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TurboLinux Businesses Media Movies

Commercial DVD Software Comes to Linux 416

Posted by CowboyNeal from the years-too-late dept.
timekillerj writes "Turbolinux launched a new version of it's Linux distribution today. The key feature is the first commercial DVD player, provided by Cyberlink. PowerDVD for Linux supports menu navigation, Dolby Digital sound, subtitles, and more."
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Commercial DVD Software Comes to Linux More

Commercial DVD Software Comes to Linux

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  • What? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Pig Hogger ( 10379 ) <pig.hogger@g[ ]l.com ['mai' in gap]> on Saturday July 10, 2004 @11:31AM (#9661007) Journal
    No commercial skipping? No region unlocking?

    Plonk!

    • Re:What? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 10, 2004 @11:42AM (#9661068)
      69.00 dollars? No source code?

      Plonk!

      • Re:What? (Score:5, Funny)

        by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 10, 2004 @11:46AM (#9661097)
        That's a typo, it's supposed to say $699.00.

        Darl McBride

      • Not for PowerDVD (Score:5, Informative)

        by tmk ( 712144 ) on Saturday July 10, 2004 @12:00PM (#9661167)
        Its 69 dollar for Turbolinux not for PowerDVD.

        It is like Acrobat Reader or Realplayer for Linux.

        • Which is a good deal... (Score:5, Interesting)

          by rsilvergun ( 571051 ) on Saturday July 10, 2004 @02:30PM (#9661893)
          The last time I priced comercial DVD software, it cost more to buy it than the DVD players it comes with (around $50 for the software, I can find a cheap DVD player in town for $40). If the software used complex deinterlacing algorythyms that made the images looks as nice as it does on a good TV I wouldn't mind (I watch a lot of anime, and what's with all these movies I'm seeing interlaced lately?). But they don't look any better than Xine/mplayer (latest versions of both of cousre).

          Offtopic side note: This is one of my Windows pet peaves. For $200 dollars, you'd think Microsoft could include a bloody DVD decoder. But to be fair, I guess they've got enough antitrust problems to deal with.

          • Re:Which is a good deal... (Score:4, Informative)

            by dgoodman ( 51656 ) on Saturday July 10, 2004 @05:57PM (#9662994) Homepage
            I watch a lot of anime, and what's with all these movies I'm seeing interlaced lately?
            It's called telecining, and as long as anime is produced at 24fps, you're gonna see it. Telecine is a method for producing 29.97fps DVDs from 24fps material: essentially extra copies of existing fields are interlaced together to create the extra frames needed each second. Sometimes in awkward ways which are really obvious on a computer screen. There's really nothing that can be done, unless you rip the DVD and create a 24fps avi file using computationally expensive un-telecine algorithms (not the same as de-interlacing!).

      • Re:What? (Score:5, Insightful)

        by nmk ( 781777 ) on Saturday July 10, 2004 @03:46PM (#9662334)
        I think its a good thing that more commercial software is starting to become availible on Linux. Who cares if it doesn't have source code. I think one of the reasons companies are reluctant to release applications on Linux is that perception that all Linux apps have to be free and have source code included. Linux may be open source, but that doesn't mean all Linux apps have to be. If Linux users actually start paying for software, and stop bitching about source code, you might actually see some major titles being ported.

    • Re:What? (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Fweeky ( 41046 )
      They wouldn't get licensed with such features. They don't ship with them on Windows, why do you expect them to do so on Linux?

      Don't worry, I'm sure someone will come up with a small layer between your DVD drive and any software which silently strips region codes, PUO's (Prohibited User Operations) and CSS.

  • commercial? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by fodi ( 452415 ) on Saturday July 10, 2004 @11:32AM (#9661013)
    I think I'd prefer non-commercial software, please...

    • Re:commercial? (Score:5, Informative)

      by eviltypeguy ( 521224 ) on Saturday July 10, 2004 @11:34AM (#9661021)
      Well, as most people have realised by now, that will probably never be legal in the USA or most of the world thanks to our software patent overlords.

      • Re:commercial? (Score:5, Informative)

        by LostCluster ( 625375 ) * on Saturday July 10, 2004 @12:09PM (#9661220)
        It's not the software patent overloads as much as the DVD CCA and DMCA overlords. They own CSS, and DeCSS is illegal. There's no way to legally distribute anything that can decode CSS without sending them a royalty for every copy, so any form of free or Free software is ruled out.

