You're probably familiar with Azureus because of its popular BitTorrent client, now they're rolling that into a digital media platform called Zudeo. As Wired points out, like Youtube, Zudeo aims to let content providers publish and showcase material easily and freely. Unlike Youtube, Zudeo is built to support high definition video and long form content. According to the CEO, it has signed deals with 12 television film and media companies, with content, pricing and DRM details forthcoming in the next couple of weeks. The site is active today, and you can already find and download some of Engadget HD's favorite content like
mariposaHD and
Elephant's Dream. We tested it out and had no problems with download speed or playback of the VC-1 and h.264 encoded files, but we're not sure if they're ready to rival Youtube just yet. Since it requires additional software and doesn't just play in the browser, a lot of the convenience of other video sharing sites is lost, and as traffic increases Zudeo will need to rely on its own customers to continue to seed downloaded files. We'll see if Zudeo has what it takes as HDTV and IPTV grow closer together over the next year, and face rivals at
Warner,
MyTVPal,
Xbox Live and others.
[Via
Wired &
PVR Wire]
posted Dec 4th 2006 4:02PM
VC-1, aka WMV
'Azureus' and 'DRM', I never thought I would hear of the two connected... I'll pass...
Boo hoo DRM is bad, DRM is the devil...DRM is here to stay regardless of what you do about it.
I don't like it either but whining about it will do nothing either.
Do you whine when your X-Box games won't play in your PS2(3)? Or when your copy of Office won't install on a Mac? How about 87 Octane in a Prelude?
Face it, as consumers we have NO RIGHTS to how we use our goods outside of the specifies manufacturers thoughts of how we are to use them.
I don't purchase iTunes but that isn't going to stop me from enjoying HD video wherever it is available.
With a format as scarce as it is at this moment I will embrace any method of helping me get as much QUALITY HD content as I can take, but all we need is people like you so quick to bash it to ruin a good thing.
@ Matt
"DRM is here to stay regardless of what you do about it."
I beg to differ, i can do exactly what i said i would, dont subscribe to sources that include DRM as a 'Feature'.
I welcome it, even if I won't use it. The fact that more people are starting to compete in digital distribution means that consumer options will increase, which is always welcome. I'm downloading A Clockwork Orange, my first online movie rental right now through the Xbox Live Video Marketplace. The selection wasn't great, but the fact that it works means more will be coming. I'm perfectly willing to forgo HD in favor of digital distribution, especially since I can use digital distribution with existing hardware instead of plunking down money for an HD set and player.
can someone explain the legality of bittorrent programs and how a person can define between legal and non-legal downloads?
computerguru, bittorrent sites are not necessarily illegal, but the content on them often is. Torrenting is just a system of sharing files, like P2P before it. The way to tell is by asking the question, "Is the copyright owner getting paid for this?" If you aren't paying, then your source probably isn't paying, and the owner isn't making money. Some stuff on torrent sites is legal, but sometimes it can be difficult to tell what is and what isn't, especially when the content (movies, music, software, etc.)is released by a relative unknown. Just practice some common sense, and most of the time you'll do right.
Before people say so: There is a non-java version of the azureus client available on their main site.
I support this new move, though. More competition + fan base = cheaper prices.
For the record, one can put 87 octane in a Prelude... but they clearly suffer the consequences when the ECU pulls back timing (and retards power) because all of the pinging/preignition going on--and that's the best case scenario! =D
They're fucking retards if they think I'm going to seed a video I just opened my browser to watch.
Bandwidth is still the bigger issue. I have no problem saturating a 5 Mbit line, what I need is 100+ Mbits with a quasi-reasonable upload. Then swarm-based downloads will be more important.
But do you believe your protest will put an end to DRM?
It will go on and unless we stopped an entire world of consumsers to not purchase any DRMed goods, then it will still exist.
As much as I hate to say it, we have no true choice in the matter if we wish to enjoy the content in the means in which it is designed for us to use it.
This is kind of like DivX Stage6.
http://stage6.divx.com
Stage6 also has HD content as well (you can also find "Elephant's Dream" there too) but is only available in DivX format.
...I assume that's what you meant by other rivals.
Consumers make the last call, pure and simple. DRM doesn't have to be a bad thing either, it's all about how it's used (Zudeo's plan of using their customers bandwidth as their backbone infrastructure is likely not going to work out so well though because most people chugging content, HD or not, don't have bandwidth to spare and even if they did why should they share it with "anon" when they don't have to somewhere else?). As when it comes to most thing technology-wise, educating the public and offering alternatives will keep things bearable.
- Tony R.
I tried to download mariposaHD yesterday (as we just got our HD projector set-up) and I could not get anything. Either the tracker wouldn't update, or I couldn't connect to any peers/seeds (if there were seeds) on any of the 5 episodes.
Anyone downloaded recently? Anywhere else I can get it?
You can get it right from their web page:
http://www.mariposaHD.tv
They run their own BitTorrent tracker, which may be more reliable than Azureus's.