Opinion: High-Definition Video--Bad For Consumers, Bad For Hollywood

[ericl]

Interesting opinion article from InformationWeek.com
Opinion: High-Definition Video--Bad For Consumers, Bad For Hollywood

Digital rights management gadgetry has turned high-definition video into a lumbering dinosaur that consumers won't want to buy. And a good thing, too--because Hollywood doesn't know what to do with HD, says Cory Doctorow.

[drseid]

This guy is one angry and confused person. He needs to get his facts straight before he writes trash like this for the masses and misinforms people.

That said, I agree with him on his feelings regarding the HD channel spectrum...

---Dave

[westcott]

I agree with him on HTPC, DRM, ICT, and the greed aspect but leave it to a science fiction writer to write what he knows best!

Yes, syndicated television video publishers are going to have to learn to use new equipment to make their shows look better but this is a learning process everyone is going to have to go through.

Yes, copy right protection has hamstringed the new HD formats by limiting what is available for rent or purchase (IMO, no real content worth talking about will be available until the analog hole is closed using ICT) but it is the technology that is making the studios succomb to the clamor for better resolution. It has always been there for film, just rarely publically available (I include movie going in this remark).

Copy Protection has never worked and it never will and believe it or not, the studios know that. That is why there is so much foot dragging to release true classic and popular content in HD.

The region operation has evolved from the knowledge that some countries have a historical record of being copyright offenders. Asia is an area of greatest concern and will continue to be so for years to come. I hope the author is wrong and I think he is but if copy protection does fail for HD, you may find that your favorite title may never be published and only titles like the Dukes of Hazzard will make it to HD disks.

[Groundbeef]

Interesting. I wonder how long it will take to crack the HD-DVD or Blu-Ray anti-piracy coding? It took a while for DVD to be broken, and I know it will only be a matter of time before the new format falls. I would predict it will be broken long before it reaches any sort of mainstream favor that the current standards enjoy.

[nightflier]

Whatever happens in Hollywood, I can certainly understand Doctorow's anger, and to some extent I hope he is right. I also have to admire the man for having the courage to say it so bluntly. I have long believed that Hollywood doesn't have a clue beyond its own greed and my frustrations extend to all the superior technologies that have floundered because of excessive profiteering. I have no problems with artists acquiring the power to sell their art directly to the consumer and cutting out the racketeering middlemen, aka the RIAA/MPAA. HDCP & DRM are just attempts at retaining control over direct distribution.

[Groundbeef]

And for every attempt at copy protection there are breaks. DRM has just been broken. DVD encryption has been broken. Just a matter of time until someone breaks the new stuff, and they Hollywood will have to think of some other way to make it harder for us to watch what we own!

[Rock&Roll Ninja]

Much like DVds encryption, it will probably be broken and posted on the 'net in under 72hours

[PeruvianSkies]

The shame of the matter is that this should be good for both sides, but unfortunately that probably won't be the case for two main reasons.

The first is that people have forgotten the real meaning of filmmaking, the passion and the entertainment value. The HD formats should be a great way for people to enjoy the films that they love. Not only that, but experience the film the way it was meant to be, that is..when it's done right. There is something to be said when an HD-DVD of THE SEARCHERS enables people to see the film about as near as possible to the way it looked upon release even after all these decades. Even more important is the fact that when a film looks, sounds, and feels like it did originally people are more likely to enjoy it and appreciate it. I remember seeing poor print after poor print of CITIZEN KANE over the years, just about everything from VHS, Laserdisc, and even poor 16mm and 35mm prints. However, once I saw the restored DVD it made me fall in love with a film that until that point seemed tedious to sit through and comprehend fully. I can only imagine how much better it can get if a HD-transfer is performed for the new formats!!!! Hint. Hint.

The second reason is that Hollywood has forgotten it's people. It's forgotten how to satisfy the customer and keep offering high quality products. Filmmaking has not declined, but rather what is marketed is where the real decline is. It's a downright crime that the most talented people are the ones not having exposure, instead sequels and remakes dominate the marketplace with the same recycling of scripts, action, and characters coming and going.

