Re: [H] Strong recommend

[Brian Weeden]

I have tried it and like it, the only question I have is audio.  Does it
convert to FLAC (my preference) or does it do everything in AC3?  This can
be an issue for those BluRays that have True HD audio tracks which at the
moment can't be properly decoded by PCs.

---
Brian Weeden
Technical Advisor
Secure World Foundation 
+1 (514) 466-2756 Canada
+1 (202) 683-8534 US


On Wed, Feb 17, 2010 at 7:08 PM,  wrote:

> www.makemkv.com
>
>
> Maybe one of the coolest tools I've used in forever.  Instant, no
> compression conversion of BD and DVD. If your running mce and your used to
> archiving your content to use the movie library (or I use Mediabrowser and
> MyTv) then this comes as one of the best tools I've seen in years.
>
> It just works.
>
> Sent via BlackBerry
>

Re: [H] Strong recommend

[tmservo]

Leaves tracks untouched. They stay exactly as they are.  
Sent via BlackBerry 

-Original Message-
From: Brian Weeden 
Date: Wed, 17 Feb 2010 20:03:29 
To: 
Subject: Re: [H] Strong recommend

I have tried it and like it, the only question I have is audio.  Does it
convert to FLAC (my preference) or does it do everything in AC3?  This can
be an issue for those BluRays that have True HD audio tracks which at the
moment can't be properly decoded by PCs.

---
Brian Weeden
Technical Advisor
Secure World Foundation <http://www.secureworldfoundation.org>
+1 (514) 466-2756 Canada
+1 (202) 683-8534 US


On Wed, Feb 17, 2010 at 7:08 PM,  wrote:

> www.makemkv.com
>
>
> Maybe one of the coolest tools I've used in forever.  Instant, no
> compression conversion of BD and DVD. If your running mce and your used to
> archiving your content to use the movie library (or I use Mediabrowser and
> MyTv) then this comes as one of the best tools I've seen in years.
>
> It just works.
>
> Sent via BlackBerry
>

Re: [H] Strong recommend

[DSinc]

Chris,
Care to explain this?

"Program is time-limited -- it will stop functioning after 60 days. You 
can always download the latest version from makemkv.com that will reset 
the expiration date."


WTH is this s/w for anyway?
Best,
Duncan


On 02/17/2010 20:15, tmse...@rlrnews.com wrote:

Leaves tracks untouched. They stay exactly as they are.
Sent via BlackBerry

-Original Message-
From: Brian Weeden
Date: Wed, 17 Feb 2010 20:03:29
To:
Subject: Re: [H] Strong recommend

I have tried it and like it, the only question I have is audio.  Does it
convert to FLAC (my preference) or does it do everything in AC3?  This can
be an issue for those BluRays that have True HD audio tracks which at the
moment can't be properly decoded by PCs.

---
Brian Weeden
Technical Advisor
Secure World Foundation<http://www.secureworldfoundation.org>
+1 (514) 466-2756 Canada
+1 (202) 683-8534 US


On Wed, Feb 17, 2010 at 7:08 PM,  wrote:


www.makemkv.com


Maybe one of the coolest tools I've used in forever.  Instant, no
compression conversion of BD and DVD. If your running mce and your used to
archiving your content to use the movie library (or I use Mediabrowser and
MyTv) then this comes as one of the best tools I've seen in years.

It just works.

Sent via BlackBerry

Re: [H] Strong recommend

[tmservo]

It archives dvd/bd, for those that don't have or come with a digital copy or 
predate the agreement for that purpose.  

While it will -eventually- be paid software, right now its beta, and you can't 
buy it even if you tried.  So as of right now the 60 day is just code, and they 
have promised to keep resetting it for the time being. 
Sent via BlackBerry 

-Original Message-
From: DSinc 
Date: Wed, 17 Feb 2010 20:43:12 
To: 
Subject: Re: [H] Strong recommend

Chris,
Care to explain this?

"Program is time-limited -- it will stop functioning after 60 days. You 
can always download the latest version from makemkv.com that will reset 
the expiration date."

WTH is this s/w for anyway?
Best,
Duncan


On 02/17/2010 20:15, tmse...@rlrnews.com wrote:
> Leaves tracks untouched. They stay exactly as they are.
> Sent via BlackBerry
>
> -Original Message-
> From: Brian Weeden
> Date: Wed, 17 Feb 2010 20:03:29
> To:
> Subject: Re: [H] Strong recommend
>
> I have tried it and like it, the only question I have is audio.  Does it
> convert to FLAC (my preference) or does it do everything in AC3?  This can
> be an issue for those BluRays that have True HD audio tracks which at the
> moment can't be properly decoded by PCs.
>
> ---
> Brian Weeden
> Technical Advisor
> Secure World Foundation<http://www.secureworldfoundation.org>
> +1 (514) 466-2756 Canada
> +1 (202) 683-8534 US
>
>
> On Wed, Feb 17, 2010 at 7:08 PM,  wrote:
>
>> www.makemkv.com
>>
>>
>> Maybe one of the coolest tools I've used in forever.  Instant, no
>> compression conversion of BD and DVD. If your running mce and your used to
>> archiving your content to use the movie library (or I use Mediabrowser and
>> MyTv) then this comes as one of the best tools I've seen in years.
>>
>> It just works.
>>
>> Sent via BlackBerry
>>

Re: [H] Strong recommend

[DSinc]

OK. Thank you!
Now, more basic. What would I use this app for, basically/precisely?
Duncan

On 02/17/2010 20:50, tmse...@rlrnews.com wrote:

It archives dvd/bd, for those that don't have or come with a digital copy or 
predate the agreement for that purpose.

While it will -eventually- be paid software, right now its beta, and you can't 
buy it even if you tried.  So as of right now the 60 day is just code, and they 
have promised to keep resetting it for the time being.
Sent via BlackBerry

-Original Message-
From: DSinc
Date: Wed, 17 Feb 2010 20:43:12
To:
Subject: Re: [H] Strong recommend

Chris,
Care to explain this?

"Program is time-limited -- it will stop functioning after 60 days. You
can always download the latest version from makemkv.com that will reset
the expiration date."

WTH is this s/w for anyway?
Best,
Duncan


On 02/17/2010 20:15, tmse...@rlrnews.com wrote:

Leaves tracks untouched. They stay exactly as they are.
Sent via BlackBerry

-Original Message-
From: Brian Weeden
Date: Wed, 17 Feb 2010 20:03:29
To:
Subject: Re: [H] Strong recommend

I have tried it and like it, the only question I have is audio.  Does it
convert to FLAC (my preference) or does it do everything in AC3?  This can
be an issue for those BluRays that have True HD audio tracks which at the
moment can't be properly decoded by PCs.

---
Brian Weeden
Technical Advisor
Secure World Foundation<http://www.secureworldfoundation.org>
+1 (514) 466-2756 Canada
+1 (202) 683-8534 US


On Wed, Feb 17, 2010 at 7:08 PM,   wrote:


www.makemkv.com


Maybe one of the coolest tools I've used in forever.  Instant, no
compression conversion of BD and DVD. If your running mce and your used to
archiving your content to use the movie library (or I use Mediabrowser and
MyTv) then this comes as one of the best tools I've seen in years.

It just works.

Sent via BlackBerry

Re: [H] Strong recommend

[Stan Zaske]

That would be cool for BD when I decide to take the plunge and buy a 
BD-ROM. For DVD's I just have AnyDVD rip it to hardrive as an ISO.



