified by the
Advanced Television Standards Committee (ATSC), including all the high
definition television (HDTV) formats.
According to Business Wire, the RAVISENT DVD solution offers
consumers a compatible way to bring true high definition television into their
homes using their Microsoft Windows-based PCs.
Below are some DVD links that can provide you with even more detailed
information on DVD.
DVD
