RSSMicrosoft Takes Windows Media to the Movies
By Nate Mook | Published April 3, 2003, 10:25 PM
Establishing the largest digital cinema circuit, Microsoft and Landmark Theatres announced that 177 screens in 53 theaters will be equipped with digital playback systems running Windows Media 9 Series. The move attempts to spur the release of low-cost independent movies using Microsoft's video format.
"Moviegoers get the high-quality theatrical experience of Windows Media 9 Series, while producers and distributors benefit from the cost savings associated with mastering and releasing films digitally," said Dave Fester, general manager of the Windows Digital Media Division at Microsoft.
Each theater will screen films encoded with Windows Media 9 Series, supporting high-resolution digital video and 7.1-channel surround sound, according to Microsoft. Films can be streamed directly to the theater, or played via CD and DVD, complete with Windows Media Digital Rights Management copy protection.
Microsoft expects the rollout of Windows Media compatible theaters to be complete by the end of the year.
"I believe that we will look back at this moment as one when we were able to fundamentally change the business model in a way that will allow far more of these films to compete successfully," said Landmark CEO Paul Richardson.
Great! So right in the middle of Star Wars Ep 3, Ill get to see. "Windows Media Player has caused an Illegal Operation", followed by a blue Screen.
Microsoft is also really going to make things easy for those movie hackers out there. lol
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|I've been using WMP9 and WMA9 on XP for a few months, and haven't had a single BSOD. Has that happened to you guys, or are you just stereotyping Microsoft :)
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|BSOD's while watching a movie? could be.. lol lol lol lol lol anyway dude :D
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|Check here for details on what this actually involves.
Digital Cinema
http://www.microsoft.com...film/digitalcinema.aspx
Windows Media 9 Series for Digital Cinema Applications
http://www.microsoft.com...epapers/dcinemaapp.aspx
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|......and as we watch the screen during a very importantpart, a message pops up and says "buffering, please wait".
LOL
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|Except it only buffers for streaming media (this wouldn't be streaming media), and even then WMP is probably the best for streaming media, in that it doesn't have to constantly keep rebuffering the stream, like certain other apps... like Real Player.
If you are going to make a joke, at least make a coherant one.
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|Oh grow up, it was funny! LOL
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|No, it's old, uncreative, and completely untrue.
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|Go read it again...
"according to Microsoft. Films can be streamed directly to the theater, or played via CD and DVD"
I'm sure they are not going to be using an AOL dialup account but they DO talk about streaming, and that is another point of failure.
Tom.
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|Would you prefer that he have made a joke about the movie theater displaying "An error has occured and this application will be closed" at the very last scene? Would that make you feel better? LOL
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|Actually, it's not.
Streaming with Windows Media Series 9 has been much improved (Windows Media Server has always been the best at streaming audio/video).
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|Stop buying cheap hardware. You guys buy $100 machines and wonder why you get a BSOD? You add a 512MB for $10 and expect the machine to run like you spent $2000. Hardware is everything.
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|but who in there right mind makes the network stream format the same as the file stream format...
all you need is to capture the packets and write them to disk... Real and Quicktime are allot better at securing there streams.
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|......and as we watch the screen during a very importantpart, a message pops up and says "buffering, please wait".
LOL
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|two front speakers, two rear speakers, two side speakers, (thats six), the center channel, thats 7 and the subwoofer is .1 so there you go. 7.1 THX had that for years.
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|What conserns me more (7.1 being no news) is that M$ wants to rule cinemas too...
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|well thx isn't a type of sound system. it is a certification program from lucasfilm to insure the highest possible sound and visual quality of a movie. but yes dts and dolby have had 7.1 sound systems for a while now.
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|ok where is the 7th channel? i On the roof? It seems like the only place where it could possibly be.
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|i think you'll find the .1 (subwoofer) will be at the back
and the 7 will be 3 on the left / 3 on the right 1 at the front or back.
personally i think it more interesting to see if these microsoft theaters bluescreen right at the good bit :)
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|subwoofers are generally located in the front.
its left channel, center channel, right channel, subwoofer.
then you have the left side, right side and the two rears.
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