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    DRM/Vista and vid quality

    Discussion in 'Windows OS and Software' started by Duckfart, Apr 10, 2007.

  1. Duckfart

    Duckfart Notebook Evangelist

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    DRM in Vista degrades the quality of videos/MP3, I was not aware of this till today.
    I have notice a dramatic difference in my video quality (bought DVDs and video links on the web) using WMP11; does the DRM affect all players or just WMP11?
    I am wondering if anyone has a way around this.
     
    Duckfart, Apr 10, 2007
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  2. fabarati

    fabarati Frorum Obfuscator

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    Uhhhh... no it doesn't. Drm in vista affects DRM'd stuff, and degrading videoquality only happens to HDCP stuff from hd-dvd/blueray
     
    fabarati, Apr 10, 2007
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  3. Duckfart

    Duckfart Notebook Evangelist

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    Duckfart, Apr 10, 2007
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  4. fabarati

    fabarati Frorum Obfuscator

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    better codecs (use CCCP, an optimzed verion of ffdshow plus everything you need to view nearly any video-file), better drivers... and maybe that update.
     
    fabarati, Apr 10, 2007
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  5. Duckfart

    Duckfart Notebook Evangelist

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    Cool, thanks. The update fixed it.
    I will try CCCp
     
    Duckfart, Apr 10, 2007
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  6. Paul

    Paul Mom! Hot Pockets! NBR Reviewer

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    Uhhh... no. Vista degrades the quality of "premium" content, which refers to all commercially encrypted content, regardless of resolution. This applies to all types of video and audio (including streaming audio/video content and Super Audio CDs). That's in the Vista Content Protection documentation buddy. But yes, the DRM in Vista only affects "DRM'd" stuff so to speak, so unless you're DVDs and videos are encrypted in such a way that your computer's hardware wasn't designed to handle (which is not very likely at this point in time... wait about a year for that), you shouldn't see a degradation in quality.

    That being said, if this is the case, then changing codecs or media players won't solve anything. This DRM is built into Vista, and works regardless of the media player or the driving codec; it analyzes the media through signals that are sent from your hardware and hardware drivers.
     
    Paul, Apr 11, 2007
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  7. havand

    havand Notebook Consultant

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    Why the heck would Microsoft do that????
     
    havand, Apr 11, 2007
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  8. Paul

    Paul Mom! Hot Pockets! NBR Reviewer

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    It's anti-piracy. It ensures that you not only have the proper (unpirated) media and software, but also that you're playing it on the proper hardware (i.e. DRM-enabled hardware). For instance, HDCP does not support playing through component cables; it requires a digital connection of either DVI or HDMI, and both of those must support HDCP as well. Also, encrypted SACDs will not work through an S/PDIF jack in Vista because the S/PDIF does not have hardware DRM to support the encryption of the SACD (or so I've heard).

    This hardware-enabled DRM is preferred by the media companies (and MS) because software can be easily subverted and cracked (as HD-DVD, Blu-Ray, and HDCP have already been cracked). So if you try to play a cracked or pirated media, the hardware (which is not easily changed) is supposed to catch it and interrupt or degrade it. But what happens if you don't have that required hardware, or if (in the case of Vista) a driver goes bad or sends the wrong signals which Vista interprets as the hardware detecting pirated software? I'll leave that for you to decide...
     
    Paul, Apr 11, 2007
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  9. fabarati

    fabarati Frorum Obfuscator

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    yeah, ok. I actually first tought to write all stuff drm'd, but wasn't sure and i didn't want to go research it (it was 12.54 am when i wrote that). But does all DRM work with vistas drm?
     
    fabarati, Apr 11, 2007
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  10. Paul

    Paul Mom! Hot Pockets! NBR Reviewer

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    I'm not sure exactly what you mean here. Are you asking if all hardware forms of DRM work with Vista? If so, then I would say yes; if not now, then Vista will surely be updated for it.
     
    Paul, Apr 11, 2007
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  11. fabarati

    fabarati Frorum Obfuscator

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    yes, that was what i meant. I think. I had a slightly different question originaly, but can't for the life of me remeber it (I blame Stargate SG1)
     
    fabarati, Apr 11, 2007
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