On 2/17/2010 6:08 PM, tmse...@rlrnews.com wrote:

www.makemkv.com


Maybe one of the coolest tools I've used in forever.  Instant, no compression 
conversion of BD and DVD. If your running mce and your used to archiving your 
content to use the movie library (or I use Mediabrowser and MyTv) then this 
comes as one of the best tools I've seen in years.

It just works.

Sent via BlackBerry

   

Re: [H] Strong recommend

[Anthony Q. Martin]

I want to ask this for information purposes only...why bother ripping 
DVD and Blu-rays?  I've done this...and frankly, I've lost interest in 
doing it. But I get the impression that some here are ripping multitudes 
of movies to magnetic media...I have a large collection of Blus and 
DVDs, but I don't watch anything frequently enough to need it online 
(like in my house). For new content, it does make some sense, though, if 
you don't want to own the content you an download it...but if I want to 
watch upstaris rather than down, then I just go get the disc...I'm not 
too lazy YET to do that...and it's way better than having an HD farm 
that sucking down juice 24/7 (it occurs to me that cheap HDs make this 
all too tempting to do, though, so I can get that). At least to me it is


On 2/18/2010 10:23 AM, Stan Zaske wrote:
That would be cool for BD when I decide to take the plunge and buy a 
BD-ROM. For DVD's I just have AnyDVD rip it to hardrive as an ISO.



On 2/17/2010 6:08 PM, tmse...@rlrnews.com wrote:

www.makemkv.com


Maybe one of the coolest tools I've used in forever.  Instant, no 
compression conversion of BD and DVD. If your running mce and your 
used to archiving your content to use the movie library (or I use 
Mediabrowser and MyTv) then this comes as one of the best tools I've 
seen in years.


It just works.

Sent via BlackBerry




No virus found in this incoming message.
Checked by AVG - www.avg.com
Version: 9.0.733 / Virus Database: 271.1.1/2695 - Release Date: 02/18/10 
02:34:00

   

Re: [H] Strong recommend

[Stan Zaske]

Optical drives are dog slow and that includes the speed of the door 
opening and closing. Plus some games require that you have the disk in 
the drive and did I mention that the door is slow. Swapping disks is 
such a pain...



On 2/18/2010 9:41 AM, Anthony Q. Martin wrote:
I want to ask this for information purposes only...why bother ripping 
DVD and Blu-rays?  I've done this...and frankly, I've lost interest in 
doing it. But I get the impression that some here are ripping 
multitudes of movies to magnetic media...I have a large collection of 
Blus and DVDs, but I don't watch anything frequently enough to need it 
online (like in my house). For new content, it does make some sense, 
though, if you don't want to own the content you an download it...but 
if I want to watch upstaris rather than down, then I just go get the 
disc...I'm not too lazy YET to do that...and it's way better than 
having an HD farm that sucking down juice 24/7 (it occurs to me that 
cheap HDs make this all too tempting to do, though, so I can get 
that). At least to me it is


On 2/18/2010 10:23 AM, Stan Zaske wrote:
That would be cool for BD when I decide to take the plunge and buy a 
BD-ROM. For DVD's I just have AnyDVD rip it to hardrive as an ISO.



On 2/17/2010 6:08 PM, tmse...@rlrnews.com wrote:

www.makemkv.com


Maybe one of the coolest tools I've used in forever.  Instant, no 
compression conversion of BD and DVD. If your running mce and your 
used to archiving your content to use the movie library (or I use 
Mediabrowser and MyTv) then this comes as one of the best tools I've 
seen in years.


It just works.

Sent via BlackBerry




No virus found in this incoming message.
Checked by AVG - www.avg.com
Version: 9.0.733 / Virus Database: 271.1.1/2695 - Release Date: 
02/18/10 02:34:00

Re: [H] Strong recommend

[Brian Weeden]

For one, if you have small children discs become fragile items that wear out
very quickly or get easily ruined.  Also, ripping them to hard disk means
that I can serve them anywhere in the house and on any device.  Useful for
things like MacBooks which still can't play BluRay discs.  I can also view
them on my iPhone or laptop while traveling if I want.

---
Brian Weeden
Technical Advisor
Secure World Foundation 
+1 (514) 466-2756 Canada
+1 (202) 683-8534 US


On Thu, Feb 18, 2010 at 11:05 AM, Stan Zaske  wrote:

> Optical drives are dog slow and that includes the speed of the door opening
> and closing. Plus some games require that you have the disk in the drive and
> did I mention that the door is slow. Swapping disks is such a pain...
>
>
>
> On 2/18/2010 9:41 AM, Anthony Q. Martin wrote:
>
>> I want to ask this for information purposes only...why bother ripping DVD
>> and Blu-rays?  I've done this...and frankly, I've lost interest in doing it.
>> But I get the impression that some here are ripping multitudes of movies to
>> magnetic media...I have a large collection of Blus and DVDs, but I don't
>> watch anything frequently enough to need it online (like in my house). For
>> new content, it does make some sense, though, if you don't want to own the
>> content you an download it...but if I want to watch upstaris rather than
>> down, then I just go get the disc...I'm not too lazy YET to do that...and
>> it's way better than having an HD farm that sucking down juice 24/7 (it
>> occurs to me that cheap HDs make this all too tempting to do, though, so I
>> can get that). At least to me it is
>>
>> On 2/18/2010 10:23 AM, Stan Zaske wrote:
>>
>>> That would be cool for BD when I decide to take the plunge and buy a
>>> BD-ROM. For DVD's I just have AnyDVD rip it to hardrive as an ISO.
>>>
>>>
>>> On 2/17/2010 6:08 PM, tmse...@rlrnews.com wrote:
>>>
 www.makemkv.com


 Maybe one of the coolest tools I've used in forever.  Instant, no
 compression conversion of BD and DVD. If your running mce and your used to
 archiving your content to use the movie library (or I use Mediabrowser and
 MyTv) then this comes as one of the best tools I've seen in years.

 It just works.

 Sent via BlackBerry


>>>
>>> No virus found in this incoming message.
>>> Checked by AVG - www.avg.com
>>> Version: 9.0.733 / Virus Database: 271.1.1/2695 - Release Date: 02/18/10
>>> 02:34:00
>>>
>>>
>>
>

Re: [H] Strong recommend

[Anthony Q. Martin]

I know my Sony BD player is dog slow...gawd...it got so bad that I 
ordered an OPPO 83...and I just got it a few minutes ago...didn't really 
want to drop dough on that...but now I can play my SACD and DVD-Audio 
discs as well. The Sony will move upstairs.


Speaking of games...anyone know of a good non-FPS that runs on 64-bit 
Windows 7?  FPS games make me ill.  I just want something to kill time 
that doens't take an huge investment of time to learn. Some simulations 
seem so serious in terms of learning curve. They then sit in the box.


On 2/18/2010 11:05 AM, Stan Zaske wrote:
Optical drives are dog slow and that includes the speed of the door 
opening and closing. Plus some games require that you have the disk in 
the drive and did I mention that the door is slow. Swapping disks is 
such a pain...



On 2/18/2010 9:41 AM, Anthony Q. Martin wrote:
I want to ask this for information purposes only...why bother ripping 
DVD and Blu-rays?  I've done this...and frankly, I've lost interest 
in doing it. But I get the impression that some here are ripping 
multitudes of movies to magnetic media...I have a large collection of 
Blus and DVDs, but I don't watch anything frequently enough to need 
it online (like in my house). For new content, it does make some 
sense, though, if you don't want to own the content you an download 
it...but if I want to watch upstaris rather than down, then I just go 
get the disc...I'm not too lazy YET to do that...and it's way better 
than having an HD farm that sucking down juice 24/7 (it occurs to me 
that cheap HDs make this all too tempting to do, though, so I can get 
that). At least to me it is


On 2/18/2010 10:23 AM, Stan Zaske wrote:
That would be cool for BD when I decide to take the plunge and buy a 
BD-ROM. For DVD's I just have AnyDVD rip it to hardrive as an ISO.



