Linked by Thom Holwerda on Wed 29th Aug 2007 00:16 UTC, submitted by irbis
"With the release of Windows Vista, using your PC to watch and record TV has become a whole lot easier. Now, for the first time, Windows Media Center comes bundled with Home Premium and Ultimate versions of the standard Desktop operating system. However, Vista is pricey, and its form and function are of course dictated by Microsoft. If you want full control over your Home Theater PC, and don't want to have to pay Microsoft for it, then Linux is a more than capable alternative base for building a system of your own."
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RE[2]: Call me when everything is legit on Linux
by google_ninja on Wed 29th Aug 2007 14:33
in reply to "RE: Call me when everything is legit on Linux"
Member since:2006-02-05
1) Software patents (and thus the requirement to purchase licences for those patents) aren't recognised in large parts of the world
if you use the package w32codecs on your system, you are violating a liscence agreement, I don't care where you live. It is a redistribution of dlls copied from commercial programs, violating several liscence restrictions. There are other options which are legal however, such as ffmpeg, or vlc.
DeCSS is legal in a few places (like sweden), but it illegal in most countries, not because of how it cracks encryption, but because of the implicit agreement you agree to when you buy a commercial DVD.
If you live in america, or a country with strong trade relations with america, there is only one option for DVD playback on linux, and that is LDVD.
Last point, to the best of my knowledge there is no option, legal or otherwise to play HD content on linux, and due to insane DRM requirements that the movie industry is putting on all HD playback, I doubt we will ever see anything legal in that department.
Just because you live in the EU, doesn't make you exempt from the DVD stuff, it just makes you exempt from the mp3 stuff.
RE[3]: Call me when everything is legit on Linux
by WereCatf on Wed 29th Aug 2007 16:05
in reply to "RE[2]: Call me when everything is legit on Linux"
Member since:2006-02-15
if you use the package w32codecs on your system, you are violating a liscence agreement, I don't care where you live. It is a redistribution of dlls copied from commercial programs, violating several liscence restrictions. There are other options which are legal however, such as ffmpeg, or vlc.
I am in no way a lawyer or such, but here in Finland there was a case a few years back that the judge stated that any such license agreement where you have to click on Yes/No button are not valid in Finland. He stated clearly that such agreements are valid only if made face-to-face by the client and a representative of the corporation selling the software. So, I might be wrong, but I assume using w32codecs in Finland is legal.
RE[2]: Call me when everything is legit on Linux
by Almafeta on Wed 29th Aug 2007 15:38
in reply to "RE: Call me when everything is legit on Linux"
Member since:2007-02-22
RE[3]: Call me when everything is legit on Linux
by archiesteel on Wed 29th Aug 2007 18:40
in reply to "RE[2]: Call me when everything is legit on Linux"
Member since:2005-07-02
Member since:
2006-02-01
I don't see anybody ponying up money to purchase "Real" licenses and provide them to the Linux Media Center users
1) Software patents (and thus the requirement to purchase licences for those patents) aren't recognised in large parts of the world
2) For those unfortunate places where they are, a combination of http://shop.fluendo.com and any GStreamer-based media player (e.g. Elisa) should keep you happy.