Re: [tlug] Re: MPEG stream analyser?

[Patrick Niessen <tlug.niessen@example.com>]

I used to spend a lot of time with DVD / DIvX related stuff a few
years ago (before the baby came).  At the time there were many tools
available, but they were often unstable, ugly and running on Windows. 
But they worked.

Why not look for some windows based tool where sourcecode is available
and then implement  better on linux?

Not sure about which are open source, but the standard MPEG tool was
IFO edit www.ifoedit.com.

Also Nero Burning rom includes a rip/recode tool.  Actually yesterday
I made a backup of a copy protected DVD using MactheRipper on my Mac
(didn't show colours corectly on my multiregion/multi system DVD
player), and then used the Nero tool to transcode and to make an image
file.  I didn't do any detail study but it seems you can edit the
streams to some extend.  You could certainly adjust the rezising
percentage for each chapter, etc, and I think delete video and audio
tracks.  Since Nero also offers the Linux version why not try this
solution.  I think Nero will not do the decryption part, so you would
need to use a different tool for ripping.

MacTheRipper removed region code, in the past I used SmartRipper on
Windows, and there you had many more options, like remove FBI warning
FFW lock.

To add my voice to the political argument, I am mostly pissed off by
the delayed release and region code stuff of the Movie industry.  This
has gotten better, but I really hate to wait 6 month before a box
office hit in the US is released in Japan.  No wonder people in Asia
like to buy cheap pirate copies of the movies.  But if I have the
choice I will always buy the original, because I want the best quality
and no 1 week download wait.  So the way they should beat the pirates
is not copy protection but reducing the price, producing more, and
provide guaranteed higher quality (ie. DTS Audio and HiVision).  Some
DVDs are very good in that respect (eg. Shrek) where the bonus
material is actually just as funny as the movie itself, and adds about
an hour of extra entertainment.  Some however, even do not use the
whole DVD Capacity so that they can sell more disks (eg. TV Series). 
Thats the reason they don't want the blueray format for the next
generation - they may be forced to pack all episodes on one disk (so
less profitable).

For music the situation is obviously worse.  While the quality and
quantity of music data, and cover material has roughly remained the
same, the price has increased despite money saving CD technology, and
now online distribution.  They must understand that their business is
now in a mature market, where margins are small, but volume is high
(bit like daily use consumer products).  They should now diversify
their range so that you can have "low" quality AAC/MP3 files which are
easy and quick to obtain at very low price, and a niche for High
Fidelity Audiophiles, with 16 Channel Surround recording GigaAudio
Cds. As a Mass producer, they should be able to easily undercut the
marging of any pirate even if he operates in a giant sweatshop in
China, so professional record/movie piracy will become unattractive as
there a few profits to be made.

-- 
Patrick Niessen