Frustrated - a BD region rant

[Josh]

The DVD Forum (those geniuses behind HD DVD) decided that no player is alloud to be region free, and further more, than no DVD can be upconverted unless by HDMI.

Thankfully, most unbrands (not your big name brands) ignore those two mandates. My trusty Cyber Home DVD 655 HD might be in a box now, but it was a good region free player for me. Of course, Cyber Home got shut down by the FBI when it turns out they weren't paying any royalty fees to the DVD Forum (whoops!).

[DrinkMore]

Originally Posted by Josh

The DVD Forum (those geniuses behind HD DVD) decided that no player is alloud to be region free, and further more, than no DVD can be upconverted unless by HDMI.

Thankfully, most unbrands (not your big name brands) ignore those two mandates. My trusty Cyber Home DVD 655 HD might be in a box now, but it was a good region free player for me. Of course, Cyber Home got shut down by the FBI when it turns out they weren't paying any royalty fees to the DVD Forum (whoops!).

Lol, are you serious? CyberHome is homeless?

[ra1024]

Originally Posted by Josh

Of course, Cyber Home got shut down by the FBI when it turns out they weren't paying any royalty fees to the DVD Forum (whoops!).

Wouldn't that be a civil matter and not a criminal matter?

[Josh]

San Jose, Calif. — A task force of local, state and federal agencies seized more than 20,000 CyberHome-brand DVD recorders that allegedly use Philips patents without a license.

CyberHome U.S.A. of Fremont, Calif., markets DVD players, DVD recorders, portable DVD players and a handful of LCD TVs. Its customers include Amazon, Best Buy, Circuit City, Fry’s, Target and Wal-Mart.

The task force, whose lead agency is the FBI, obtained a search warrant to enter the warehouse as “part of an ongoing investigation into the illegal manufacture and sale of products bearing counterfeit trademarks,” the task force said. California law provides for imprisonment up to three years and fines up to $500,000 for the manufacture, possession, or sale of more than 1,000 items bearing a counterfeit mark, the task force said. Eight tractor-trailer loads of infringing DVD recorders were seized with an estimated retail value of more than $2 million.

The Santa Clara County district attorney’s office called CyberHome “one of the world’s largest manufacturers and importers of DVD devices.” The company’s Web site said its products are also sold in Europe.

The task force, called REACT, was tipped of by Philips, said a spokesman for Philips Electronics North America in New York. “CyberHome has been using Philips DVD technology in its DVD players and recorders for a very long time now without paying royalties,” the spokesman said. “Their debts currently are a multimillion amount of dollars. At this moment, CyberHome is not licensed at all, so they infringe upon our patents. This is illegal, and it also creates unfair competition in the market, as many other companies are licensed. We always want to find solutions in a peaceful way, but if companies do not respect our IP, we are forced to take legal steps.”

http://www.twice.com/article/CA6344162.html

There brand name is for sale, if anyone wants it.

http://www.cyberhome.com/

[WickyWoo]

How do you think they make the decks so cheap?

All these offbrands you're seeing with LCD and plasma sets, the same thing is going to happen. They'll move to the warehouse next door and start a new brand importing sets from the same Chinese OEM. "Westinghouse" was merely a licensing of the name, and had Toshiba not bought it, they would have been gone inside 3 years just like all the rest of them

Moral of the story- Only buy established brands.

[mikem471]

Holy mackerel, we get your point!!! LOL

https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=12659

[jdc115]

A lot of the branded DVD players are region free overseas in Asia. Maybe they shouldn't be but the local stores and service centers update the firmware so that they play all regions. If you go into most music stores in Singapore you will see a section of Region 1 coded and Region 3 coded DVD's. I don't think anybody would buy a regional restricted player so I believe just about ever brand plays all regions and I know a lot of people will only purchase the Region 1 coded DVD even though it can be $10 more.

Blu-ray disks are now in the bigger stores (HMV and Gramaphone) and a few specialty video shops but so far no place is renting them yet.

[ra1024]

Originally Posted by Josh

http://www.twice.com/article/CA6344162.html

There brand name is for sale, if anyone wants it.

http://www.cyberhome.com/

That's interesting. It sounds like they were busted for fraudulently labeling them. I wonder if they could have gotten away with it if they didn't put whatever mark they weren't licensed to use.

Originally Posted by ra1024

Wouldn't that be a civil matter and not a criminal matter?

It probably works like most PC software. There's a patent and the standards board (DVD forum) that grants you permission to use the technology so long as you play by their rules and pay their fee. Cyberhome wasn't licensed and to make matter worse they were making region free players that go against the Forum's rules.