On 2/17/2010 6:08 PM, tmse...@rlrnews.com wrote:

www.makemkv.com


Maybe one of the coolest tools I've used in forever.  Instant, no 
compression conversion of BD and DVD. If your running mce and your 
used to archiving your content to use the movie library (or I use 
Mediabrowser and MyTv) then this comes as one of the best tools 
I've seen in years.


It just works.

Sent via BlackBerry




No virus found in this incoming message.
Checked by AVG - www.avg.com
Version: 9.0.733 / Virus Database: 271.1.1/2695 - Release Date: 
02/18/10 02:34:00







No virus found in this incoming message.
Checked by AVG - www.avg.com
Version: 9.0.733 / Virus Database: 271.1.1/2695 - Release Date: 02/18/10 
02:34:00

   

Re: [H] Strong recommend

[Anthony Q. Martin]

Kidsyeah, I get that. I don't have that problem to worry about.

I think serving movies is neat and cool, no doubt. Viewing on the iPhone 
(or similar) kills the movie for me. The Laptop is ok when traveling...I 
admit to doing that when I feel trapped. But any movie I really like, 
I'm going to want to see it on my full HT. I will watch stuff off 
netflix when I can...but never something I hope will be really good. 
Mediocre movie, mediocre presentation, is my mantra.


On 2/18/2010 11:10 AM, Brian Weeden wrote:

For one, if you have small children discs become fragile items that wear out
very quickly or get easily ruined.  Also, ripping them to hard disk means
that I can serve them anywhere in the house and on any device.  Useful for
things like MacBooks which still can't play BluRay discs.  I can also view
them on my iPhone or laptop while traveling if I want.

---
Brian Weeden
Technical Advisor
Secure World Foundation
+1 (514) 466-2756 Canada
+1 (202) 683-8534 US


On Thu, Feb 18, 2010 at 11:05 AM, Stan Zaske  wrote:

   

Optical drives are dog slow and that includes the speed of the door opening
and closing. Plus some games require that you have the disk in the drive and
did I mention that the door is slow. Swapping disks is such a pain...



On 2/18/2010 9:41 AM, Anthony Q. Martin wrote:

 

I want to ask this for information purposes only...why bother ripping DVD
and Blu-rays?  I've done this...and frankly, I've lost interest in doing it.
But I get the impression that some here are ripping multitudes of movies to
magnetic media...I have a large collection of Blus and DVDs, but I don't
watch anything frequently enough to need it online (like in my house). For
new content, it does make some sense, though, if you don't want to own the
content you an download it...but if I want to watch upstaris rather than
down, then I just go get the disc...I'm not too lazy YET to do that...and
it's way better than having an HD farm that sucking down juice 24/7 (it
occurs to me that cheap HDs make this all too tempting to do, though, so I
can get that). At least to me it is

On 2/18/2010 10:23 AM, Stan Zaske wrote:

   

That would be cool for BD when I decide to take the plunge and buy a
BD-ROM. For DVD's I just have AnyDVD rip it to hardrive as an ISO.


On 2/17/2010 6:08 PM, tmse...@rlrnews.com wrote:

 

www.makemkv.com


Maybe one of the coolest tools I've used in forever.  Instant, no
compression conversion of BD and DVD. If your running mce and your used to
archiving your content to use the movie library (or I use Mediabrowser and
MyTv) then this comes as one of the best tools I've seen in years.

It just works.

Sent via BlackBerry


   

No virus found in this incoming message.
Checked by AVG - www.avg.com
Version: 9.0.733 / Virus Database: 271.1.1/2695 - Release Date: 02/18/10
02:34:00


 
   

>



No virus found in this incoming message.
Checked by AVG - www.avg.com
Version: 9.0.733 / Virus Database: 271.1.1/2695 - Release Date: 02/18/10 
02:34:00

   

Re: [H] Strong recommend

[Brian Weeden]

I'm playing Mass Effect 2 right now and it is amazing.  It's more of an
action-drama movie than anything else.  There is some FPS content but it's
not much.  Highly recommended.

I would also suggest you check out Plants vs Zombies on Steam.  Great Popcap
tower defense game, lots of replay value.

---
Brian Weeden
Technical Advisor
Secure World Foundation 
+1 (514) 466-2756 Canada
+1 (202) 683-8534 US


On Thu, Feb 18, 2010 at 11:39 AM, Anthony Q. Martin wrote:

> I know my Sony BD player is dog slow...gawd...it got so bad that I ordered
> an OPPO 83...and I just got it a few minutes ago...didn't really want to
> drop dough on that...but now I can play my SACD and DVD-Audio discs as well.
> The Sony will move upstairs.
>
> Speaking of games...anyone know of a good non-FPS that runs on 64-bit
> Windows 7?  FPS games make me ill.  I just want something to kill time that
> doens't take an huge investment of time to learn. Some simulations seem so
> serious in terms of learning curve. They then sit in the box.
>
>
> On 2/18/2010 11:05 AM, Stan Zaske wrote:
>
>> Optical drives are dog slow and that includes the speed of the door
>> opening and closing. Plus some games require that you have the disk in the
>> drive and did I mention that the door is slow. Swapping disks is such a
>> pain...
>>
>>
>> On 2/18/2010 9:41 AM, Anthony Q. Martin wrote:
>>
>>> I want to ask this for information purposes only...why bother ripping DVD
>>> and Blu-rays?  I've done this...and frankly, I've lost interest in doing it.
>>> But I get the impression that some here are ripping multitudes of movies to
>>> magnetic media...I have a large collection of Blus and DVDs, but I don't
>>> watch anything frequently enough to need it online (like in my house). For
>>> new content, it does make some sense, though, if you don't want to own the
>>> content you an download it...but if I want to watch upstaris rather than
>>> down, then I just go get the disc...I'm not too lazy YET to do that...and
>>> it's way better than having an HD farm that sucking down juice 24/7 (it
>>> occurs to me that cheap HDs make this all too tempting to do, though, so I
>>> can get that). At least to me it is
>>>
>>> On 2/18/2010 10:23 AM, Stan Zaske wrote:
>>>
 That would be cool for BD when I decide to take the plunge and buy a
 BD-ROM. For DVD's I just have AnyDVD rip it to hardrive as an ISO.


 On 2/17/2010 6:08 PM, tmse...@rlrnews.com wrote:

> www.makemkv.com
>
>
> Maybe one of the coolest tools I've used in forever.  Instant, no
> compression conversion of BD and DVD. If your running mce and your used to
> archiving your content to use the movie library (or I use Mediabrowser and
> MyTv) then this comes as one of the best tools I've seen in years.
>
> It just works.
>
> Sent via BlackBerry
>
>

 No virus found in this incoming message.
 Checked by AVG - www.avg.com
 Version: 9.0.733 / Virus Database: 271.1.1/2695 - Release Date: 02/18/10
 02:34:00


>>>
>>
>> No virus found in this incoming message.
>> Checked by AVG - www.avg.com
>> Version: 9.0.733 / Virus Database: 271.1.1/2695 - Release Date: 02/18/10
>> 02:34:00
>>
>>
>>
>

Re: [H] Strong recommend

[Jason.Tozer]

Recently finished Batman: Arkham Asylum.mightily impressed with it!

