Archive for May, 2005

The Ultra-High Quality WMV idea worked for the EYNTO show. Am now transencoding to XViD; using RAD Video Tools (free!). Those tools also saved me when I found out that the audio for the movie files taken by my digital camera were at the wrong rate, permitting me to transencode to AVI files w/o this audio hurdle.

As far as I’m aware, this is the only program that can convert WMV to XViD as well.

Update: Using VirtualDubMod to process the 2nd processing render for the XViD, as RAD can’t recognize its non-standard (maligned) output of the first. At least I can use it now, as the files are no longer unrecognizeable WMVs, but AVIs. Next up: rendering into MPG for DVD output.

I found the following commentaries on Slashdot insightful:

My friend once thought the same thing. After explaining why Bit Torrent wasn’t at fault for any of this, I decided to provide a visual demonstration. I asked him for a pencil, I took a pair of pliers, and I broke it in half. He then asked why I broke his pencil, and I told him that the pliers did it, and he should be accusing them. He said that he still didn’t understand, so I produced a pair of scissors and asked for a $100 note. He got the message.

You are still blaming the TOOL for what the PEOPLE do.

Your claim that 99.9% of P2P traffic is totally, irrefutably, undeniably illegal is ignorant, foolish, and asinine. Much like guns can be used for hunting and to commit murder, Bit Torrent is used for taking the load off of people who wish to distribute free content, but have no way to finance it. (After all, distributing free content isn’t a huge moneymaker)

Sure, there are a lot of people who use it to commit copyright infringement, much like there are a lot of people who use a gun to commit murder. That doesn’t mean that they are in the majority, especially not the huge percentage that you listed.

By banning P2P software, all you are doing is hurting those who use it LEGITIMATELY. You are not doing anything to stop those who use it illegally.

Why? Because the people who are actually behind the crime are going to commit the crime using another tool. If guns were banned, people would just use knives to commit murder, but those who hunt with guns will no longer be able to do that. Ban knifes, and people will turn to something else, but chefs will definitely be hurt by it.

Similarly, if Bit Torrent is banned, people will turn to FTP and HTTP. It’s not going to stop. It’s not even going to be HINDERED.

Tools are crafted with a specific purpose in mind, but people find many ways to abuse them or use them in a way that their creator did not intend. I’m sure that whoever invented bricks did not give a thought to people who might clobber someone over the head with them. I’m sure he only thought of how many buildings could be made with them. Similarly, the author of Bit Torrent likely didn’t think that his tool would be headline news after being used by people commiting copyright infringment, and it is not Bit Torrent’s fault that such a thing happened. It is, ultimately, the people who use it wrongly that are to blame, and MPAA is only going after Bit Torrent because, however futile it is, it’s far more easier to place the blame on Bit Torrent.

I think the $10 price of a ticket is starting to dim the “Magic” of movies more than bootlegs…

Why is it whenever anyone talks about wanting to ban guns because of the “dangers” they pose, they get laughed out of the spotlight and everyone says “guns don’t kill people, people kill people”. However, when it comes to piracy these idiots seem to be making progress with their message of trying to ban technology.

Quote from a press release from the MPAA.

“There is no better example of how theft dims the magic of the movies for everyone than this report today regarding BitTorrent providing users with illegal copies of Revenge of the Sith. The unfortunate fact is this type of theft happens on a regular basis on peer to peer networks all over the world.

“Fans have been lined up for days to see Revenge of the Sith. To preserve the quality of movies for fans like these and so many others, we must stop these Internet thieves from illegally trading valuable copyrighted materials on-line.

So Bittorrent is killing the movie industry!
But what’s this? Quote from CNN:

LOS ANGELES, California (Reuters) — The final chapter of the “Star Wars” movie saga grossed a record $50 million from its first 24 hours in North American theaters, the highest box office tally for a single day, according to studio estimates issued Friday.

So… Star Wars Episode III has garnered the highest revenue of any film? But wouldn’t that logically mean… that if Bittorrent is to be considered a cause to affect sales, that it would be one to increase these revenues? Even though that doesn’t seem plausible, it certainly is more likely than the MPAAs clear lack of logic.

I would also like to affirm that Bittorrent has been widely used for legal transfers; as it provides a means with those lacking the necessary and expensive resources to spread their works about (ie. independant film makers, musicians, etc.) Clumping all its heavily documented legal uses with those that this organization disproves of clearly shows their ignorance on the issue.