We are being fooled people! Fooled! Hollywood has actually convinced us that the only reason to go see a film is just to be entertained or to 'shut off our brains' for 1.5 hours. That if we 'think' too much that we are dangerous. I often hear people saying that when they go to a movie they don't want to 'think'. Which is not their fault, this is what we are being programmed to want. People are under the impression that to 'think' is to have no fun, yet some of the most profound films that I have seen in my life have always led to some of the most amazing and fun discussions. I'm not saying that the only reason we need to go is to think, but movies that are entertaining can also be profound and thoughtful, creative, exciting, interesting, and endearing. Todays films are unbearable, unimaginitive, and forgettable!!!

We need to regain Hollywood because it's a huge business that should be about the people, not a machine running the people. The new formats should be embraced and I support any format that is going to enhance the viewing experience! That's just my thoughts though...anyone have other ideas?

[nightflier]

People are under the impression that to 'think' is to have no fun, yet some of the most profound films that I have seen in my life have always led to some of the most amazing and fun discussions. I'm not saying that the only reason we need to go is to think, but movies that are entertaining can also be profound and thoughtful, creative, exciting, interesting, and endearing. Todays films are unbearable, unimaginitive, and forgettable!!!

We need to regain Hollywood because it's a huge business that should be about the people, not a machine running the people. The new formats should be embraced and I support any format that is going to enhance the viewing experience! That's just my thoughts though...anyone have other ideas?

Funny that you should point that out. I am seeing about a movie a day now, with the Blockbuster free trial, and for most of these I can't even remember what I saw the night before, anymore. What happened to those films that changed our world? The last one that seems to have come close was Fahrenheit 911, regardless of what people thought of it, it galvanized the nation like no other film in years. Ironically, it was a political film, and a documentary at that. And maybe politics has something to do with this. We are confronted everyday with realities that make us so uncomfortable (torture, Iraq-nam, Foley's pages, etc.) that we are consciously searching for place where we see no evil, hear no evil, and speak no evil. I wonder how much Disney stock has gone up in the last 7 years.

This is a classic case of quantity over quality - we are inundated with information so that we can't make out the pieces that are important, aka info-glut. Try this on for size: try spending a whole day using only single purpose items - anything that has advertising, multiple uses, distractions from the main purpose is out. That means no tv, computers, magazines, newspapers, radio. You'll be amazed at how much you get done that day and what your mind will think of. Heck, you might actually care enough to go and vote, protest, and complain... Wow, that's scary, better turn that tv back on, Jeb, and make sure it's set to Fox news....

[Geoffcin]

Interesting opinion article from InformationWeek.com
Opinion: High-Definition Video--Bad For Consumers, Bad For Hollywood

My favorite is this;

http://www.boingboing.net/2006/08/11...es_wont_p.html

I already posted about this wonderful addition to the HD spec.

http://www.boingboing.net/2004/12/29...ds_to_wir.html

HD-DRM means PAY-PER-VIEW, as simple as that. Think about if you want to buy a pre-recorded BlueRay disk that decided to self destruct after 3 uses because it didn't like your player, or even the house your watching it in! Or even worse, disable your $1000 player AND call the cyber-thought-mindcontrol police at the same time.

ALL of this is written into the spec of BlueRay.

[spasticteapot]

My favorite is this;

HD-DRM means PAY-PER-VIEW, as simple as that. Think about if you want to buy a pre-recorded BlueRay disk that decided to self destruct after 3 uses because it didn't like your player, or even the house your watching it in! Or even worse, disable your $1000 player AND call the cyber-thought-mindcontrol police at the same time.

ALL of this is written into the spec of BlueRay.

I'm going to use BluRay to back up my files, not watch movies. Fvck the MPAA.

Personally, I love HDTV - it makes a great computer monitor. If this whole thing does'nt clear itself up, I may go over to the "dark side" and pirate - at least then I don't have to deal with all the stupid crap to watch a movie.

Then again, this is a Sony format. So what did you expect?

These are, after all, the people who brought us the Rootkit.