I'm reading a lot of posts about the effectiveness of this new regulation -- how doable it will be, overpopulation, manufacturing costs, etc. But I think many of you are missing one large point. That is, it's none of the government's business how a television set is made! I feel like today everyone is running around asking whether we can do something that we forget to ask whether we should do it. I know, it's a stupid television. But it's just one more step in the over-regulation of our lives and the loss of our freedoms.

Look, if this is really such an issue then a television manufacturer could just release low-energy models of their products. If people think they are a good deal then they will buy them. I know that if I saw two equal television sets but one said that I will save $50/year on energy costs then I would be tempted to buy it. If the manufacturers sell enough then perhaps they will make more low-energy models or convert their entire line to it. It's how a free market works.

My Netflix queue is already 200+ movies long. I'm watching movies for the first time that came out 20+ years ago. So I don't really care if it takes another month for the DVD release because I have plenty of other movies to watch. I can't think of many situations where I absolutely need to watch a certain movie and I will be in that one-month, money-suck period. I'm sure the great majority of netflix and other movie renters fall into the same category.

I say we let the studio's try this and let the market decide. If it doesn't bother too many people and they make a little more money then fine. If no one likes it and they see a continued decline in sales then they will get the message and drop the idea. The one big fear is that they see a decline in sales and don't get the message and then go whining all the way up the hill to the congressmen that they own.

So true. I just finished converting my wedding videos from uncompressed DV to MPEGII and Super was the only application that provided me the options I wanted. I know that it is just a front end, but I got so frustrated with other applications (especially commercial ones) that did not give me the options I wanted. I'm not a big fan of templates that other programs seem to use (like "convert to iPod", "convert to DVD", etc.) because they always leave out one or two important options.

Super has now earned a prominent spot in my software collection and I hope they integrate the new ffmpeg functionality soon.