> Dr. Brin Wrote: > True, copyright piracy is (generally) bad. But the bloody > inconvenience and blithering incomprehensibility of simply using a > modern DVD player to watch a film that you already own - let alone > record an episode of NOVA - it is why I keep three VCRs in the house, > still.
I don't get why you would consider this to be so. DVD's are very simple: You put a disc (made the same way a CD is for 1 layer discs) into a device and close the door. The machine plays the Disc. This usually involves a non-bypassable FBI warning and possibly previews, then you get to simple menu, where pressing OK or Play starts the film (unless you need to change some language settings or something, because the Play menu option is almost always the default option). You can otherwise navigate the menu using the arrow buttons and select the option you want using the OK button. All very simple and easy.
As far as recording goes (and I don't know about DVR's) the only real inconvenience of using a dvd burner to record TV is the fact the DVDs hold such a small amount of data, and that it uses very poor compression algorithm and codec, which tend to cause a huge loss of quality (greater than that of shoddy vhs tapes).
I don't think you get why these technologies are being _simplified_ this way Dr. Brin. (Think Blinking 12:00 on old VCR's). You used this same argument before a few years ago when you said Qbasic was incomprehensible. I think you totally missed the point, Qbasic simplified using BASIC into it's real functional components, and eliminated the unnecessary bits, namely: It no longer acted like a operating system with a command prompt and inputs, instead it just allows you run/edit the program (the way all other computer language interpreters do, the way an interpreted language should work).
Simplifying is a _Good_ thing Dr. Brin. _______________________________________________ http://mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
