Date : Sat, 22 Aug 2009 21:08:32 +0100
From : mu.list@... (Mark Usher)
Subject: Micro Men (Formerly "Syntax Era") trailer
I used a proxy server at home in London that enabled me to watch from abroad
last Xmas.
-Mark
> -----Original Message-----
> From: bbc-micro-bounces+mu.list=aon.at@... [mailto:bbc-
> micro-bounces+mu.list=aon.at@...] On Behalf Of Rick
> Murray
> Sent: 22 August 2009 19:48
> To: BBC MailList
> Subject: Re: [BBC-Micro] Micro Men (Formerly "Syntax Era") trailer
>
> Anders Carlsson wrote:
>
> > Ah, you too?
>
> Yup. :-(
>
>
> > I even went as far as trying different proxies, but didn't get one to
> work
> > since it is streaming a Flash video.
>
> I just spent half an hour looking into this, it seems most people want
> proxies and IP address changers in order to hide some nefarious
> activity
> (like being locked out of some service, or dumping a billion spam in
> one
> easy session).
>
> A flat proxy won't do it, I think because the flash player might try
> direct socket access to the BBC that isn't covered by normal proxy
> settings. It looks like a VPN is necessary.
>
> The one that seems to fit the bill is http://www.ukivpn.com/ but you
> will have to decide if ?8/month or ?67/year is worth it. Ignore the
> US/Canada, there is a European option but I'd imagine US/Canada are
> their main markets as at least a bit of Europe has the ability to
> receive BBC via satellite.
>
> For me, I don't think I'd pay eight euros to watch a company I don't
> know for a promo of a TV programme. For other BBC material, I either
> watch/record it, look for a repeat, or say sod it and look on YouTube.
> While that is "dubious", the fact is I would be happy to subscribe to
> some sort of BBC/ITV based service. If the licence fee is about ?150
> pounds (I don't actually know what it is these days), that's about ?13
> a
> month. I'd pay ?10-?15/month for direct access to DOWNLOADABLE
> programmes from ITVplayer and BBC iPlayer. The downloadable is
> important, as I don't feel my setup can hack doing both quality AND
> streaming at the same time. Would the BBC prefer reasonable people (for
> there will always be idiots screaming about the BBC offering a
> subscription service, like they never heard of BBC Prime!) to sign up
> and choose their programming, or to look for it from other sources?
>
> On a related note, it is an interesting situation looking at recent
> legislation aimed at P2P networks and file sharing. Stupid France put
> in
> place a rather unclear law which seems to support DRM and fly in the
> face of their concept of having interoperability for music/video files
> in other players.
>
> The origin of this bollox:
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Millennium_Copyright_Act
>
> European legislature description:
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EU_Copyright_Directive
>
> The French law:
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DADVSI
>
>
> While I don't condone people who download movies (either DVD rips or
> CAM
> versions), I find it hard to condemn it because STILL the practice
> continues of using Region Coding in DVDs and also some games machines.
> Why is this bad? Disparity in release dates of titles, disparity in
> included extras, disparity in pricing.
> I can understand a dub in Flemish may take extra time, but why should
> this prevent an English language original being available for people
> who
> wish to watch it in its original language?
> Why did my Am?lie DVD cost *more* than the French original, and only
> contain the one disc, not the original two? Sure, it was both subtitled
> and an English language commentary included, but this was pretty
> inevitable as it was one of the films destined to do well in the
> international market. It's just a shame that JP Jeunet referred to the
> extras disc on numerous occasions and it wasn't provided.
>
> Doesn't the idea of releasing a (US) region 1 disc earlier and cheaper
> than the subsequent (European) region 2 disc fly in the face of
> existing
> legislation for anti-competitive practice? Was region coding simply an
> attempt to sucker more cash out of more affluent countries?
>
> I guess somebody with deep wallets is cosying up to government people
> in
> order that DRM measures are getting ever increasing legal protection -
> note in the French DADVSI, thanks to Vivendi/Universal sucking up to
> Sarko, there are quite heavy penalties for those making available
> software designed to circumvent copy protection methods. Now, can we
> perhaps have some legislation that makes region coding illegal? DRM is
> one thing, but it is somewhat ironic how the movie studios keep saying
> how we end-users don't play fair when they don't play fair themselves.
>
> It is also ironic that the very systems designed to prevent piracy are,
> in part, a large part of why "piracy" happens. For example, I
> frequently
> rip my own DVDs. The legality of this is debatable, however the way I
> see it I should be entitled to watch the content for which I have paid.
> Not so with my TV and stupid ****ing macrovision. I am not willing to
> put up with the top quarter of the picture tearing to a rhythm. So I
> rip
> my DVDs.
>
> It's only a short hop from that to ripping other people's DVDs (like
> borrowed ones, rental ones, etc). Then on to looking for content
> on-line. I believe a number of P2P networks require a two-way to try to
> work around problems of leaching. So, cool, there's all those things I
> copied off my friends. And suddenly tens of thousands of titles can
> become available in a way short length of time.
> It is, I guess, inevitable. Just like you used to see knock-off
> videotapes at open-air markets, nowadays people can do it digitally.
> For
> the better end user, for people such as myself, how much nicer would it
> have been to just buy/rent a disc, stick it in the player, enjoy the
> film. I was pushed into the domain of copying the disc by the very lame
> systems implemented to prevent me copying the disc. And now that is
> going to be classed as illegal. Can I sue under a sale-of-goods act
> that
> the disc is obviously defective? It isn't my DVD player, the other one
> does macrovision in the exact same way. It isn't my telly, I can watch
> unprotected DVDs and a few hundred TV channels without incident. It is
> these damn copy-protected discs. Or maybe I can just carry on ripping
> them and claim the interoperability clause?
>
> Or maybe the studios, the BBC, and all producers in the realm of
> digital
> content should get a frigging clue and realise that, like electricity,
> people will look to the path of least resistance. It wasn't missed by
> the world that iTunes-Store moved away from DRM. They probably made the
> connection that piracy will happen. It is more sensible to get cash
> from
> people who are happy to pay for the music, rather than stringent
> conditions and artificial limitations that push users towards
> illegality
> in order to make THEIR life simpler. I have several MP3 players. Some
> support DRM, some don't. The DRM versions are different. I don't have
> any DRM tracks, so no comment on how well this works in practice. I
> carry my Zen with me now, so it is imperative that my music work on
> both
> that and WinAMP (via the same SD card).
>
>
> This might have seen a long and rambling post. And yes, it was. The
> point, however, is that companies really ought to wake up and start
> looking to how to make things a little simpler for the end user rather
> than for themselves. Torchwood episodes are about 58 minutes, and about
> 320Mb. I found some with a few minutes of searching. Don't need 'em,
> already watched it. But it proves the point. With fast broadband I
> could
> have the five-part series downloaded in time to sit down and enjoy this
> evening. Wouldn't it be so much better if you could subscribe to a BBC
> offering? That way we gain (access to the content) and the BBC gains
> (in
> not getting ripped off) and everything is nice and legit.
>
>
> Sorry for the length of the post, but this is one of the things that
> really irks me. Much like the cluelessness of American websites when
> you
> tell them your country is France (or the UK) and it replies that your
> "zip code" is incorrect. <sigh!>
>
>
> Best wishes,
>
> Rick.
>
> --
> Rick Murray, eeePC901 & ADSL WiFI'd into it, all ETLAs!
> BBC B: DNFS, 2 x 5.25" floppies, EPROM prog, Acorn TTX
> E01S FileStore, A3000/A5000/RiscPC/various PCs/blahblah...
>
>
>
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