        • Re:commercial? (Score:3, Interesting)

          by WindBourne ( 631190 )
          Actually, in major parts of the world, decss is totally legal. In the US and part of europe, it is illegal, but that may change down the road.

        • Re:commercial? (Score:5, Interesting)

          by FireFury03 ( 653718 ) <slashdot@NoSPAm.nexusuk.org> on Saturday July 10, 2004 @02:17PM (#9661808) Homepage
          I wonder if it's legal to run DeCSS as a service on a server outside the US - i.e. it cracks the keys to watch the DVD over the internet - it only has to be done once because your DVD player can then cache the keys for the next time you want to watch the DVD.

    • Re:commercial? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by dollargonzo ( 519030 ) on Saturday July 10, 2004 @11:34AM (#9661024) Homepage
      both xine and mplayer already play DVDs (althought mplayer doesn't support dvd menus yet). i think the inclusion of powerDVD was to counter the claim by some linux using DeCSS defenders that "well, we don't have a single legal way to play DVDs..."

    • Re:commercial? (Score:3, Interesting)

      by cyberMalex ( 713793 )
      Actually, as an avid Linux user, I'm extremely pleased to see commercial entities realizing the market potential of Linux.

      I am personally sick of trudging through MPlayer's DVD navigation abilities, and welcome CyberLink's entry into the fray. (Even if the software isn't open source, is IS native to Linux, which is a first step.)

      PowerDVD has been my favorite software MPEG2 decoder for windows for quite a while, and I can only wonder what the power of Linux will do for the same technology.

      • Re:commercial? (Score:2, Informative)

        by Dave2 Wickham ( 600202 ) *
        Just wondering; have you tried Ogle [chalmers.se] or Xine [sourceforge.net]? IIRC they both support DVD menus...

    • Re:commercial? (Score:4, Insightful)

      by WindBourne ( 631190 ) on Saturday July 10, 2004 @11:57AM (#9661151) Journal
      Why not have choice? Personally, I am happy to see this. Now, we will have to improve the non-proprietary to beat it (if that is not already the case).

    • Re:commercial? (Score:4, Interesting)

      by aristotle-dude ( 626586 ) on Saturday July 10, 2004 @01:02PM (#9661462)
      For crying out loud. Not every programmer out there has another job or in-house development to pay the bills with. How do you expect people to earn a living to put food on the table? Donations? ROFLMAO!

      Waah, I want free software. Waah, I want the source code. Waah, Apple hardware is too and I want to build my own from substandard parts someone threw away.

      If you don't have money, get a real job son.

      Don't get me wrong, Open Source is good is a good thing but you should pay for your codecs like everyone else does. Reverse engineering codecs/encryption methods without paying royalties is just as bad as software piracy. Commercial software will be key to the success of linux on the desktop and those that stand in the way of it are only helping MS keep their hold on the market.

      I don't know if these people complaining are rich kids with trust funds who have never worked a day in their life or pizza delivery guys who are bitter because they could not afford college. I grew up poor and I had to work hard to get where I am today.

    • Re:commercial? (Score:4, Insightful)

      by Jubii ( 315611 ) on Saturday July 10, 2004 @01:56PM (#9661696) Homepage
      I think I'd prefer non-commercial software, please...
      At the risk of offending some, I must say that this kind of setiment is one thing that's hurting Linux growth. How can we expect software developers to make software for Linux, when we can't assure them that they'll be able to make any money?? And you may ask.. "why do we need commercial software developers anyway?" Because we want more "Joe Sixpack" types to switch to Linux. If you're average user can't go to the store and buy a program for Linux, they're going to find an OS where they can. And right now, there is pretty much no commercial software market in Linux. I've also heard the chicken and egg problem.... to get brand name apps on Linux you need the users, but to get the users you need the brand name apps. Well here's a start, support the commercial software on Linux... even if you don't like commercial apps, do it because you hate Microsoft, and maybe then commercial developers will see that it's worth their time (and money) to port Brand X to Linux.

  • DeCSS? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by falcon9x ( 618587 ) on Saturday July 10, 2004 @11:33AM (#9661016) Homepage
    So then what happens to DeCSS? IIRC, the main defense of DeCSS was that no Linux player existed. Well... now one exists, but I'm sure people don't want to give up their ability to use open-source alternatives. It will be interesting to see how this plays out.