-Original Message-
From: hardware-boun...@hardwaregroup.com 
[mailto:hardware-boun...@hardwaregroup.com] On Behalf Of Anthony Q. Martin
Sent: 18 February 2010 16:39
To: hardware@hardwaregroup.com
Subject: Re: [H] Strong recommend

I know my Sony BD player is dog slow...gawd...it got so bad that I 
ordered an OPPO 83...and I just got it a few minutes ago...didn't really 
want to drop dough on that...but now I can play my SACD and DVD-Audio 
discs as well. The Sony will move upstairs.

Speaking of games...anyone know of a good non-FPS that runs on 64-bit 
Windows 7?  FPS games make me ill.  I just want something to kill time 
that doens't take an huge investment of time to learn. Some simulations 
seem so serious in terms of learning curve. They then sit in the box.

On 2/18/2010 11:05 AM, Stan Zaske wrote:
> Optical drives are dog slow and that includes the speed of the door 
> opening and closing. Plus some games require that you have the disk in 
> the drive and did I mention that the door is slow. Swapping disks is 
> such a pain...
>
>
> On 2/18/2010 9:41 AM, Anthony Q. Martin wrote:
>> I want to ask this for information purposes only...why bother ripping 
>> DVD and Blu-rays?  I've done this...and frankly, I've lost interest 
>> in doing it. But I get the impression that some here are ripping 
>> multitudes of movies to magnetic media...I have a large collection of 
>> Blus and DVDs, but I don't watch anything frequently enough to need 
>> it online (like in my house). For new content, it does make some 
>> sense, though, if you don't want to own the content you an download 
>> it...but if I want to watch upstaris rather than down, then I just go 
>> get the disc...I'm not too lazy YET to do that...and it's way better 
>> than having an HD farm that sucking down juice 24/7 (it occurs to me 
>> that cheap HDs make this all too tempting to do, though, so I can get 
>> that). At least to me it is
>>
>> On 2/18/2010 10:23 AM, Stan Zaske wrote:
>>> That would be cool for BD when I decide to take the plunge and buy a 
>>> BD-ROM. For DVD's I just have AnyDVD rip it to hardrive as an ISO.
>>>
>>>
>>> On 2/17/2010 6:08 PM, tmse...@rlrnews.com wrote:
>>>> www.makemkv.com
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Maybe one of the coolest tools I've used in forever.  Instant, no 
>>>> compression conversion of BD and DVD. If your running mce and your 
>>>> used to archiving your content to use the movie library (or I use 
>>>> Mediabrowser and MyTv) then this comes as one of the best tools 
>>>> I've seen in years.
>>>>
>>>> It just works.
>>>>
>>>> Sent via BlackBerry
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> No virus found in this incoming message.
>>> Checked by AVG - www.avg.com
>>> Version: 9.0.733 / Virus Database: 271.1.1/2695 - Release Date: 
>>> 02/18/10 02:34:00
>>>
>>
>
>
> No virus found in this incoming message.
> Checked by AVG - www.avg.com
> Version: 9.0.733 / Virus Database: 271.1.1/2695 - Release Date: 02/18/10 
> 02:34:00
>
>

This message and any attachment are confidential and may be privileged or 
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If you are not the intended recipient, please telephone or email the sender and 
delete this message and any 
attachment from your system.  If you are not the intended recipient you must 
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or disclose the contents to any other person.

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Re: [H] Strong recommend

[Anthony Q. Martin]

Thanks for the rec.

For Steam games, do you get and pay for it online?  Are there some demos 
around? I've sort of fallen out of gaming mode over the last few years.


One game i used to really enjoy was Tanarus - a tank game. Team based. 
Too much fun.  That was way, way back in the day...that would be too 
cool now with all this bandwidth, CPU/GPU power we have today.


On 2/18/2010 12:08 PM, Brian Weeden wrote:

I'm playing Mass Effect 2 right now and it is amazing.  It's more of an
action-drama movie than anything else.  There is some FPS content but it's
not much.  Highly recommended.

I would also suggest you check out Plants vs Zombies on Steam.  Great Popcap
tower defense game, lots of replay value.

---
Brian Weeden
Technical Advisor
Secure World Foundation
+1 (514) 466-2756 Canada
+1 (202) 683-8534 US


On Thu, Feb 18, 2010 at 11:39 AM, Anthony Q. Martinwrote:

   

I know my Sony BD player is dog slow...gawd...it got so bad that I ordered
an OPPO 83...and I just got it a few minutes ago...didn't really want to
drop dough on that...but now I can play my SACD and DVD-Audio discs as well.
The Sony will move upstairs.

Speaking of games...anyone know of a good non-FPS that runs on 64-bit
Windows 7?  FPS games make me ill.  I just want something to kill time that
doens't take an huge investment of time to learn. Some simulations seem so
serious in terms of learning curve. They then sit in the box.


On 2/18/2010 11:05 AM, Stan Zaske wrote:

 

Optical drives are dog slow and that includes the speed of the door
opening and closing. Plus some games require that you have the disk in the
drive and did I mention that the door is slow. Swapping disks is such a
pain...


On 2/18/2010 9:41 AM, Anthony Q. Martin wrote:

   

I want to ask this for information purposes only...why bother ripping DVD
and Blu-rays?  I've done this...and frankly, I've lost interest in doing it.
But I get the impression that some here are ripping multitudes of movies to
magnetic media...I have a large collection of Blus and DVDs, but I don't
watch anything frequently enough to need it online (like in my house). For
new content, it does make some sense, though, if you don't want to own the
content you an download it...but if I want to watch upstaris rather than
down, then I just go get the disc...I'm not too lazy YET to do that...and
it's way better than having an HD farm that sucking down juice 24/7 (it
occurs to me that cheap HDs make this all too tempting to do, though, so I
can get that). At least to me it is

On 2/18/2010 10:23 AM, Stan Zaske wrote:

 

That would be cool for BD when I decide to take the plunge and buy a
BD-ROM. For DVD's I just have AnyDVD rip it to hardrive as an ISO.


On 2/17/2010 6:08 PM, tmse...@rlrnews.com wrote:

   

www.makemkv.com


Maybe one of the coolest tools I've used in forever.  Instant, no
compression conversion of BD and DVD. If your running mce and your used to
archiving your content to use the movie library (or I use Mediabrowser and
MyTv) then this comes as one of the best tools I've seen in years.

It just works.

Sent via BlackBerry


 

No virus found in this incoming message.
Checked by AVG - www.avg.com
Version: 9.0.733 / Virus Database: 271.1.1/2695 - Release Date: 02/18/10
02:34:00


   
 

No virus found in this incoming message.
Checked by AVG - www.avg.com
Version: 9.0.733 / Virus Database: 271.1.1/2695 - Release Date: 02/18/10
02:34:00



   

>



No virus found in this incoming message.
Checked by AVG - www.avg.com
Version: 9.0.733 / Virus Database: 271.1.1/2695 - Release Date: 02/18/10 
02:34:00

   

Re: [H] Strong recommend

[Jason.Tozer]

Yes, you pay online and the game is then locked to your steam account.

I normally order my steam CD keys from g2play.net though as they are normally 
cheaper!

-Original Message-
From: hardware-boun...@hardwaregroup.com 
[mailto:hardware-boun...@hardwaregroup.com] On Behalf Of Anthony Q. Martin
Sent: 18 February 2010 17:16
To: hardware@hardwaregroup.com
Subject: Re: [H] Strong recommend

Thanks for the rec.

For Steam games, do you get and pay for it online?  Are there some demos 
around? I've sort of fallen out of gaming mode over the last few years.

