Commercial DVD Software Comes to Linux 416
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."
commercial? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:commercial? (Score:5, Insightful)
This is great, except that... (Score:2, Insightful)
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.
Re:commercial? (Score:1, Insightful)
You could have it ignore things like the "No fast forwarding" flag pretty easily, or disable Macrovision so it can work through your A/V setup (e.g. TV out through a VCR to your TV).
Good and bad news (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:What? (Score:5, Insightful)
Plonk!
Re:eh? (Score:5, Insightful)
Ask and you shall receive? (Score:5, Insightful)
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).
Re:commercial? (Score:4, Insightful)
Do I have to buy TurboLinux? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Good and bad news (Score:5, Insightful)
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.
I bought my DVDs, they weren't free (Score:4, Insightful)
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.
# of useful proprietary apps on Linux: still zero (Score:3, Insightful)
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.
Re:KDE 3.1.2 Among others...? (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:What? (Score:3, Insightful)
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.
This is a Good Thing (Score:5, Insightful)
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)
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.
Re:Commercial Linux Software (Score:5, Insightful)
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.
Re:# of useful proprietary apps on Linux: still ze (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Ask and you shall receive? (Score:5, Insightful)
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).
Paying for software isn't THAT bad (Score:5, Insightful)
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.
step back and look again (Score:1, Insightful)
Saying linux users won't pay for anything is not true, they don't want to pay for intangibles,they think "owning" an intangible thought is nuts, and counter productive and bad for business and society, so they have developed and offer a new way to do things. They are willing to trade back and contribute actual effort to the hardware vendors as long as they stop being dicks about it. The ball is in the hardware vendors court, along with the "obscene profits from intangible copies" lobby, who need to get a clue or three as well.
You would have a valid point if the linux "movement" wasn't offering anything back, but they are, in spades, and they keep getting shat upon and told they are cheap, when they are the most giving and sharing folks out there. They keep going "HERE, take all this free stuff we developed, all we ask is access to a few devices specs, and make it legal to make them work better FOR YOU AND FOR US". And that is supposed to prove that "linux" is greedy? huh? Is that really so much for them to ask?
Noppe, try another argument, because that dog surely don't hunt.
Re:commercial? (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:commercial? (Score:1, Insightful)
Well, that statement can safely be discounted - it's an attempt at proof by assertion. Kindly provide some support for your claim.
(Let us note in passing that, historically, reverse-engineering without paying royalties has been a spur to growth in the software industry. Oh, what a terrible thing!)
OS Requirements (Score:5, Insightful)
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:# of useful proprietary apps on Linux: still ze (Score:3, Insightful)
I wonder what that makes Oracle...
Re:I use Solaris on UltraSparc (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:commercial? (Score:4, Insightful)
I happen to be an inhouse developer. Please don't talk down to me. Many open source projects may claim to be meritocracies but there is a lot of ego driven decision making and brown nosing going around.
I was not talking about Open source projects involving infrastructure such as Apache or mysql but rather application and utility development which I feel should remain in the hands of closed source developers who bother to hire usability experts to make user friendly interfaces and help to de-scope unneeded features which clutter up the interface. Most open source application software is a pain to use and quite uninspired as they try to emulate MS Office to closely.
Open source has it's place in fighting entrenchment of proprietary infrastructure and closed standards but fighting against Microsoft's competitors on the application front only solidifies the position of MS on the desktop.
You want to use Gimp or Open Office? Fine but don't discourage closed source developers from writing software for linux.
PS. I'm quite proud of the fact that I work for a private company that receives no hand outs from other companies.
Re:commercial? (Score:2, Insightful)
To be a trade secret, doesn't something have to be secret?
Re:What? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:I bought my DVDs, they weren't free (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Yes...But... (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:commercial? (Score:1, Insightful)
Well... some of those people may simply be complaining about their fair use of purchased items.
For example, what if your car had to be serviced by the manufacturer's mechanic? The company made the car posssible, added their technology, so only the company can access your car's systems???
I can imagine the scene... a young man tries to sell his tricked-out car, only to find that the car is Honda's intellectual property, and he is a criminal for modifying it and 'gasp' trying to redistribute it!!!!! Now his brain is in violation of the law because he is not permitted to understand the inner workings of the engine, as that technology is Honda's too!