There is already _tons_ of video cameras with 3 sensors in them. Except the beam splitter splits the three sensors by _color_. It should be easy for mfrs to replace the 3 color beam splitter with a monochrome one and change the monochrome sensors with color sensors. Then just adjust the each sensor gain or shutter speed to vary the exposure. Then save three files for each sensor for later processing.
So it's just a simple beam splitter swap out, sensor swap out and SW change. Nothing else in the video cam has to change. Sounds like a minimum invstment to me.
This is just a simple way for localities to make up lost revenue for a decreasing tax base in an economic downturn. Speeding tickets are on the rise too.
It's just another case of there are so many damn laws you can't help but break some everyday. It's just govt. doesn't choose to fine you until the coffers get low. They let you break the law (speeding and the such) so you get into the habit and then bam - crackdown! Instant revenue stream.
My favorite way to get back is to absolutely refuse to turn right on red at any light with the cameras. I don't care how many people I piss off. I'll sit there all freakin' day long. If it's in your local municipality and you support the camera then you get to wait behind my paranoid ass. Serves ya right.
sh1t?
Agreed.
But with control on both sides of the digital cable and with Mafiaa controlling HDCP certificates over time they can slowly reduce what can and can't be seen. They simply will have the control.
Just because that control doesn't exist today (or they are playing nice today) doesn't mean the bait and switch isn't lying in waiting. They could easily let you see word documents and prevent SW from playing non HDCP video (similar to iTunes DRM) in the future.
It's also why blu-ray players have to be internet capable. So they can do the bait and switch there too. It's all in the plans.
Will it happen? Maybe not.
But I believe it is why Mafiaa makes such a big deal about HDCP and why it exists in the first place. They saw the proliferation of high quality audio technology and wanted to get HDCP in with the intent of doing a bait and switch . . . someday.
HDCP doesn't make much sense otherwise.
HDCP is not all about copy protection.
It's a long term bait and switch. Eventually monitors (not just playback sources as it is now) will refuse to display non-HDCP encoded content.
Why?
Because content creation equipment that rivals the the quality most expensive HD television and film movie production equipment today can be had for less than $20k (Look at the Canon 5DMKII DSLR + Final Cut Pro).
In short any ol' regular guy with enough talent to create a movie is not prevented from doing so by cost of production alone. He can make his work and it has the potential be better in production values than Mafiaa content without having to go through them to make it.
If they can't control distribution of content then they lose.
HDCP gives them back distribution control by preventing independent content from being seen.
Mafiaa has smart people. Copy protection is the cover story to sell to law abiding people and politicians. The real [purpose is to continue to set up barriers to entry in content creation.
It's just business the old fashion way.
"I swear if I ever win the lotto I'm gonna open a chain of restaurants"
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This would have been a great strategy for the late 1990's, when the CD was still a relevant media (and, for that matter, when consumers were demanding that prices be lowered, both through their words and through their actions -- which the industry by and large ignored completely).
I'm not sure I'd call CDs relevant still. We've moved on to solid state media, writeable storage decoupled from the content. You could discount 8-track tapes and they wouldn't sell today. CD's don't have the same analog appeal that vinyl records to, either. I expect that eventually they'll just stop making CDs, and all music will be distributed via the network.
This price reduction merely indicates that we're a little bit closer to that day. I doubt it'll do much to boost sales at this point.
Mod parent up.
This is _the_ post of the day.
I don't think Mrs right hand would appreciate that.
Simply put - the geek ratio of men to women shows that for the average male geek - loneliness is a fact of life.
Intel will limit the market for VXWorks which is all Wind River has that anyone would want (Yes. Wind River has a real nice integration tool for Wind River Linux and that could be a wild card factor in the future but today it's all about VXWorks). How? Give VXWorks away for free or very low prices when buying an Atom Processor, for example.
Intel: "You want VXWorks support for your Arm (Mips, etc.)? Ok yeah we'll do that but since you aren't buying our silicon we're gonna have to charge you the 'regular' price, OK?" Geez? Should I pay $200k for annual support/royalties for VXWorks or just switch to an Atom and get it for free? Tough choice.
Don't know if the deal is big enough to pop up on the radar for federal regulators but if you are using VXWorks today, it's time to look at alternatives or look at Intel processors like the Atom (and I wouldn't look to M$ either). VXWorks support for third party processors is doomed. Maybe this is good news for obscure embedded OS's like UCOS/II or ThreadX.
The good news is the embedded market has _never_ bowed to monopolistic moves because most embedded systems are highly specialized (and 95% of them don't need graphics, hard drives, web servers, etc) and can easily be created as "roll your own" systems.
On a long time scale this will simply be the end of VXWorks as Intel struggles to force companies to use it on their silicon.
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