One game i used to really enjoy was Tanarus - a tank game. Team based. 
Too much fun.  That was way, way back in the day...that would be too 
cool now with all this bandwidth, CPU/GPU power we have today.

On 2/18/2010 12:08 PM, Brian Weeden wrote:
> I'm playing Mass Effect 2 right now and it is amazing.  It's more of an
> action-drama movie than anything else.  There is some FPS content but it's
> not much.  Highly recommended.
>
> I would also suggest you check out Plants vs Zombies on Steam.  Great Popcap
> tower defense game, lots of replay value.
>
> ---
> Brian Weeden
> Technical Advisor
> Secure World Foundation<http://www.secureworldfoundation.org>
> +1 (514) 466-2756 Canada
> +1 (202) 683-8534 US
>
>
> On Thu, Feb 18, 2010 at 11:39 AM, Anthony Q. Martinwrote:
>
>
>> I know my Sony BD player is dog slow...gawd...it got so bad that I ordered
>> an OPPO 83...and I just got it a few minutes ago...didn't really want to
>> drop dough on that...but now I can play my SACD and DVD-Audio discs as well.
>> The Sony will move upstairs.
>>
>> Speaking of games...anyone know of a good non-FPS that runs on 64-bit
>> Windows 7?  FPS games make me ill.  I just want something to kill time that
>> doens't take an huge investment of time to learn. Some simulations seem so
>> serious in terms of learning curve. They then sit in the box.
>>
>>
>> On 2/18/2010 11:05 AM, Stan Zaske wrote:
>>
>>  
>>> Optical drives are dog slow and that includes the speed of the door
>>> opening and closing. Plus some games require that you have the disk in the
>>> drive and did I mention that the door is slow. Swapping disks is such a
>>> pain...
>>>
>>>
>>> On 2/18/2010 9:41 AM, Anthony Q. Martin wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>> I want to ask this for information purposes only...why bother ripping DVD
>>>> and Blu-rays?  I've done this...and frankly, I've lost interest in doing 
>>>> it.
>>>> But I get the impression that some here are ripping multitudes of movies to
>>>> magnetic media...I have a large collection of Blus and DVDs, but I don't
>>>> watch anything frequently enough to need it online (like in my house). For
>>>> new content, it does make some sense, though, if you don't want to own the
>>>> content you an download it...but if I want to watch upstaris rather than
>>>> down, then I just go get the disc...I'm not too lazy YET to do that...and
>>>> it's way better than having an HD farm that sucking down juice 24/7 (it
>>>> occurs to me that cheap HDs make this all too tempting to do, though, so I
>>>> can get that). At least to me it is
>>>>
>>>> On 2/18/2010 10:23 AM, Stan Zaske wrote:
>>>>
>>>>  
>>>>> That would be cool for BD when I decide to take the plunge and buy a
>>>>> BD-ROM. For DVD's I just have AnyDVD rip it to hardrive as an ISO.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> On 2/17/2010 6:08 PM, tmse...@rlrnews.com wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>> www.makemkv.com
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Maybe one of the coolest tools I've used in forever.  Instant, no
>>>>>> compression conversion of BD and DVD. If your running mce and your used 
>>>>>> to
>>>>>> archiving your content to use the movie library (or I use Mediabrowser 
>>>>>> and
>>>>>> MyTv) then this comes as one of the best tools I've seen in years.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> It just works.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Sent via BlackBerry
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>  
>>>>> No virus found in this incoming message.
>>>>> Checked by AVG - www.avg.com
>>>>> Version: 9.0.733 / Virus Database: 271

Re: [H] Strong recommend

[Brian Weeden]

I second Arkham Asylum - great game.  Also if you like Bioware RPGs, check
out Dragon Age: Origins.  And Torchwood is great if you like Diablo-style
games.

Steam is a delivery service for games.  Basically, instead of going to a
store and buying the disc in a box you can purchase the game through Steam
and download a digital copy.  Over the last couple of years I've been
getting all my games through it for a couple of reasons.  The big one is
that I am in Canada, and I got frustrated going to the store only to find
the release date for a game up here is different than in the US or they are
out of stock.  I've also have never had a Steam game give me a problem with
crashing or drivers - they do an auto update patching system that is pretty
nice.  Other benefits are the ability to sync save games and settings across
multiple machines through your Steam account.

And yes, there are a lot of games on Steam which also have demos, but not
all.

Steam is not a monthly subscription and it offers both purchase once games
(like the ones mentioned above) and some MMORGS where you pay per month.  It
has a pretty huge selection of game types, including a lot of casual ones.
And they occasionally have huge sales.  Over Christmas I was able to get
Warhammer DOW II for $20, Mirror's Edge for $5, STALKER for $2, Left for
Dead for $7.50, and Prey for $2.

That's a lot of fun for little cost right there :)

---
Brian Weeden
Technical Advisor
Secure World Foundation 
+1 (514) 466-2756 Canada
+1 (202) 683-8534 US


On Thu, Feb 18, 2010 at 12:16 PM, Anthony Q. Martin wrote:

> Thanks for the rec.
>
> For Steam games, do you get and pay for it online?  Are there some demos
> around? I've sort of fallen out of gaming mode over the last few years.
>
> One game i used to really enjoy was Tanarus - a tank game. Team based. Too
> much fun.  That was way, way back in the day...that would be too cool now
> with all this bandwidth, CPU/GPU power we have today.
>
>
> On 2/18/2010 12:08 PM, Brian Weeden wrote:
>
>> I'm playing Mass Effect 2 right now and it is amazing.  It's more of an
>> action-drama movie than anything else.  There is some FPS content but it's
>> not much.  Highly recommended.
>>
>> I would also suggest you check out Plants vs Zombies on Steam.  Great
>> Popcap
>> tower defense game, lots of replay value.
>>
>> ---
>> Brian Weeden
>> Technical Advisor
>> Secure World Foundation
>>
>> +1 (514) 466-2756 Canada
>> +1 (202) 683-8534 US
>>
>>
>> On Thu, Feb 18, 2010 at 11:39 AM, Anthony Q. Martin> >wrote:
>>
>>
>>
>>> I know my Sony BD player is dog slow...gawd...it got so bad that I
>>> ordered
>>> an OPPO 83...and I just got it a few minutes ago...didn't really want to
>>> drop dough on that...but now I can play my SACD and DVD-Audio discs as
>>> well.
>>> The Sony will move upstairs.
>>>
>>> Speaking of games...anyone know of a good non-FPS that runs on 64-bit
>>> Windows 7?  FPS games make me ill.  I just want something to kill time
>>> that
>>> doens't take an huge investment of time to learn. Some simulations seem
>>> so
>>> serious in terms of learning curve. They then sit in the box.
>>>
>>>
>>> On 2/18/2010 11:05 AM, Stan Zaske wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>
 Optical drives are dog slow and that includes the speed of the door
 opening and closing. Plus some games require that you have the disk in
 the
 drive and did I mention that the door is slow. Swapping disks is such a
 pain...