    • Re:DeCSS? (Score:3, Interesting)

      by tomhudson ( 43916 )
      So then what happens to DeCSS? IIRC, the main defense of DeCSS was that no Linux player existed. Well... now one exists, but I'm sure people don't want to give up their ability to use open-source alternatives. It will be interesting to see how this plays out.
      I don't think it will change anything. Just because there are commercial products doesn't mean you have to use them.

      It was one of the arguments, not the only one :-)

      • Re:DeCSS? (Score:5, Interesting)

        by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 10, 2004 @11:44AM (#9661076)
        > It was one of the arguments, not the only one :-)

        Exactly. In the Norwegian DeCSS trial the main argument wasn't "Decrypting DVDs under Linux is not illegal". It was "Decrypting DVDs is not illegal".

        Laws don't specify operating systems.

        • Let's go the whole mile.. (Score:4, Interesting)

          by k98sven ( 324383 ) on Saturday July 10, 2004 @01:22PM (#9661538) Journal
          Let's be a bit more precise, since being precise is rather important in legal matters..

          What the norwegian court found [efn.no] (in Norwegian) was:

          "DVD-Jon" did not have the intention to promote piracy, but to enable playing on Linux, and enable making back-ups of his DVDs.

          The court also found that there is a fair-use right to a backup copy. They also found that licenses voiding this right were unenforcable.

          They also found that the reverse-engineering done by "the nomad" (not Jon himself) was done in order to obtain interoperability, and thus legal under Norwegian and European (91/250/EEC, article 6) law.

          Hence, they found that decrypting DVDs using this information aquired through reverse-engineering in order to create backup-copies was legal.

          Basically what I'm saying here, is that from the verdict, it is not clear that he would've been found innocent if the procecution had been able to prove he had created DeCSS with the intent to enable piracy.

          So you can't generalize the ruling into "Decrypting DVD's is not illegal in Norway".

  • This is great, except that... (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Cyberlink PowerDVD is a large, steaming pile of offal. I rely on Xine, which is thousands of times more functional.

    Having said that, I am glad Cyberlink bothered with a Linux version of their software. No matter how crappy the product (as far as one anonymous poster goes), committing your coders to a porting effort like this takes guts.
    • Actually, I use PowerDVD under W2K and have no problems with it. It's never caused me any trouble at all. Can say the same for WinDVD or several other products. Also it makes it very easy to play images ripped to hard drive, VOB files, etc. It does all the language, audio track, multiangle, etc that I've ever tried on it.

      What's the problem with it, exactly? Is it only a problem on the Linux version? How does it compare to the Windows version of Xine :-)?

    • Re:This is great, except that... (Score:5, Interesting)

      by rokzy ( 687636 ) on Saturday July 10, 2004 @01:19PM (#9661523)
      I think PowerDVD is fantastic, I use it under Windows.

      speaking of which, Windows just lost its major feature for me - DVD playback. (I know about DeCSS, I want legal solutions and don't care about money)

      if I weren't addicted to Virtual Pool 3 MS would be dead to me.
  • Doesn't this exist already because of the libdvdcss/libdvdread librarys and mplayer/ogle/xine?

    • Yes...But... (Score:5, Informative)

      by reality-bytes ( 119275 ) on Saturday July 10, 2004 @11:38AM (#9661045) Homepage
      There are already some great players for Linux available (they've been around for ages) but they exist in a legal grey-area.

      Remember, just because you bought the DVD and bought the hardware to play it back with doesn't mean you are neccesarily allowed to choose what software you use to play it back!
      • Some great players? Show me the DVD player with full menu support and the ability to play all the DVDs that my Xbox's DVD player (the built in one) plays and I'll be impressed. Oh yes, and it must work on a 700MHz Celeron.

        • Re:Yes...But... (Score:5, Informative)

          by rjw57 ( 532004 ) * <richwareham@nOSPaM.users.sourceforge.net> on Saturday July 10, 2004 @12:05PM (#9661195) Homepage Journal
          which DVD menu doesn't work with xine [xinehq.de]? And I watch DVDs on my 500MHz PIII so a 700MHz Celery should manage it.
          • I watch DVDs on my 500MHz PIII so a 700MHz Celery should manage it.

            You don't know much about hardware, do you? :-)

        • Re:Yes...But... (Score:3, Informative)

          by ScottGant ( 642590 )
          Totem Movie Player.

          Full menu support, subtitle support. Alternate audio track support.

          Also, what other player other than the built in one does the Xbox have?

          Does it work on a 700Mhz celeron...don't know, do they even make those anymore other than for the Xbox? If so, why would you want to when there are better processors available that are just as cheap.

