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Is Anyone Else Miffed...
07-28-2010, 07:57 PM
...that Microsoft did not include native support for Blu Ray movies in Windows 7?
I'm not really counting this as a strike against Microsoft because it's a copyright issue. Neither Apple or Canonical (Ubuntu Linux) have been able to get their own native support either. So you know who I blame. *Glares in the general direction of the MPAA.*
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Actually, I'm rather the opposite.
I'd have preferred they left support for any video codec (and device, in the case of things like DVD and Blu-Ray) out of the OS entirely. If I *want* to watch movies on my PC, regardless of the format, then I'll install the appropriate bits needed to watch the movies. The OS should not be the be-all and end-all of everything. It should be the framework upon which I can hang whatever I want. It should be lean, streamlined, and efficient, not bloated and overgrown with solutions for problems that I might not have.
So I'm glad there's no Blu-Ray support, even if the reason for it isn't good sense but instead corporate greed on someone else's part.
--sofaspud
--"Listening to your kid is the audio equivalent of a Salvador Dali painting, Spud." --OpMegs
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I'm just miffed that I can't watch blu-ray on the Dell Streak...
wait, what?
"No can brain today. Want cheezeburger."
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Sofaspud, kinda missin' the point here.
I have to blow an additional 50-100USD on those 'Extra Bits' of third party software. Software that is not fully assured to not fuck up your system. That's on top of the 250USD I spent on the hardware, and the 180USD for the operating system (because there was no way in hell I was sticking with Vista). The compression codecs are not free and it ticks me off. And some people wonder why software piracy is so prevalent.
Wire... words fail me.
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eh, I'm just funning.
I'm with Spud, here, to be honest - the video codecs should not have been part of the OS install. I also agree with you, BA - the codec should not be an additional purchase price. It's a tidy little scam, though, sell you the movie, then sell you the means to view it.
"No can brain today. Want cheezeburger."
From NGE: Nobody Dies, by Gregg Landsman
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Perhaps I should have been more clear about that part initially. (^_^  I would have been fine if it was just a quick codec install and then I could use whatever player I like.
Instead I have to install an entire other player into my system just to watch Blu Ray movies. And shell out a not-so-inconsiderable amount of money, too.
Nicest would have been during the OS Install process: "We would like to offer the following software to you, free of charge since you where so kind to patronize our fine company. Pick and choose whatever you wish and it will be automatically installed with the Operating System."
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now that smells like a late-90s Slackware install...
"Please select packages to install. Press F1 for additional information about any package"
Which was a GOOD FRAKKIN IDEA, and I miss it.
"No can brain today. Want cheezeburger."
From NGE: Nobody Dies, by Gregg Landsman
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Part of the reason the OS costs so much is because they insist on bundling all this junk in with it. Granted, Blu-Ray support was not included, but all the other licensed codecs that you got (the ability to view JPGs, the ability to use ZIP-compressed folders, the ability to listen to MP3s, etc) are all licensed, and those licenses cost money, which Microsoft quite happily passes on to the consumer. So you're paying for what you get, it's not 'free' in any sense of the word.
If those licenses were not included -- if those bits didn't come with the OS -- then the OS would not cost so much*. And you could use your saved cash to buy whatever additional bits you needed. This is how the entire OS paradigm was planned to work. An OS -- an Operating System -- was never meant to do everything the way it does now. This is why you hear geeks griping about how Windows is fail-prone. It is -- and the primary reason is because they keep cramming so much stuff under the hood and slathering on coats of paint to hide the rust.**
Look, the ability to view Blu-Ray (or any other proprietary content stream) is not ever free. It can't be. The companies that create the container format -- Blu-Ray, in this case; odd codecs in others -- are banking on the revenue stream from people buying said software, either directly at X bucks a pop bundled with their own branded player, or via licensing deals with other vendors to make it work transparently behind the scenes. No matter what, they get paid, and you're the one paying for it.
If Blu-Ray support was included in Windows 7, it would have a higher price, as simple as that. Now, undoubtedly -- because Gates and Co. are intelligent, despite rumors to the contrary -- there are plans in place to include Blu-Ray in future releases or patches. I'd be willing to bet that Microsoft in fact planned their price point such that they could include Blu-Ray at what they consider a viable licensing rate without affecting the retail price -- which means that currently they are enjoying a tad more profit per sale than they might otherwise. This is... debatable, ethically, but it's sound marketing and business planning. It lets them add content down the road ("Look! We're now giving you Blu-Ray, free!") without having to sacrifice profits or anger the user base.
(* in an ideal world where they hadn't already opened the genie's bottle of bundled software, of course; it's quite impossible to go back, now.
** this does not make me a *nix aficionado; I wish the Nixxers would get their damn act together already and produce something actually easy to use, without going to the extreme that Windows has where it tries to do everything and ends up dropping all that it's juggling every other moment)
--sofaspud
--"Listening to your kid is the audio equivalent of a Salvador Dali painting, Spud." --OpMegs
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I wonder what happens if you stick a DVD into a bone-stock Windows 7 installation....
Anyone care to test that? On my machine, VLC turns the DVD into moving pictures and sound for me.
"No can brain today. Want cheezeburger."
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I have neither vlc nor wmp on my bare-bones-ish win7 install (pure gaming box, no flash even).
windows recognized the disk as a dvd and prompted me to download/install windows media player.
Not ideal, but acceptable.
-Terry
-----
"so listen up boy, or pornography starring your mother will be the second worst thing to happen to you today"
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I wonder if k-lite 6.x release of the codec pack with their home media center thing does Blu-Ray?
CattyNebulart
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I believe there is bluray support in nix, just very very illegal in the USA. Also free, so sometimes codecs are free. Also when the codecs are bundled with the OS you get to benefit from the purchasing power MS has and the maker of the codec gets the benefit that it will work out of the box for most people.
i would prefer to not see it bundeled but I also know most people would lack the skill to install a new codex. and without an browser and unzip utility it's hard to get other pieces of software needed unless you have multiple PC's.
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Wiredgeek Wrote:I wonder what happens if you stick a DVD into a bone-stock Windows 7 installation....
Anyone care to test that? On my machine, VLC turns the DVD into moving pictures and sound for me.
I've done that, and was offered the choice of Windows Media Player or Windows Media Center to be the default autoplay option. Of cause I also have a RPC-1 DVD rom drive which Windows 7 hates to do video playback from.
--Rod.H
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Yeah, DVD support became native with a Window Media Player release sometime ago... I think it was with the release of Vista. *Cringes*
Still, if we hold to this track record this means that there will be no Blu Ray support until Windows 8 comes along. Argh. I want seemless support that allows me to use whichever player I choose, not some proprietary third-party's player!
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