RSSMicrosoft Clarifies Vista HD Movie Stance
By Nate Mook | Published August 25, 2006, 12:32 PM
Microsoft is endeavoring to put out fires caused by what it says was a misstatement by a senior program manager who claimed 32-bit versions of Windows Vista would not support high-definition protected content, including HD DVD and Blu-ray. Nothing has changed, the company says.
At a session during TechEd 2006 in Sydney Thursday, Microsoft's Steve Riley asserted that because 32-bit versions of Windows must support unsigned drivers being loaded into the kernel, the company could not ensure that HD movies would be copy protected. In turn, only x64 versions of Vista would support commercial movies, he said.
x64 editions of Windows require drivers that are signed by Microsoft, which means they have undergone extensive testing. The process is costly for manufacturers, and even common hardware devices such as wireless network cards still lack proper drivers. Thus, few manufacturers ship PCs running the 64-bit operating system.
"The real deal is that no version of Windows Vista will make a determination as to whether any given piece of content should play back or not," explained Vista product manager Nick White. "The individual ISV providing the playback solutions will choose whether the playback environment, including environments that use 32-bit processors, meet the performance requirements for playback of protected High Definition content."
The confusion apparently arose because Riley was specifically talking about Windows Media Player 11. Microsoft ostensibly opted not to include HD DVD and Blu-ray support out of the box in Vista due to pressure from media companies who are wary about piracy.
But as Microsoft now says, this will not stop independent software vendors such as CyberLink and InterVideo from building playback solutions for high-definition protected content like HD DVD and Blu-ray. It will be up to them to negotiate licensing deals with the movie studios.
"It is up to a particular ISV to determine which environments are suitable for their playback solutions," added White. "To help ISVs make the playback determination, the OS will expose a list of any unsigned drivers on the system; nevertheless, it remains up to the ISV to determine whether playback will be enabled."
"In other words, nothing has changed with respect to Microsoft’s policies or development plans for protected HD playback," he said.
Standard DVD support, however, will be included in the Premium and Ultimate editions of Windows Vista, which means consumers will not need to purchase third party software to play movies as they do with Windows XP. Apple also includes native DVD movie support in its Mac OS X operating system.
How about everyone refuses to buy Vista.. just say no to Vista!
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|No. ;)
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|"Standard DVD support, however, will be included in the Premium and Ultimate editions of Windows Vista, which means consumers will not need to purchase third party software to play movies as they do with Windows XP. Apple also includes native DVD movie support in its Mac OS X operating system."
It's about time...
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|"The information he provided to that audience was incorrect and we can assure everyone that the developer that provided that information, and his family, have been liquidated."
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|LOL
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|The media companies have finally learned the only way to keep people from coping their discs is to prevent them from playing at all.
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|lol, if no one can play it all no one is going to buy it, so that really doesn't work. MS are jsut leaving it up to third parties to produce the codecs needed to play HD DVD and Blu-ray... Codecs which pirates will pirate. Exactly the same as people do with XP and normal MPEG2 codecs now. Nothing will change.
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|...
"Standard DVD support,
however, will be
included in the Premium
and Ultimate editions
of Windows Vista, which
means consumers will not
need to purchase third
party software to play
movies as they do with
Windows XP"
...
We don't know yet the pricing structure of
WinVista Premium and Ultimate editions, but
it might be more cost effective to obtain
one of the many ~free~ DVD players (like the
excellent PowerDVD) rather than pay a bunch
of extra cash just to get a player with the
OS.
[ Obviously, if WinVista Premium and Ultimate
have other features a user wants, that changes
the equation. ]
...
The Computer Rodent
...
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|Cyberlink's PowerDVD software isn't free. I guess you could install the trial version and then reinstall Vista Home Basic every 15-30 days when your DVD software trial expires.
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|Or you could uninstall PowerDVD, which leaves the codec necessary for viewing DVDs on your computer. Then you can watch DVDs with Win Media Player. For Free. Did I mention it was free?
http://www.wikihow.com/P...our-Windows-PC-for-Free
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|...
It's bundled "free" with hardware.
Your favorite rodent has two copies
of it that came with DVD players
and recorders he bought. Just got
to be smart enough to shop around.
...
The Computer Rodent
...
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|Windows Vista will be bundled "free" with hardware, too. Just be dumb enough to think that the price you pay for hardware, no matter what it is, doesn't include something to cover any commercial software in the box.
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|Thats not a bad ide actually. I dunno if it works, but I know WMP (and Media Player Classic, my player) can use the codec installed by Cyberlink and intervideo.
Trouble for Microsoft is... some DVDs I have come with free player/codec software.
EDIT: Nevermind, didn't read your link. Sorry.
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|Windows Vista's price will always be clearly stated.
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|...
"Just be dumb
enough to think
that the price
you pay for
hardware, no
matter what it
is, doesn't
include something
to cover any
commercial software
in the box"
...
When two DVD players are, say, $50, and one
has something good like PowerDVD while the
other doesn't, it ~is~ essentially a FREE
extra.
Often bundled software represents a loss to
the hardware manufacturer's profit than an
added fee the consumer pays.
But ~you~ go ahead and pay full price.
...
The Computer Rodent
...
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|Um... hardware manufacturers are out to make a PROFIT. That's their whole reason for BEING.
There are fees associated with added software. They just might be hidden in the overall price (IE let's say a processor costs the vendor $100. The street price is $150. Now let's say a software package is $20. The vendor can offer it for "free" with the processor because he still makes a profit.
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|The codec is free though - so you can happily use any other media player with Cyberlink's DVD decoder.
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|