          Anything else?

  • compare! (Score:5, Funny)

    by TedCheshireAcad ( 311748 ) <ted@fUMLAUTc.rit.edu minus punct> on Saturday July 10, 2004 @11:36AM (#9661038) Homepage
    Old and Busted: DeCSS
    New Hotness: Commercial DVD software

    • Re:compare! (Score:5, Informative)

      by 13Echo ( 209846 ) on Saturday July 10, 2004 @12:05PM (#9661199) Homepage Journal
      In most respects, DeCSS is actually old and busted. In fact, it's seldom used anymore. Most players use "libdvdcss", which was written independently of DeCSS. MPlayer even includes patched versions of libdvdread and libdvdcss within its own source.

      • Re:compare! (Score:3, Informative)

        by Anonymous Coward
        Well, libdvdcss is developed by VideoLAN [videolan.org]. DVD-Jon is a VideoLAN developer [boingboing.net] and is even listed in the libdvdcss AUTHORS file. So how "independently" is up for debate. It certainly wasn't developed in a vacuum.

        From a legal perspective it doesn't matter. DeCSS has been ruled legal in Norway. If DeCSS is illegal in a non-free country like the US, then libdvdcss most likely is illegal in the US too.

  • It is not the first. (Score:5, Informative)

    by stm2 ( 141831 ) <sbassi@genes d i g i t a l e s .com> on Saturday July 10, 2004 @11:37AM (#9661043) Homepage Journal
    Lindows (or Linspire) has one commercial DVD player. It was released more than a year ago. It cost 4.95 for CNR members.

    • Re:It is not the first. (Score:5, Informative)

      by 13Echo ( 209846 ) on Saturday July 10, 2004 @12:10PM (#9661226) Homepage Journal
      This is true. Linspire's DVD player is essentially just XINE with an alleged "commercial license" to utilize the DVD libraries.

      http://www.linspire.com/lindows_dvd_info.php

      Of course, odds are that they do have to have the source available for the GPL libdvdcss libraries that it uses, so does that mean that they are violating trade secrets as well? Or, I wonder if they rewrote portions of XINE to link against some commercial DVD libraries instead?
    • The Linspire DVD Player [linspire.com] seems to have been around since at least LinSpire 4.5 (does anyone know how old 4.5 is?). Looks like it's based on Xine.

  • EULA's (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Joe U ( 443617 ) on Saturday July 10, 2004 @11:39AM (#9661050) Homepage Journal
    So, which one is it?

    ftp://ftp.turbolinux.com/pub/TurboLinux/LICENSE/ LI CENSE
    END USER LICENSE AGREEMENT

    You should carefully read the following terms and conditions of this end user license agreement ("agreement") before installing any of the software stored on the enclosed cd-roms. By installing any of this software, you (and any entity on whose behalf you are acting) are consenting to be bound by this agreement. If you do not agree to all of the terms and conditions of this agreement, do not install any of the software and return all enclosed cd-roms together with their complete packaging to the place of purchase for a full refund.

    http://www.turbolinux.com/about/returns.html
    Turbolinux will offer an even exchange for damaged media within 30 days of purchase. We regret that we're unable to accept returns for all other opened software.

    So, If I don't agree, I can't use the software AND I can't get my money back. I think I'll go rewrite the EULA myself and agree to my version instead.
    • Apparently this is a new level of shrinkwrap licensing where package is no longer complete once you remove the shrinkwrap from the outside of the box... and since the license is on the website you can most clearly access it before making your purchase.

      I'm not sure if that holds water or not, but if you're going to challenge them they most clearly already have the lawyers assembled to fight you even though they thought the lawyers were there for a challenge from the MPAA, DVD CCA, and other Hollywood intere

    • Re:EULA's (Score:3, Interesting)

      by nametaken ( 610866 )

      Maybe I'm missing something, or I read this wrong. But what I get from this is, if you purchased a copy you would be required to read the EULA before you open the envelopes with the CDs (like MS soft). If you disagree, don't open the cd envelope, and take it back for a refund. If you agreed, opened it, and the media is damaged... take it back within 30 days.

  • Good and bad news (Score:5, Insightful)

    by teutonic_leech ( 596265 ) on Saturday July 10, 2004 @11:40AM (#9661059)
    Well, judging from the first few comments, this is a good thing and a bad thing. A good thing because a commercial company is bothering to support Linux in the first place - forget about the quality of the player (e.g. lack of DeCSS, etc.) but focus on the statement this makes. But it's of course a bad thing as well because this might be the beginning of a trend of having commercial software being stuffed down our throats with each distro. But you know guys - you can't have it both ways: Either Linux remains a 'geek OS' or we'll have to deal with the Macromedia's and RealPlayer's of this world. Always be careful what you wish for ;-)
    • But it's of course a bad thing as well because this might be the beginning of a trend of having commercial software being stuffed down our throats with each distro.

      There is nothing bad with good free software developed for money. Many companies code free software for profit, like specific features for a client. If you are meaning non-free, proprietary software then say it.
    • The wording of your post made me think that this player doesn't support encrypted (commercial) DVD's. It does. You can pop in any DVD and watch it in Linux with this player.

      Linux is turning the tide into the mainstream, and this is a big milestone. For those lamenting that this is a double edged sword, it's not. People who want to compy with the DMCA 100% have a player to buy, those that don't care (me), continue living happily. Hey, that's the way it should be.

    • Re:Good and bad news (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Azureflare ( 645778 ) on Saturday July 10, 2004 @12:01PM (#9661174)
      Last time I checked, Flash and realplayer didn't cost any money.... But I know what you mean, it's not free as in speech. (Don't forget the Helix community, they've got a very nice alternative to realplayer going).

      BTW you probably will be able to get linux from major distros that comes without commercial software. Mandrake has a normal version, and also a Powerpack version (and others as well), and the main difference is that the powerpack comes with commercial software, and the normal version doesn't. If you don't want the commercial software, then buy the normal one (or download the free download edition).

      I'm not sure how other distros handle this, because I've never used another distro. Yeah, I know, I'm not an official geek unless I've tried at least 5 distros... But I got mandrake working, ok? I don't have much free time. If it's not broken, don't fix it, right?

      At any rate, I don't think that we will lose the possibility of having a geek OS; we'll just have choices for what type of linux we want.

      That's what's so great about linux, IMO. You can pay more to get an easy to use linux, or pay less if you don't have much money and can figure it out, or like to have the challenge.

  • Hmmm....new distro?

  • Ask and you shall receive? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by goldspider ( 445116 ) on Saturday July 10, 2004 @11:51AM (#9661118) Homepage
    A few weeks ago, the head of the (evil, of course) MPAA learned that there was no legal way for Linux users to watch movies on their computers. Now we have one.

    So are Slashdotters going to thank the MPAA for addressing one of the Linux community's concerns? Nope, they're going to piss and moan about what's wrong with this particular piece of software.

    I'd submit that this is a big reason why software companies don't want to embrace the Linux market. No matter how good the software they produce is, Linux users aren't going to be happy unless it's free (speech) and free (beer).

    • I bought my DVDs, they weren't free (Score:4, Insightful)

      by Morgaine ( 4316 ) on Saturday July 10, 2004 @12:05PM (#9661197)
      Linux users aren't going to be happy unless it's free (speech) and free (beer).

      You're making no sense. Linux users don't want everything free, they just don't want to pay twice over.

      I bought my DVDs, with hard-earned cash, and they most definitely weren't free. I'll be blowed if I'm going to pay again, just to be "allowed" to play them on my own computer.
    • Thats not true at all. I went out and bought both Neverwinter Nights and Unreal Tournament 2004 when they came out specifically becuase they came with a Linux Binary. I emailed the Vice President of ? the company that made UT2004 and he actually replied and said that although Linux sales are miniscule, the only way to judge them is by the sort of email I sent him.

      Go out and buy the software, email the company that made it and everyone wins. I didnt care that the source was released for either game, I was h

    • Re:Ask and you shall receive? (Score:5, Funny)

      by aardvarkjoe ( 156801 ) on Saturday July 10, 2004 @12:07PM (#9661213)
      Linux users aren't going to be happy unless it's free (speech) and free (beer).
      You underestimate us. We'll still complain about it being a ripoff of commercial software, whine about the GUI toolkit used, complain about how bloated and slow the software is, insinuate that it's a tricky ploy to gather personal information, demand that the company provide free phone support, and then run off and create a dozen sourceforge projects to "clone" the program.
    • Meh. $70 is a big jump from "free with any hardware that's remotely capable of playing DVDs"...

    • Re:Ask and you shall receive? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by dont_think_twice ( 731805 ) on Saturday July 10, 2004 @12:59PM (#9661446) Homepage
      Two things you will never hear a company executive say:

      1. Well, we could make a ton of money if we sold programX for linux, but the people on slashdot will complain, so lets not bother.

