Can mpeg-4 last without DRM

mi5moav · #1 March 16th, 2004, 12:26 AM

I have a bad feeling apple screwed up here by adopting mpeg-4 before it was ready. You have all these movie studios that want to get dvds out and allow for downloads of videos and they need DRM. The wanted DRM before quality. It's kinda of sad. If Apple would have just stuck with it old codecs and wrapped and awesome DRM into it and not gone crazy with mpeg-4 I think Microsoft would not have grabbed the entire business. I think for the next 3-5 years until some new media comes out to replace the dvd. Every DVD is going to have Microsoft technology on it. Every movie we download, every broadcast we save to our players is going to have some crappy codec with Microsoft's DRM. I really have no clue as to how apple can dig itself out of this hole.

MisterMe · #2 March 16th, 2004, 08:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mi5moav

I have a bad feeling apple screwed up here by adopting mpeg-4 before it was ready. You have all these movie studios that want to get dvds out and allow for downloads of videos and they need DRM. The wanted DRM before quality. It's kinda of sad. If Apple would have just stuck with it old codecs and wrapped and awesome DRM into it and not gone crazy with mpeg-4 I think Microsoft would not have grabbed the entire business. I think for the next 3-5 years until some new media comes out to replace the dvd. Every DVD is going to have Microsoft technology on it. Every movie we download, every broadcast we save to our players is going to have some crappy codec with Microsoft's DRM. I really have no clue as to how apple can dig itself out of this hole.

MPEG stands for Moving Pictures Engineering Group. MPEG-4 is a standard based on Apple's QuickTime, but it is not Apple's standard. MPEG LA is coordinating the development of DRM for MPEG-4 as you can read here.

Pengu · #3 March 16th, 2004, 08:50 AM

Also, if you bothered to read the ENTIRE story about WM9 on DVDs, you would realise that it is being given as an OPTION for use on DVDs.

ElDiabloConCaca · #4 March 16th, 2004, 09:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mi5moav

You have all these movie studios that want to get dvds out and allow for downloads of videos and they need DRM.

Link please? I don't know of any movie studio that is pushing for downloads of movies...

**fryke** · #5 March 16th, 2004, 09:50 AM

I'm pretty sure that Apple could, at any time, add their DRM (used in iTMS' AAC files) to MPEG-4 video files. Don't spread FUD.

mi5moav · #6 March 16th, 2004, 10:17 AM

moviebeam.com very interesting technology/wireless using encoded pbs and cbs signals. Using Microsoft DRM

ElDiabloConCaca · #7 March 16th, 2004, 11:05 AM

Ah, I see... interesting concept -- kind of like "Movies on Demand" from TimeWarner Cable.

Still, it seems more like a movie rental technology rather than a streaming movie technology, and has nothing to do with movie studios -- kind of like Blockbuster Video has nothing to do with movie studios.

It would be interesting to see what kind of connections that device has and whether it would be possible (or even legal) to "capture" a video from that device onto your computer.