Lara Croft Tomb Raider - Die Wiege Des Lebens HD DVDI think it feels more or less like what I would have felt, if I bought sex. Great during the sex, and quite bad afterwards. Why? I bought my probably first and last HD-DVD movie “Lara Croft Tomb Raider – Die Wiege Des Lebens” (The Cradle Of Life).

No, no, no, it isn’t cause the movie came with german sound, it has an english track as well. If you still don’t understand why I feel bad, here is why:

I sat down Sunday evening and started watching the movie on my computer. The picture quality was stunning. I have nothing to say against it. Well, after 5 minutes I turned it off, as I wanted to see it with one of the projectors (Panasonic PT-AE700E 1000 Ansi Lumen, Contrast 2000:1,1280×720) we have at work. I hope to be able to enjoy the movie, but it sure made me thinking. The format is fully owned by Microsoft, and as always, when they reinvent the wheel, you need to buy a brand new computer.

Here is what CONCORDE HOME ENTERTAINMENT sets as minimum requirements:

  • Windows XP
  • Microsoft Windows Media Player 9 Series
  • Intel Pentium 4 2.5 GHz or AMD Athlon XP 2.500
  • Graphic card: 8x AGP (ATI Radeon 9500 or nVidia GeForce 5)
  • 512 MB Ram
  • DVD-ROM (8x)

Appearently it also works with Microsoft Windows Media Player 9 for MacOS X, so I can play the movie also on that system. Now, this is why I feel really bad. Microsoft seems not to be able to grow more in the PC market, as they already more or less have monopoly. But the company still has to grow, and now the home entertainment industry seems to become their next victim. The DVD is of course copy protected, and you are not capable of playing it on any other media player or operating system for that matter.

It was with great joy I read that DVD-Jon (and his friends) once again had hacked a DVD format, this time this format, the WMV-HD. The platform uses the VC-1 reference decoder, which is developed by Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers. With his hack I can possibly play WMV9 files on my VideoLAN client in Zeta and Linux. I have never defended Jon Lech Johansen before, but I will from now on. All major standard should be open, so that all operating systems and software can compete on equal terms. Microsoft is not to set standards any more. If we adopt their standards, we will just help them keep their monopoly position. It feels more and more like they have become the world’s technical goverment, and we are to pay an annual tax to them. THIS JUST CAN’T BE RIGHT…

(and his friends) once again had hacked a DVD format, this time this format, the WMV-HD. The platform uses the VC-1 reference decoder, which is developed by Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers. With his hack I can possibly play WMV9 files on my VideoLAN client in Zeta and Linux. I have never defended Jon Lech Johansen before, but I will from now on. All major standard should be open, so that all operating systems and software can compete on equal terms. Microsoft is not to set standards any more. If we adopt their standards, we will just help them keep their monopoly position. It feels more and more like they have become the world’s technical goverment, and we are to pay an annual tax to them. THIS JUST CAN’T BE RIGHT…(and his friends) once again had hacked a DVD format, this time this format, the WMV-HD. The platform uses the VC-1 reference decoder, which is developed by Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers. With his hack I can possibly play WMV9 files on my VideoLAN client in Zeta and Linux. I have never defended Jon Lech Johansen before, but I will from now on. All major standard should be open, so that all operating systems and software can compete on equal terms. Microsoft is not to set standards any more. If we adopt their standards, we will just help them keep their monopoly position. It feels more and more like they have become the world’s technical goverment, and we are to pay an annual tax to them. THIS JUST CAN’T BE RIGHT…I don’t know if it works with Turbolinux, the first major Linux distribution that shipped a media player capable of streaming pure Windows Media format (both audio and video). But it doesn’t change the very fact that you should be able to play your CDs and DVDs on what ever player and operating system that you as a consumer want.

Well, I almost forgot…I can’t play the movie on my homecinema system either. My DVD player doesn’t play the WMV-HD format and my surround receiver has no decoder for the Windows Media Audio Professional 5.1 format, only Dolby Digital and DTS.

I was so lucky to just buy a new PC and I made sure that the hardware could play back this format, but not cause I wanted to use it. The format indicates what system requirements Windows will need in the future. But I will not buy a new homecinema system to be able to play this format. I hope this format will never become a standard. Think of the total price of changing a bigger part of your homecinema system and buying a new PC would be.

To end it where I started, I’m scarred that I have gotten a disease that I can’t get rid off. I hope somebody soon will find a cure, a competing format (hopefully an open one)!