This is the 21st Century

After recently deciding to supplement my Pioneer DVR/DVD-R Hard Disk recorder, I realized that there isn't many of these types of machines on the market. I had hoped that in the last two years these recorders had advanced a bit, possibly utilizing DVD-DL, while we wait for HD-DVD-R. This article by CNET confirmed my fear - these machines aren't being made anymore - here. They are popular in other countries, especially the UK, we just can't get them in the "free world" of America. It seems either the cable companies are pressuring manufacturers because they want to rent out their own units, or the makers are being pressured by the MPAA. Since March, all devices are required to incorporate digital tuners, which may have played a part in this disappearance, and which strangely enough has affected VCR's - many of which I've seen without tuners (making them VCPs?). So, after finding out only two or three models are still being made, I decided to get 2 Phillips DVDR357Hs while I still can. Perhaps the best feature, besides being able to watch my DVDs upconverted to 1080p using an HDMI connection, is the digital tuner. While it doesn't record HD (down-converting it to SD), I can record off the HD channels, which results in a much better recording which is letterboxed for better viewing on my HD TV. Apparently the editing on this model doesn't seem to be as convenient as the Pioneer, but my old 520H will now be used for projects such as VHS conversion, while the Phillips are used for TV recording. Although its not a leap forward in technology, its probably the most practical purchase. While I believe that Pioneer did eventually make DVD-DL recorders, these are rare, expensive and DL doesn't seem to be catching on. Even when HD-DVD becomes affordable, I have my doubts about recordable versions, given the Draconian HDCP restrictions.

Jeremiah Blues

Here's a paper on the current state of copyright law. John Tehranian concludes that an average person could violate roughly 83 copyright laws per day, resulting in $12.45 million in damages, or $4.5 BILLION per year. These activities don't even include blatant attempts such as P2P file sharing. Of course, he stretches the possibility of each scenario to the limit of what's possible, and he totally disregards any fair use exceptions. Who would get sued for a public performance for singing in their car? Although, after the precedent set by the DMCA, fair use is essentially non-existent in digital terms, and that sets a dangerous precedent for non-digital mediums. I won't be surprised if someday I'm sitting in a nice minimum security prison, owing billions in compensation (his paper radically changes my original estimation of roughly $600,000) - but at least it will be a vacation.

The End

This article presents the current state of PC gaming: according to the industry it's fine. Of course, us PC gamers know this is not the case. It started about seven years ago - with the death of the Flight Simulation, a game genre that is not reproducible on a console system. Just as bad, has been the numerous console titles that have not been ported to the PC. Notable inclusions are Obi-wan and Dead Rising. Come Spring, there will be a major media event with the release of Stars Wars, The Force Unleashed, hopefully the most playable SW title since Jedi Academy, but quite shockingly it will not be available for the PC. Someday, if I ever want to experience these titles, I'll have to break down and get an XBOX system. The need to do this is quite absurd given the investment in high-end PC hardware, and Microsoft OS, a company which, if not so greedy, could easily port the games for their own XBOX system to their OS.