For Discussion - What's the Next Killer App

[Kedirekin]

I've been on the scene for a while now, and I'm wondering what's next, especially with the near advent of DL burners. I'm not talking about single applications, but categories of apps, like one-click transcoders.

From what I recall, the recent history of (non-inclusive) killer apps goes something like this:
2000: decrypters (vStrip, CladDVD), frame servers (dvd2avi, FlasKMPG)
2001: automation tools (DVD2SVCD, Gordian Knot)
2002: none [? I can't recall anything revolutionary in 2002]
2003: one-click transcoders( dvd2one, instant copy)


It's hard to believe transcoders have only been around for a year, but that is what I recall (am I mistaken - I remember dvd2one being the first, announced about Feb 2003).

This list is of course not inclusive. There have been a large number of tools that people find crucial to what they're doing, but I think the list captures some of the most revolutionary apps.

Anyway, I can't think what's next. Applications to do a DL backup, combine a flipper, or modify the first-play item certainly don't seem very revolutionary, but that's about the only things I can think of.

So what do you think? I know it isn't easy to predict the future, but what can you think of that would be cool to do (and that we can't already do today)? Is this scene maturing after only a few years of mad activity?

[DDogg]

Maybe not at the level you are speaking of, but a one click re-encoder with CCE, TMPG and ProCoder options as well as a transcoder option for those disks that only need a small amount of size reduction would be a good thing to have in the toolbox.

[Mtz]

Hmm... AutoD2S, like AutoGK?

[The Belgain]

I agree with DDogg that a one-click re-encoder with CCE that does all menus, etc. would be hugely useful. But this will obviously become increasingly redundant once Dual Layer media gets cheap.

The next major class of aps will be ones that back up HD-DVDs to a single Dual Layer DVDR. This will involve compressing 15-20 GB of 1920x1080 material down to 8.5 GB (probably somewhat lower res, but still much higher than DVD-res). First we will have to wait for the copy protection on these discs to be broken (hopefully), which may take somewhat longer than CSS. With a bit of luck it should be possible to compress it down to h.264 or WMV9 and have the backup still be fully compatible with standalone players, which would be very nice.

Maybe transcoders would be possible for this, seeing as we would be recompressing to the same format? This would help seeing as encoding at that res would be incredibly slow on current machines.

Just my 2 eurocents worth...

[int 21h]

Originally posted by The Belgain
...which may take somewhat longer than CSS....

Assuming they do not make any implementation errors (i.e. decryption key in the open, easily disassembled code from a licensor), it is quite likely this encryption could last a very long time. Look for instance at the old Divx encryption. It was encrypted with 168bit Triple DES. A single decryption key has never been found for a Divx disc. (Divx accounts died in July 2001) DES encryption, with 56bit encryption, takes a dedicating cracking machine (like Deep Crack over at EFF) around 50 hours to crack a single key. (Searching around 88 billion keys a second) A personal computer without the dedicated brute force hardware that Deep Crack has would take significantly longer.

So, let's say you encrypt now with an RSA system (similar to digital broadcast systems encryption) using a 512-bit key. Its quite feasible they could put an ASIC in the DVD Player to handle the decryption, give every manufacturer a different private decryption key, and that would be the end of that.

[The Belgain]

But wouldn't it be possible to grab the output of the (legit) player that is being used, on the way to the video card (ie uncompressed, unencrypted video), and encode the stream directly? Basically use the software player as a frameserver.

This wouldn't be as good as being able to decrypt the stream and save it without re-encoding, but would be fine for our needs. Problems may be that the player only outputs in realtime, and we would need slower than realtime. A hard disk wouldn't write fast enough to capture the uncompressed stream, so just writing it for later use would be a problem.

Just a thought...

[lighty]

AFAIK- I remember a method similar to what you describe used in the past with a certain software player that has been "rearranged" to do encoding by playing DVD and encoding it directly to some codec (something like a mix of WinDVD and FlaskMPEG).

I do remember using a few years back but I cannot remember the name of the program.:confused:

[mudda_t]

An "all-in-one" app for under $100 that will let you author your own "hollywood grade" dvd movie(dvd9 for dl burners). Menus, sound(dolby,dts,6.1) the works.
.
And the end product plays in all standalones flawlessly!

[writersblock29]

Myself, I think the answer to "what's next" would lie in knowing where the video technology's going to go. With televisons now being capable of displaying sources with resolutions greater than what DVD offers, I'd say that we're going to continue in the direction of High Definition. While many reading this would shrug and say, "No kidding, detective!" others are adamently against giving up DVD... at least just yet.

News flash: We've seen this before. Time and time again.

While many of us are more than satisfied with DVD and its 720X480 (NTSC) resolution, keep in mind that many chose not to jump right on the laser disk bandwagon when it first came out (and with laser disk, who can blame them, really? No ability to record on it, and the players -- not to mention the movies -- were spendy... and did I mention the necessity of flipping the disks several times during the movie?). There are still some people who are clinging to VHS because they view DVD recording as either too complicated or still too expensive. Of course there are a population of those who simply don't want to continually learn new technology -- especially if HD goes the way of DVD and has several different formats to choose from.

Us movie buffs will continue to pursue the highest quality possible, no doubt. But if the HD trend goes like everything else commercial -- where new technology comes with high price tags -- I'd say we'll be seeing programs that will convert HD sources to DVD (much like the DVD to SVCD movement that was so popular until recordable DVDs actually started becoming affordable). Since many will be using dual layer disks, they'll of course have greater quality than they're used to now since the space availible for file sizes is greater.

It's anybody's guess! It's entertaining to think about, I'll grant you; but MY guess would be one-clickers that would convert HD to DVD... maybe with HD's resolution (or the option thereof) depending on what new set tops are capable of playing. Just like what we're doing with DVD to DVD-R programs, only with a twist, you might say.

Just my two cents -- and I think I may owe you change.