Possible warning about THX 1138 Blu-Ray

[Mr. Laser Beam]

If anyone reading this actually *owns* this Blu-Ray and has gotten it to work without needing to expand their player, I'd love to hear about it. And if so, tell me what kind of player you have. I'd love to make my thirty bucks count for something.

 

[Rii]

Something I have commonly done when I buy PC games is immediately download a cracked version, mostly to get rid of disc checks. Those annoy the shit out of me.

It's also why I like Steam: no discs at all! Though I realize that's a whole 'nother world of DRM in itself.

The beauty about steam though is that although it is the most DRMed product out there, it is unobtrusive to the user. So long as it doesn't get in the way, no one cares. Too bad certain other organizations don't get the hint.

It's unobtrusive to the user right up until they want to sell the product they've purchased. Then the purpose of digital distribution becomes very clear.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

Something I have commonly done when I buy PC games is immediately download a cracked version, mostly to get rid of disc checks. Those annoy the shit out of me.

It's also why I like Steam: no discs at all! Though I realize that's a whole 'nother world of DRM in itself.

The beauty about steam though is that although it is the most DRMed product out there, it is unobtrusive to the user. So long as it doesn't get in the way, no one cares. Too bad certain other organizations don't get the hint.

It's unobtrusive to the user right up until they want to sell the product they've purchased. Then the purpose of digital distribution becomes very clear.

The problem is, software is not really sold to you as a "product." You're sold a license. And as far as Steam is concerned, the licenses are not transferable.

Anyway, we're talking about PC games, where after a few years the most you're likely to get out of one is a few bucks. While it would be nice to be able to sell my Steam games at some point, the odds of me ever wanting to are rather slim and even if I could, I would get very little out of them. Steam has the benefit of selling things that depreciate very quickly.

 

[Rii]

The beauty about steam though is that although it is the most DRMed product out there, it is unobtrusive to the user. So long as it doesn't get in the way, no one cares. Too bad certain other organizations don't get the hint.

It's unobtrusive to the user right up until they want to sell the product they've purchased. Then the purpose of digital distribution becomes very clear.

The problem is, software is not really sold to you as a "product." You're sold a license.

Yeah, well, we probably shouldn't go any further down that particular rabbit hole.

And as far as Steam is concerned, the licenses are not transferable.

Oh I transferred it; just took more work for less return than I would've liked.

Anyway, we're talking about PC games, where after a few years the most you're likely to get out of one is a few bucks. While it would be nice to be able to sell my Steam games at some point, the odds of me ever wanting to are rather slim and even if I could, I would get very little out of them. Steam has the benefit of selling things that depreciate very quickly.

True enough. I'll hop back on the Steam bandwagon at some point, I just won't be buying anything until it's a fraction of its original price.

 

[Captain Craig]

Steam? I'd need a google tutorial to know where this conversation has gone.

Steam is basically iTunes for PC games.

That I understand. Thought it would be more techy than that.

 

[TheBrew]

It is a pretty awesome platform to get games on the cheap. I think I paid $7.50 for Oblivion and all of it's expansions.

 

[wildstar]

I remember when VHS and then DVD players just worked. You put in a movie and it just worked.
Firmware, SD cards, player compatibility with this or that movie. WTF. Is it too hard to just be able to buy a movie, and play it on your player? And companies wonder why people go to non legal methods.

 

[Servo]

It is a pretty awesome platform to get games on the cheap. I think I paid $7.50 for Oblivion and all of it's expansions.

It's great for older stuff, too. I got the original Fallout, and Aliens vs Predator for £2.99 each. Awesome games.

 

[Dusty Ayres]

I remember when VHS and then DVD players just worked. You put in a movie and it just worked.
Firmware, SD cards, player compatibility with this or that movie. WTF. Is it too hard to just be able to buy a movie, and play it on your player? And companies wonder why people go to non legal methods.

What's with all of the whining? Just buy a PS3 like I intend to.

I just had an unpleasant surprise that is going to change my buying habits with regards to Blu-Ray.

A couple weeks ago Lucas' director's cut of THX-1138 was released to Blu-Ray. As is typical here in Canada the local Future Shop didn't bother ordering it right away, but a copy showed up this week with the new releases. Not actually realizing it was out, I picked it up on spec. I have the DVD set already for this, but I am upgrading to BD when the opportunity arises. THX is actually one of only two examples of a "remastered" film that I like better than the original version (ST-TMP is the other).

I get the disc home and go to play it. After the FBI warning and WB logo the load screen cycles. And cycles. And cycles. After 20 minutes (and a reboot of the player in case it was a glitch) I go online and Google to see if maybe a firmware update is needed. My machine was bought at Christmas and last updated then, so I think maybe the time has come for an update.

I find instead forum entries by people who experienced the same problem as I did. And the solutions given do not include firmware updates - they already tried that. Apparently, according to the "solution posts" Lucas has loaded the THX1138 BD with so much sh*t that most Blu-Ray players don't have enough hard drive space, so apparently it requires an SD card in order to work.

I don't even know if my BD player has an input for an SD - those are the cards used in things like digital cameras. At this point I'll put a question mark next to that in case they meant a flash drive. Though I don't know if my player has a hole for one of those, either.

You bought a Blu-Ray player without knowing if it has a SD card slot? You're supposed to figure out these things before you buy one.

And FYI, Lucas isn't the only one: a lot of companies have loaded this onto their BR-DVD's, because people like you love to have all of this extra info about movies that you can just as easily read about in the 'making of' books published around the time the movies in question come out.