      2. Well, there is no way we can make money by selling programX for linux, but the people on slashdot will be happy, so lets go ahead and do it

      Software companies will embrace the market when it is in their financial interests to do so. That is what companies do. No amount of complaining either way by gnu/linux users is going to change that.

      Now, a question: how many people have actually bought DVD software for Windows? I would guess approximately 10. For everyone else, it came bundled with either a computer, or a DVD drive they bought. There fact that there is a commercial DVD player for gnu/linux now is great news for those who want to sell gnu/linux computers. Now they can just bundle the PowerDVD, pay the company that makes it 5 bucks, and not have to worrry about making sure mplayer or xine is properly set up to play DVD's (which can be a pain).

    • Re:Ask and you shall receive? (Score:5, Informative)

      by WindBourne ( 631190 ) on Saturday July 10, 2004 @01:12PM (#9661497) Journal
      I'd submit that this is a big reason why software companies don't want to embrace the Linux market.

      Sigh:

      • DataBases
        • DB2
        • Oracle
        • Sybase
        • In fact all DB's except for sql server.
      • ERP:
        • SAP
        • Peoplesoft
        • Just about everybody of consequence except those that is trying to sell itself to MS.
      • General Office Applications: Many are being re-written into java so that they will work on all platforms. These have gone to Java to be able to support Linux, Mac, *nix, etc.
      • Office clones: Many have been ported to Linux with the notable exception of MS, Lotus (IBM's stuff which I think that they will allow to simply die), and Corel (who is in the process of port again).
      • Games? A small number are starting to support linux. I think that this will grow over the next year or two.
      Too be honest, there is more commercial software for Linux than many people realize. Perhaps the two area that Linux has not made inroads yet, are home and specialized. That is changing.

  • Commercial Linux Software (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Bruha ( 412869 ) on Saturday July 10, 2004 @11:58AM (#9661158) Homepage Journal
    You people who are whining that you actually have to pay for something need to get off your high horses. If you ever want to see anything supported in Linux in some fashion you need to pay for it.

    It's this same stigma that causes companies to not build software for Linux because they think Linux users dont want to pay for anything.

    If you really think it's such a bad thing to have to pay for a commercial dvd player. Think if you pay for it and Linux becomes very popular that you will see a free version shipped on the dvd's themselves so you can watch it on Linux. This is how it is for Windows. Most dvd's you buy come with free player software.
    • The software in question has been "in the making" for over four years now. Simply put, you have to be using TurboLinux to get it at this time. Prior to that it was "available" to IA and other embedded systems integrators for evaluation and possible inclusion in their products. Well, I couldn't get a single copy out of them when we needed it and LinDVD (The competing product...) was a steaming pile of dung and we had to fight to evaluate that.

      IFF they're worth it (as in quality software) and IFF they'r

    • Re:Commercial Linux Software (Score:5, Insightful)

      by sloanster ( 213766 ) * <ringfan@@@mainphrame...com> on Saturday July 10, 2004 @12:38PM (#9661354) Journal
      If you really think it's such a bad thing to have to pay for a commercial dvd player.

      No, you're totally missing the point here. All the linux users I know can and do pay, gladly, for good stuff. What we aren't eager to is to pay for a closed source program that's not as good as the open source ones we already have...

      I haven't seen this DVD software yet, and I'll reserve judgment about it until I see it in action - but, as I'd have to switch to turbo linux in order to use it, the chances are slim that I'll see it in action any time soon.
    • You people who are whining that you actually have to pay for something need to get off your high horses. If you ever want to see anything supported in Linux in some fashion you need to pay for it.

      But there are many things supported in Linux right now that I don't need to pay for. I've got much better support from Debian than I've got with several commerical software providers.

  • Do I have to buy TurboLinux? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by nwbvt ( 768631 ) on Saturday July 10, 2004 @11:59AM (#9661160)
    Can I just get the DVD software from CyberLink? I can't find a thing on their site on Linux PowerDVD. I don't really want a new OS, though I wouldn't mind having the legal DVD player.
  • Is there a standalone version of the player available or do I have to buy the whole distro for $70.00? If there's no standalone player, than this is as useless as having no 'legal' player available in the first place.