 On 2/18/2010 9:41 AM, Anthony Q. Martin wrote:



> I want to ask this for information purposes only...why bother ripping
> DVD
> and Blu-rays?  I've done this...and frankly, I've lost interest in
> doing it.
> But I get the impression that some here are ripping multitudes of
> movies to
> magnetic media...I have a large collection of Blus and DVDs, but I
> don't
> watch anything frequently enough to need it online (like in my house).
> For
> new content, it does make some sense, though, if you don't want to own
> the
> content you an download it...but if I want to watch upstaris rather
> than
> down, then I just go get the disc...I'm not too lazy YET to do
> that...and
> it's way better than having an HD farm that sucking down juice 24/7 (it
> occurs to me that cheap HDs make this all too tempting to do, though,
> so I
> can get that). At least to me it is
>
> On 2/18/2010 10:23 AM, Stan Zaske wrote:
>
>
>
>> That would be cool for BD when I decide to take the plunge and buy a
>> BD-ROM. For DVD's I just have AnyDVD rip it to hardrive as an ISO.
>>
>>
>> On 2/17/2010 6:08 PM, tmse...@rlrnews.com wrote:
>>
>>
>>
>>> www.makemkv.com
>>>
>>>
>>> Maybe one of the coolest tools I've used in forever.  Instant, no
>>> compression conv

Re: [H] Strong recommend

[Bino Gopal]

Second/third on Steam.  Get the games during their sales (I also picked up
like 10 games during the holiday sale for 50-80% off most).  Look for top
games under $5 or $10 and you can get some great deals.

All my friends who like RPGs say Dragon Age: Origins is great, and as good
as DA:O is, they say Mass Effect 1/2 are possibly even better (Bioware is
hitting it out of the park with their stuff lately)!  I've gotten addicted
to Torchwood (on Steam) but it's a *total* Diablo clone, down to the music
being *exactly* the same, so it's starting to wear off already-but that
means it's easy to pick up and put down that way.  Oh, and you can mod it
very easily, which is actually very nice and lets you adjust annoying things
about the game easily.

And yeah, the cool thing about Steam is a lot of the Indie,
easy-to-play/cool games.  Check out Plants vs Zombies as Brian mentioned; it
was pretty awesome and *lots* of fun, and I'm eagerly awaiting the sequel.
Also, World of Goo is a great physics-based puzzle game with would be great
for kids too.  Braid is also physics-based (and the artwork is beautiful),
but Braid made my head hurt too much for a game and I gave up at level 4 or
so once things started getting really wonky! :P

Trine was a beautiful side-scrolling platformer, and the multiplayer aspects
were very cool-oh, and I got totally addicted to Puzzle Quest over the
summer and am trying to avoid getting the space-based sequel to it! :P

HTH!

BINO


-Original Message-
From: hardware-boun...@hardwaregroup.com
[mailto:hardware-boun...@hardwaregroup.com] On Behalf Of Brian Weeden
Sent: Thursday, February 18, 2010 9:55 AM
To: hardware@hardwaregroup.com
Subject: Re: [H] Strong recommend

I second Arkham Asylum - great game.  Also if you like Bioware RPGs, check
out Dragon Age: Origins.  And Torchwood is great if you like Diablo-style
games.

Steam is a delivery service for games.  Basically, instead of going to a
store and buying the disc in a box you can purchase the game through Steam
and download a digital copy.  Over the last couple of years I've been
getting all my games through it for a couple of reasons.  The big one is
that I am in Canada, and I got frustrated going to the store only to find
the release date for a game up here is different than in the US or they are
out of stock.  I've also have never had a Steam game give me a problem with
crashing or drivers - they do an auto update patching system that is pretty
nice.  Other benefits are the ability to sync save games and settings across
multiple machines through your Steam account.

And yes, there are a lot of games on Steam which also have demos, but not
all.

Steam is not a monthly subscription and it offers both purchase once games
(like the ones mentioned above) and some MMORGS where you pay per month.  It
has a pretty huge selection of game types, including a lot of casual ones.
And they occasionally have huge sales.  Over Christmas I was able to get
Warhammer DOW II for $20, Mirror's Edge for $5, STALKER for $2, Left for
Dead for $7.50, and Prey for $2.

That's a lot of fun for little cost right there :)

---
Brian Weeden
Technical Advisor
Secure World Foundation <http://www.secureworldfoundation.org>
+1 (514) 466-2756 Canada
+1 (202) 683-8534 US


On Thu, Feb 18, 2010 at 12:16 PM, Anthony Q. Martin
wrote:

> Thanks for the rec.
>
> For Steam games, do you get and pay for it online?  Are there some demos
> around? I've sort of fallen out of gaming mode over the last few years.
>
> One game i used to really enjoy was Tanarus - a tank game. Team based. Too
> much fun.  That was way, way back in the day...that would be too cool now
> with all this bandwidth, CPU/GPU power we have today.
>
>
> On 2/18/2010 12:08 PM, Brian Weeden wrote:
>
>> I'm playing Mass Effect 2 right now and it is amazing.  It's more of an
>> action-drama movie than anything else.  There is some FPS content but
it's
>> not much.  Highly recommended.
>>
>> I would also suggest you check out Plants vs Zombies on Steam.  Great
>> Popcap
>> tower defense game, lots of replay value.
>>
>> ---
>> Brian Weeden
>> Technical Advisor
>> Secure World Foundation<http://www.secureworldfoundation.org>
>>
>> +1 (514) 466-2756 Canada
>> +1 (202) 683-8534 US
>>
>>
>> On Thu, Feb 18, 2010 at 11:39 AM, Anthony Q. Martin> >wrote:
>>
>>
>>
>>> I know my Sony BD player is dog slow...gawd...it got so bad that I
>>> ordered
>>> an OPPO 83...and I just got it a few minutes ago...didn't really want to
>>> drop dough on that...but now I can play my SACD and DVD-Audio discs as
>>> well.
>>> Th

Re: [H] Strong recommend

[Christopher Fisk]

On Thu, 18 Feb 2010, Anthony Q. Martin wrote:

I want to ask this for information purposes only...why bother ripping DVD and 
Blu-rays?  I've done this...and frankly, I've lost interest in doing it. But I 
get the impression that some here are ripping multitudes of movies to magnetic 
media...I have a large collection of Blus and DVDs, but I don't watch anything 
frequently enough to need it online (like in my house). For new content, it 
does make some sense, though, if you don't want to own the content you an 
download it...but if I want to watch upstaris rather than down, then I just go 
get the disc...I'm not too lazy YET to do that...and it's way better than 
having an HD farm that sucking down juice 24/7 (it occurs to me that cheap HDs 
make this all too tempting to do, though, so I can get that). At least to me 
it is


I have just started to rip DVD's and toss them on my PC.  With Tivo 
Desktop plus my TiVo can transfer them over and I can watch very easilly. 
Simple things like the 8 second rewind and the tivo remote controlling it 
is worth it for me.



Christopher Fisk

Re: [H] Strong recommend

[tmservo]

I admit, I keep a whs with at the moment 10tb of storage.  I put all of my dvds 
and movies on it.   That way all the xboxes and ps3 see them.  (I use 
ps3mediaserver for my upnp w/transcoder).  It makes life easier to have all my 
media everywhere in the house without hauling around discs that get destroyed.  
And trust me, that's a bitch.  I immediately rip bd and hie the discs.  I 
replaced 'Cars' at least twice to kids.  Its the one thing I hate about games.  
 We picked up 'uncharted 2' for Christmas and it lasted all of two weeks before 
a kid destroyed it.  

Rip and hide the originals.  If the disc has a digital copy (several) then at 
times I'll use that. But no way do I leave originals out, ever. 
I will also say that having it in mkv in this mode means no recompression so 
completely original quality, and all my media centers grab hold.  

For tv series its better. I hate swapping discs.  With mytv, and all the shows 
archives to my whs, I can see an entire season at once and flow through.  And 
since they are pulled in full quality from my dvds/bd, I'm not looking at some 
cruddy web rips.  

