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Lindows.com, Inc. (www.lindows.com) today announced the release of Lindows DVD Player, a software application that joins a long line of Linux-based DVD player programs such as Xine, VideoLAN client, Mplayer, and Ogle. What makes the Lindows DVD player unique is its name and the fact that it costs money while the other applications don't. "In our continuing mission to give consumers choice, we're introducing this DVD player for Lindows," said Michael Robertson, Lindows CEO. "As I said, our goal is to give consumers choice, and that is what we have done." Philips DVP642 DVD player brings MPEG4 to the masses. WHAT better way to contradict Bill Gates' gloomy predictions about the Death of the DVD than reviewing a very affordable DVD player. This one is able to play almost every file you throw at it, including MPEG1, MPEG2 (.MPG) and AVI video clips encoded in the popular MPEG4 format (with the proprietary codec DivX or the open source Xvid codec). You know, the kind of videos often posted on the web and shared on Peer-to-Peer networks (National Geographic kind of material, I'm told). The Phillips DVP642 quickly won a large following by its low price and hefty feature set, including component video output, NTSC and PAL selectable output signal, and the possibility of making it region free just by entering a sequence of commands on the remote. Oops, the MPAA tells me I was not supposed to say this. Your DVD might not be the first device that springs to mind as a channel for connecting your PC to your home entertainment system, but why not? DVD players can already handle some of the files stored on your PC: MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 movies and in many cases MP3s. And DVD players are already on good terms with your TV and your sound system. Add a PC card slot for wired or wireless networking; toss in support for WMA music, MPEG-4 video and JPEG still images; and you've got yourself a pretty good PC-to-entertainment-center bridge. Hewlett-Packard and Philips said that they have developed a content-protection system for DVDs, designed to protect users from burning "protected" DTV broadcasts. The encryption system will be built into next-generation DVD players as well as media. Without a player and disc using the new Video Content Protection Scheme (VCPS), DVD burners won't be able to record digital video under the new regulations. That will mean that the enormous installed base of DVD players and burners may be forced into obsolescence, executives said. Where's My (Bleeping) Sex? Who wants a DVD player that automatically deletes all the juicy bits of movies? One guess. Companies that will, without anyone asking them to, protect us from media evildoers and exposed flesh and scary exploding things and that part in "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" wherein the universe is blessed, for the briefest of moments, with the joy of Kate Winslet's radiant nipples. Playing DVDs under GNU/Linux has not had the happiest of histories, what with the DeCSS debacle and subsequent legal battle. So you'd be forgiven for thinking that you will never be able to play your DVDs on your GNU/Linux system. Luckily, this is not the case, and there are several applications available for you to download and use. The issue with DeCSS is still with us but is slowly getting clearer. However, this has left some of the DVD players officially not supporting encrypted DVDs, although unofficially, playback is possible via third-party additions. The world's biggest retailer is offering a DVD player that slices out potentially offensive content from movies, such as nudity, violence and foul language. The device, available at Wal-Mart for about $70, merges video-editing technology developed by ClearPlay with an RCA brand DVD player. The DVD player works by cutting scenes or muting parts of the movie, according to guidelines from ClearPlay's staff of editors, said ClearPlay CEO Bill Aho. Hidden features included in a DVD player released in January have the Motion Picture Association of America contemplating legal action. Thanks to Nerdout.com, both users and the MPAA are aware that the Apex AD-600A player's DVD copyright protection scheme and regional encoding features can be overridden. Developed in China by Visual Disc and Digital Video Corp. (VDDV) and sold in the United States by Apex Digital Inc, the Apex player is attracting attention for reasons besides its low price of US$169.95. Another year of the Consumer Electronics Show unveils a new crop of portable DVD players with interesting features. Swivel screens, wireless headphones and tablet designs are just a few of the new portable DVD player ideas coming in 2005. Portable DVD players are hot items for those who want to take their DVDs with them on the road. Many manufacturers have put out portable DVD players which offer lots of cool features. Well, assuming you already have a TV and assuming that you might like to be able to move your DVD player around with a minimum of trouble, Sony has an affordable portable DVD player that you might want to check out. The PSYC, as Sony calls it, is a DVD player that can also play audio CDs as well as CD-R/CD-RW discs that are loaded with MP3s. The PSYC weighs less than three pounds and is quite compact when compared to the traditional rectangular stereo component shape of most DVD players. The PSYC is even able to be color matched to your room: the player comes with a silver background from the factory, but there are three color panels that you can insert to change its looks.
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