  • PowerDVD stinks (Score:2, Interesting)

    by JavaPunk ( 757983 )
    A few months ago I bought a dvd+-rw drive which was the first DVD reader on my computer. So I install PowerDVD in windows plop in Pirates of the Caribbean and get a, "You have the wrong region set. Would you like to change you region?" I say yes and it changes nothing! I can't play a DVD on windows because of this stupid software. On the other hand, I boot into gentoo do an 'emerge mplayer.' And Pirates runs perfect! So do I really want crappy software with such a nonstandard interface on linux for a large

  • # of useful proprietary apps on Linux: still zero (Score:3, Insightful)

    by stealth.c ( 724419 ) on Saturday July 10, 2004 @12:09PM (#9661222)
    I've used PowerDVD on Windows. I hate its interface, it is feature-impaired, and unstable. With Xine + libdvd*, I have SO MANY MORE FUNCTIONS. I can take screenshots of a movie without getting just a black screen; I can navigate the film in any direction and speed, and I can use key commands for just about all of that. It's faster, too, and far easier to acquire. Sorry CyberLink. This is far too little; way too late. I wouldn't condone purchasing a commercial DVD player anyway.

    They're trying to show support for Linux, but for some reason I still see them and most other proprietary software vendors as ignorant, crapware-distributing bastards. We don't want/need anything from people like CyberLink. They are wasting their time on a product that WILL fail--and probably make the "Linux market" look non-existant.

    Perhaps the most important thing is that DVD drives that come with PowerDVD will probably have the Windows AND Linux version. In such a case, it looks to me like another baby step in getting the support of hardware manufacturers.
  • This is something that I have been waiting for for a long time. A software DVD player that "Just Works" on Linux? Bring it on, man! This is the reason why I am sort of, kind of, considering Linspire as a way to get Debian-based Linux on a machine or two of mine. You still cannot download a trial version from the Cyberlink site, which is an oversight at best and really nasty of Cyberlink at worst.

    I would take Linspire over Turbolinux because Turbo is an RPM-based distro, and Linspire is Debian under the ho

  • Old News (Score:5, Informative)

    by danda ( 11343 ) on Saturday July 10, 2004 @12:18PM (#9661266)
    PowerDVD was first announced on Linux in 2000. See this article in the Register:

    http://www.theregister.co.uk/2000/08/18/dvd_play ba ck_on_linux_just/

    To my knowledge, they have never released it for end-users to buy/download.

    However, in 2001 I purchased a ThinkPad T22 from IBM pre-loaded with Linux and it had PowerDVD installed. The software required some funky thinkpad driver to be installed or it could not playback. I long ago dumped that distribution (caldera) and now Xine/mplayer et al run just fine on the same thinkpad without any special drivers.
  • of it's Linux distribution

    What Turbolinux needs to do for its next release is lay off a bit on the turbo factor and work on implementing into its browser a very simple Slashdot submissions grammar checker for people who just can't seem to handle the whole its/it's thing. Maybe in future versions they could add a checker for correct your/you're and there/their usage, but that might slow down the turboness...

    For Christ sake, can't you editors change a stupid error like this in a submission? Put a disclaim

  • I don't mind paying for commercial software (even closed sourced ones) so long as they're worth it. There are times when the the free and opensource alternatives either don't exist or have developers who don't think like users (and therefore their interface and/or documentation suck).

    Oh ... in my case, however, I'd only pay if it ran on Linux (ie. paid for 2 copies of NWN for Linux and its expansion packs).

  • This is a Good Thing (Score:5, Insightful)

    by m1a1 ( 622864 ) on Saturday July 10, 2004 @12:27PM (#9661306)
    Most people don't buy their DVD software anyways, well, not directly at least. They get it from the OEM when they order a PC or DVD drive.

    Cyberlink is (IMO) trying to position itself as the only choice for legitimate dvd software for those OEMs now offering Linux PCs. If they find this move profitable it could encourage other companies to produce linux software as well.

  • Way Too Late. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by CherniyVolk ( 513591 ) on Saturday July 10, 2004 @12:31PM (#9661323)

    Once upon a time, a gallant InterVideo boasted a proposition to release LinDVD. LinDVD, being a port of their WinDVD software for Linux, during a time when the legalities were clouded and MPAA stomped through the land.

    If there was a time, to justify a commerical DVD player for the OpenSource community, InterVideo dropped the ball years ago. Why buy PowerDVD? Some might take this and use it as an example, right or wrong, to prove a point of how inefficient, slow, backwards and ignorant todays management techniques are. I firmly believe Xine is just as good as any of the highest priced DVD players for Windows/Mac. Why isn't it? It navigates DVD menus, it plays the movies well. For such a software package, that's it everything else will just sit infront of the movie and be annoying, like some child in the back seat asking "are we there yet?" over and over again.