But yeah, kids are the hugemotivating factor for me. That and load times.  I 
have the oppo83.  Great player. But uh, nothing gets straight to the movie 
remotely as quick as just the straight up mkv
Sent via BlackBerry 

-Original Message-
From: Christopher Fisk 
Date: Thu, 18 Feb 2010 17:34:27 
To: 
Subject: Re: [H] Strong recommend

On Thu, 18 Feb 2010, Anthony Q. Martin wrote:

> I want to ask this for information purposes only...why bother ripping DVD and 
> Blu-rays?  I've done this...and frankly, I've lost interest in doing it. But 
> I 
> get the impression that some here are ripping multitudes of movies to 
> magnetic 
> media...I have a large collection of Blus and DVDs, but I don't watch 
> anything 
> frequently enough to need it online (like in my house). For new content, it 
> does make some sense, though, if you don't want to own the content you an 
> download it...but if I want to watch upstaris rather than down, then I just 
> go 
> get the disc...I'm not too lazy YET to do that...and it's way better than 
> having an HD farm that sucking down juice 24/7 (it occurs to me that cheap 
> HDs 
> make this all too tempting to do, though, so I can get that). At least to me 
> it is

I have just started to rip DVD's and toss them on my PC.  With Tivo 
Desktop plus my TiVo can transfer them over and I can watch very easilly. 
Simple things like the 8 second rewind and the tivo remote controlling it 
is worth it for me.


Christopher Fisk

Re: [H] Strong recommend

[maccrawj]

Biggest downside of Steam purchases:

1. You get none of the physical box contents like maps, manuals, etc...
2. Licensed per-user with no resale or moving of licenses to another account 
nevermind the idea of parent-child-sibling sharing of a title.

3. Can be even MORE draconian than disc-in-drive protections.
4. Autopatching is FORCED, not optional, so if a current update is crap you have to 
take it rather than waiting for it to be revised.

5. Price tends NOT to be better than street price AND then factor in #1.

All that said #2 is has to be fat Gabe's biggest sin! I have 2 kids here who I've got 
to spend $40/ea to get Orange Box despite already investing $90 to buy myself HL2 
gold & Orange Box.


Most recently Valve has thumbed their nose at existing owners of STALKER SoC or CS 
who bought retail licenses vs. steam, we users can not get upgrade pricing for the 
CoP the 3rd stalker game via steam which is like 1/2 the best retail price out there.


On 2/18/2010 9:54 AM, Brian Weeden wrote:

I second Arkham Asylum - great game.  Also if you like Bioware RPGs, check
out Dragon Age: Origins.  And Torchwood is great if you like Diablo-style
games.

Steam is a delivery service for games.  Basically, instead of going to a
store and buying the disc in a box you can purchase the game through Steam
and download a digital copy.  Over the last couple of years I've been
getting all my games through it for a couple of reasons.  The big one is
that I am in Canada, and I got frustrated going to the store only to find
the release date for a game up here is different than in the US or they are
out of stock.  I've also have never had a Steam game give me a problem with
crashing or drivers - they do an auto update patching system that is pretty
nice.  Other benefits are the ability to sync save games and settings across
multiple machines through your Steam account.

And yes, there are a lot of games on Steam which also have demos, but not
all.

Steam is not a monthly subscription and it offers both purchase once games
(like the ones mentioned above) and some MMORGS where you pay per month.  It
has a pretty huge selection of game types, including a lot of casual ones.
And they occasionally have huge sales.  Over Christmas I was able to get
Warhammer DOW II for $20, Mirror's Edge for $5, STALKER for $2, Left for
Dead for $7.50, and Prey for $2.

That's a lot of fun for little cost right there :)

Re: [H] Strong recommend

[maccrawj]

No TIVO here, ever I think, but using the PS3 to watch whatever off Ps3MediaServer 
beats having physical disc in drive 99% of time for ease of use & convince.




On 2/18/2010 2:34 PM, Christopher Fisk wrote:

On Thu, 18 Feb 2010, Anthony Q. Martin wrote:


I want to ask this for information purposes only...why bother ripping
DVD and Blu-rays? I've done this...and frankly, I've lost interest in
doing it. But I get the impression that some here are ripping
multitudes of movies to magnetic media...I have a large collection of
Blus and DVDs, but I don't watch anything frequently enough to need it
online (like in my house). For new content, it does make some sense,
though, if you don't want to own the content you an download it...but
if I want to watch upstaris rather than down, then I just go get the
disc...I'm not too lazy YET to do that...and it's way better than
having an HD farm that sucking down juice 24/7 (it occurs to me that
cheap HDs make this all too tempting to do, though, so I can get
that). At least to me it is


I have just started to rip DVD's and toss them on my PC. With Tivo
Desktop plus my TiVo can transfer them over and I can watch very
easilly. Simple things like the 8 second rewind and the tivo remote
controlling it is worth it for me.


Christopher Fisk

Re: [H] Strong recommend

[Christopher Fisk]

On Thu, 18 Feb 2010, maccrawj wrote:


Biggest downside of Steam purchases:

1. You get none of the physical box contents like maps, manuals, etc...


Some (Valve only??) games allow you to use your store purchased key to 
import into steam, giving you best of both worlds.


2. Licensed per-user with no resale or moving of licenses to another account 
nevermind the idea of parent-child-sibling sharing of a title.


This is true and a downside for some.  For me, I never sell my games 
anyways, so not a factor.



3. Can be even MORE draconian than disc-in-drive protections.


Not sure how, I've not met any game on steam that didn't allow you to put 
steam into offline mode and still play.


4. Autopatching is FORCED, not optional, so if a current update is crap you 
have to take it rather than waiting for it to be revised.


Not actually correct.  You can turn on the auto-updates in the game 
properties.



5. Price tends NOT to be better than street price AND then factor in #1.


Advantages:  As long as Valve is in business you can download and install 
your games without worrying about the disk.  You can login to steam on any 
computer and install the game to show people.  Deals on games with 50% off 
or more very often making good indie games down to $5 or less.  (I got 
Torchwood for $5 when it was 75% off, L4D1 for $25 when it was 50% off, 
The Railroads series for $20 for the entire series when it was on sale, 
etc).


the 5% discount on pre-purchases is nice, but I never pre-purchase, so 
doesn't effect me.





Christopher Fisk
--
"First, let me make it very clear, poor people aren't necessarily
killers.  Just because you happen to be not rich doesn't mean you're
willing to kill."

George W. Bush
May 19, 2003
Washington, D.C.

Re: [H] Strong recommend

[Veech]

I don't think auto-update is optional in Team Fortress 2.  If you don't 
update, you're not connected to a server.


4. Autopatching is FORCED, not optional, so if a current update is crap 
you have to take it rather than waiting for it to be revised.


Not actually correct.  You can turn on the auto-updates in the game 
properties.

Re: [H] Strong recommend

[Brian Weeden]

I gotta ask - why would you not update a game when there is a patch?   
I've been gaming for a long time and can't think of a single instance  
where I didn't want to patch a game.  Maybe I'm just getting lucky?


---
Brian

Sent from my iPhone

On 2010-02-19, at 6:18 PM, "Veech"  wrote:

I don't think auto-update is optional in Team Fortress 2.  If you  
don't update, you're not connected to a server.


4. Autopatching is FORCED, not optional, so if a current update is  
crap you have to take it rather than waiting for it to be revised.


Not actually correct.  You can turn on the auto-updates in the game  
properties.

Re: [H] Strong recommend

[maccrawj]

On 2/19/2010 2:47 PM, Christopher Fisk wrote:

On Thu, 18 Feb 2010, maccrawj wrote:


Biggest downside of Steam purchases:

1. You get none of the physical box contents like maps, manuals, etc...


Some (Valve only??) games allow you to use your store purchased key to
import into steam, giving you best of both worlds.


