Rant du Jour
This weekend they started a media blitz for a new home video format called Divx. For those who aren't familiar, it's a format parasitic on the new DVD digital video technology. Divx disks are semi-cheap ($4-5 per title), but the real nasty part is that a Divx player won't run without 1) an account, and 2) a phone hookup to talk to that account. When you buy a movie, you get two days' viewing, and the first viewing marks the disk as only playable on its host machine. After the two days, it's pay-per-view. Every time you play the disk, your machine talks to the account and charges you.
Now, I don't know about y'all, but I don't like pay-per view. Worse, I don't like the idea that Divx means a studio can restrict their content to 100% pay-per-view. Like Lion King. VCRs are gonna be rendered obsolete over the next 5-7 years, and now we have a format war between DVD and Divx. I want to buy Lion King on open DVD, because you just know the Helenator is gonna watch it 100 times.
Furthermore, if I watch some of the titles Fred was alluding to, I'd sure hate to have my "account" be made aware of it.
Folks, Please Do Not Support Divx.
thank you |