    All the money companies spend. It's a waste, they spend billions trying to keep up with social trends, billions trying to predict market progress, all down the toilet.
  • You'd think around here we'd know the difference.

  • Why is it ... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by polyp2000 ( 444682 ) on Saturday July 10, 2004 @12:49PM (#9661403) Homepage Journal
    That most; if not all DVD playing software on any platform ; from any company; closed or open source. Insists on making their gui's look like the front of a set-top dvd player?Do they not always look ugly and out of place? No single dvd playing software seems to spend enough time on getting the gui right. I know stuff like Xine and MPlayer are skinnable (and others probably) but invariably they default to a nasty rendition of the front of a dvd player. Id like to see more time spent on a cleaner, simpler interface with buttons that are simple to understand. For example; take a look at the powerdvd screenshot. WTF are all those icons for ?

    Nick...

  • Paying for software isn't THAT bad (Score:5, Insightful)

    by raistphrk ( 203742 ) on Saturday July 10, 2004 @01:31PM (#9661579)
    The wide availability of free open source software has spoiled a lot of us. I mean...when it comes down to it, I don't LIKE to pay for software, because I don't have a lot of money. However, if I see a product that I like, and also works well, I don't mind paying for it.

    Case in point: I use FreeBSD, and I have a SBLive 5.1 sound card, with a SPDIF output. If I were in Windows, Creative's drivers allow me to use the SPDIF output without any trouble. However, FreeBSD's stock pcm driver, while adequate, doesn't support SPDIF output on the 4-STABLE kernel tree. I routinely had to switch between analog and digital output for sound.

    I'd used oss in Linux a while back, so I downloaded the FreeBSD build and gave it a whirl. The trial copy worked great, so I bought a license.

    Granted, I didn't want to spend any money, but it did exactly what I wanted it to do, and some. So I consider that a worthwhile investment.

    I think it's understandable to have reservations about paying money for software owned by Big Evil Corporations(tm), because you don't want to feed the beast. However, when it comes to development on open source and free open source platforms, if the developers aren't getting paid, new features aren't going to be appearing magically. Having software that's free (in terms of beer and speech) may mean that you don't have to pay MONEY for it, but you still should be contributing something.

    For my part, I can't write code for crap. I've made several attempts to learn C, but they generally result in disaster. Since I can't contribute patches back to developers, I don't mind buying boxed copies of the software, or books, to help pay for development.

  • OS Requirements (Score:5, Insightful)

    by phalse phace ( 454635 ) on Saturday July 10, 2004 @02:12PM (#9661776)
    Anyone else notice the OS requirements? Seems like bloated software to me.

    Operating System hardware requirements:

    PC/AT Compatible hardware
    CPU: Pentium III, 1.0Ghz or greater recommended
    Memory: 512MB recommended
    Hard Drive: IDE / SCSI HDD (5GB available space (recommended)
    Video Card: VGA or greater
    Mouse: USB, PS/2 mouse
    Misc: 3.5" floppy drive, CD-ROM drive (IDE ATAPI/SCSI), Ethernet card

    Looks like my old PIII @ 500 Mhz and 512MB RAM might not be able to run this.

    • Re:OS Requirements (Score:3, Informative)

      by dvdeug ( 5033 )
      Anyone else notice the OS requirements? Seems like bloated software to me

      MPlayer would usually drop frames when running DVDs on my PIII-450 so the CPU seems about right for reliably running a DVD perfectly, especially if you want to scale it. The hard drive space and memory seem a bit excessive, though.

  • Finally (Score:3, Informative)

    by mosb1000 ( 710161 ) <mosb1000@mac.com> on Saturday July 10, 2004 @04:43PM (#9662644)
    No moe people can claim that DeCSS is perfectly okay because you can't buy a commercial DVD player for LUNIX. What's that? It's still perfectly okay? I just don't understand some people.

    • Re:Finally (Score:3, Informative)

      by juhaz ( 110830 )
      If this product had been there in the beginning, developing of DeCSS might have been illegal, but since it was not, the point is moot.

      It was perfectly legal to reverse-engineer DeCSS for compability purposes, all charges against "dvd-jon" have been lifted. It doesn't become any less legal retroactively just because someone finally bothers to release an alternative n years later.

      Using DeCSS may be illegal in US, and some other countries, but that's only because DMCA is insane, and prohibits owner of DVD fr

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