Yes, some do.




2. Licensed per-user with no resale or moving of licenses to another
account nevermind the idea of parent-child-sibling sharing of a title.


This is true and a downside for some. For me, I never sell my games
anyways, so not a factor.


Well every other point aside, this IS the biggest problem & ass-rape IMO especially 
for multiple player households. Add to the mix episodic titles that once played to 
conclusion have no additional value.


Valve teases you with HL2 Gold + Orange by leaving you with a "gift" copy of base HL2 
for a friend. The rub? ANYONE with a ATI or NVIDIA card can get that same base HL2 
for free already!


Fat Gabe really wants you to buy the complete HL collection so he can eat a few more 
burritos.






3. Can be even MORE draconian than disc-in-drive protections.


Not sure how, I've not met any game on steam that didn't allow you to
put steam into offline mode and still play.


5 activations ala Spore ring a bell? Requiring the disc is a PITA, but limiting 
activations is just over the top especially for games that then also require the disc.





4. Autopatching is FORCED, not optional, so if a current update is
crap you have to take it rather than waiting for it to be revised.


Not actually correct. You can turn on the auto-updates in the game
properties.


Clarification: For offline play you are likely correct. You're not getting into an 
online game without the latest patch. This unlike how it used to be where server ops 
would wait to patch sometimes to be sure a patch fixed more than it broke.




5. Price tends NOT to be better than street price AND then factor in #1.


Advantages: As long as Valve is in business you can download and install
your games without worrying about the disk. You can login to steam on
any computer and install the game to show people. Deals on games with
50% off or more very often making good indie games down to $5 or less.
(I got Torchwood for $5 when it was 75% off, L4D1 for $25 when it was
50% off, The Railroads series for $20 for the entire series when it was
on sale, etc).

the 5% discount on pre-purchases is nice, but I never pre-purchase, so
doesn't effect me.


IMHO true deals are a relatively new thing with Valve. Up until now their idea of a 
deal was a ~$100 all inclusive HalfLife bundle. Still I say for new release big name 
games the prices tend to be as high as retail and that's just crazy. You're talking 
about dead or old titles with your examples, Valve is doing great deals on that if 
you consider spending money on old titles.


"as long as Valve is in business" and as long as they honor your license, not to 
mention as long as the publisher runs game servers assuming online play. =)


Prices for A list titles need to drop massively vs. retail and they need to allow for 
parent-child-sibling account setups before my concerns subside.

Re: [H] Strong recommend

[maccrawj]

Have you never been burned by a flawed patch in the last decade since Quake/HL?

On 2/19/2010 3:35 PM, Brian Weeden wrote:

I gotta ask - why would you not update a game when there is a patch?
I've been gaming for a long time and can't think of a single instance
where I didn't want to patch a game. Maybe I'm just getting lucky?

---
Brian

Sent from my iPhone

On 2010-02-19, at 6:18 PM, "Veech"  wrote:


I don't think auto-update is optional in Team Fortress 2. If you don't
update, you're not connected to a server.


4. Autopatching is FORCED, not optional, so if a current update is
crap you have to take it rather than waiting for it to be revised.


Not actually correct. You can turn on the auto-updates in the game
properties.

Re: [H] Strong recommend

[Christopher Fisk]

On Fri, 19 Feb 2010, Brian Weeden wrote:

I gotta ask - why would you not update a game when there is a patch?  I've 
been gaming for a long time and can't think of a single instance where I 
didn't want to patch a game.  Maybe I'm just getting lucky?


I always update as well, but some patches change things or nerf things in 
single player that a player uses.  Might not want that.



Christopher Fisk

Re: [H] Strong recommend

[Brian Weeden]

Not that I can recall.

Granted, I don't play many FPS games (Quake, HL, COD, that sort of thing) so
maybe its just those things that have a bad track record.  But for the type
of games I play (single player action, RPG, adventure, strategy) I can't
recall having a problem in the last several years.

---
Brian Weeden
Technical Advisor
Secure World Foundation 
+1 (514) 466-2756 Canada
+1 (202) 683-8534 US


On Mon, Feb 22, 2010 at 10:01 AM, maccrawj  wrote:

> Have you never been burned by a flawed patch in the last decade since
> Quake/HL?
>
>
> On 2/19/2010 3:35 PM, Brian Weeden wrote:
>
>> I gotta ask - why would you not update a game when there is a patch?
>> I've been gaming for a long time and can't think of a single instance
>> where I didn't want to patch a game. Maybe I'm just getting lucky?
>>
>> ---
>> Brian
>>
>> Sent from my iPhone
>>
>> On 2010-02-19, at 6:18 PM, "Veech"  wrote:
>>
>>  I don't think auto-update is optional in Team Fortress 2. If you don't
>>> update, you're not connected to a server.
>>>
>>>  4. Autopatching is FORCED, not optional, so if a current update is
> crap you have to take it rather than waiting for it to be revised.
>

 Not actually correct. You can turn on the auto-updates in the game
 properties.


>>>
>>

Re: [H] Strong recommend

[maccrawj]

It's the multiplayer games that patches tend to screw up.

On 2/22/2010 7:46 AM, Brian Weeden wrote:

Not that I can recall.

Granted, I don't play many FPS games (Quake, HL, COD, that sort of thing) so
maybe its just those things that have a bad track record.  But for the type
of games I play (single player action, RPG, adventure, strategy) I can't
recall having a problem in the last several years.



>

On Mon, Feb 22, 2010 at 10:01 AM, maccrawj  wrote:


Have you never been burned by a flawed patch in the last decade since
Quake/HL?


On 2/19/2010 3:35 PM, Brian Weeden wrote:


I gotta ask - why would you not update a game when there is a patch?
I've been gaming for a long time and can't think of a single instance
where I didn't want to patch a game. Maybe I'm just getting lucky?

Re: [H] Strong recommend

[tmservo]

Should be resolved
Sent via BlackBerry 

-Original Message-
From: Brian Weeden 
Date: Mon, 22 Feb 2010 10:46:24 
To: 
Subject: Re: [H] Strong recommend

Not that I can recall.

Granted, I don't play many FPS games (Quake, HL, COD, that sort of thing) so
maybe its just those things that have a bad track record.  But for the type
of games I play (single player action, RPG, adventure, strategy) I can't
recall having a problem in the last several years.

---
Brian Weeden
Technical Advisor
Secure World Foundation <http://www.secureworldfoundation.org>
+1 (514) 466-2756 Canada
+1 (202) 683-8534 US


On Mon, Feb 22, 2010 at 10:01 AM, maccrawj  wrote:

> Have you never been burned by a flawed patch in the last decade since
> Quake/HL?
>
>
> On 2/19/2010 3:35 PM, Brian Weeden wrote:
>
>> I gotta ask - why would you not update a game when there is a patch?
>> I've been gaming for a long time and can't think of a single instance
>> where I didn't want to patch a game. Maybe I'm just getting lucky?
>>
>> ---
>> Brian
>>
>> Sent from my iPhone
>>
>> On 2010-02-19, at 6:18 PM, "Veech"  wrote:
>>
>>  I don't think auto-update is optional in Team Fortress 2. If you don't
>>> update, you're not connected to a server.
>>>
>>>  4. Autopatching is FORCED, not optional, so if a current update is
>>>>> crap you have to take it rather than waiting for it to be revised.
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Not actually correct. You can turn on the auto-updates in the game
>>>> properties.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>