iansilv: have you ever tried something called facts?
Yes.
MGM dropped two movies last week, before AnyDVD was able to copy the BD+ files, so obviously that drop had nothing to do with BD+ being cracked, which it is not, it's circumvented for the moment. Once you can completely remove it and backup your Blurays with your BR-burner, then i would say its cracked.
Anyone who has followed slysoft, anydvd, or the decryption movement, can see that if it is not completely cracked at this moment, it will be soon. There are people that read, post, and lurk in these forums who are pretty high up in the food chain when it comes to making decisions concerning whether or not a movie should be released on blu ray. I happen to know for a fact that this forum is read by some pretty serious decision makers. Anyone reading what has been going on here should have been able to see that BD+ was going to be cracked, so any decisions based on the copy protection that BD+ afforded them were going to be based on a temporary benefit.
I also think that people posting here are seriously discounting the market affect an uncrackable encryption scheme will have on things. If James and slysoft and everyone else in the world trying to crack BD+ threw up their hands and said, "dang- they are right- BD+ can't be broken," Bluray would win. the major movies by Spielberg and Lucas would insure it. An unbreakable, un-copyable encryption scheme is simply too seductive for these guys, especially with the level of quality these movies are presented in on these hidef disks.
And regarding this statement "I think he knows that another studio is going to drop bluray support, and I think he is trying to distance himself from the inevitable PR disaster that will come from losing this format war." Where are the facts? Which studio is dropping Bluray? Where are the statements? If you look at the facts, Toshibas pricedrop helping HD DVD, Bluray selling a lot more movies, movie support for both, there is no way anyone can predict how it's all going to end if at all. So to predict an inevitable disaster is ridiculous. How about a little more objectivity?
I started out with the statement "I think." That covers most of what you said.
If you listen to Howard's statement, it completely contradicts his usual arrogant swagger he has from other interviews. If Bluray loses this format war, it is on his watch. It will be the biggest PR nightmare he will have to deal with as a CEO. Forget the rootkit, forget the failed sony mp3 players, the proprietary encryption schemes, minidisk, PS3 shortage, and whatever else Sony has botched recently. Sony has repeatedly tried to create revenue streams for itself based around two things- control of a format and the creation of a group of companies around that format. If they lose, this will not only affect their current revenue streams and cause them to lose a lot of money over bluray, but it will haunt them with every other deal they try to do with other companies in the future- "OK Sony, is this going to be another bluray/betamax disaster?"
So- i am basing it on everything i have read about sony's CEO and the contradictions his statement show in the face of the new sales figures for Toshiba. I believe we are going in to the perfect storm for HDDVD to win.
As for being objective, I don't have to be. I think Bluray sucks because it has the most restrictive copying schemes. HDDVD is much closer to implementing mandatory managed copy, and quite frankly, I don't give a crap what the laws say- the original law concerning making a backup copy has yet to be overturned and put down by these new encryption practices. i want bluray dead so we can have one more-consumer-friendly format and have all movies on it with higher picture and sound quality.
So blob- there's your facts and objective attitude.
oliceman: