djh816
Still Fresh
Would there be a way to purchase an individual licence for wmv for the gp2x? im fine with avi for my mac's vids but my mac is slow and i'd rather not convert allll those wmv's to divx
Purchase A Wmv Licence
- Thread starter djh816
- Start date
I'm not sure, however, unless you live in the usa I don't think there's a need to actully have a license to play the video. I doubt my debian has a license and I can play the files 
I am not aware of the legality but I doubt anything ilegal would be allowed into the distribution.
On the other hand, what use is wmv anyway? At least from what I have seen avi with xvid and mp3 will give you better quality for the same bitrate, so isn't using wmv a bit pointless?
I'm not very knowleadgeable on the matter so I might be wrong.
I am not aware of the legality but I doubt anything ilegal would be allowed into the distribution.On the other hand, what use is wmv anyway? At least from what I have seen avi with xvid and mp3 will give you better quality for the same bitrate, so isn't using wmv a bit pointless?
I'm not very knowleadgeable on the matter so I might be wrong.
mosschops
Member
er... i think thats what by implication is being said.. it doesnt have WMV and the chap would like that. I believe it was touted at the beginning of the life cycle of the device but was removed by GPH because of "the cost" of aquiring a license to include the codec/player/whatever into a commercial application
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Talyz
Member
Ehm, to play them on the GP2X, you'll have to "convert" (resize) them anyway. That is, if you're not going to watch them all on your TV...
WMV is quite useless anyway and yes, it has to be illegal if you run it on Debian, Leshrac; Micro$oft doesn't like it :rolleyes:.
WMV is quite useless anyway and yes, it has to be illegal if you run it on Debian, Leshrac; Micro$oft doesn't like it :rolleyes:.
I really don't know why, if I don't use any propetary code from MS there shouldn't be any legal problem.
I read somewhere that MS has patented wmv playback in the USA, but I doubt other patent offices would accept this kind of patent, it does not make much sense anyway.
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Ferentix
It's not a me!
Still doesn't mean it's illegal... my guess would be that it's an open source codec or something along those lines? After all, all you're doing is wrinting software that can make sense of data stored in a specific format. You aren't stealing or anything.
Phil
FAPPO!
If it was supprted though it'd solve a few problems for my, "collection" of wmvs.
Converting takes too long and the out put is usually sucky and big, wmvs have variable framrates and unessesary but nice features.
Converting takes too long and the out put is usually sucky and big, wmvs have variable framrates and unessesary but nice features.
nickspoon
vultum stultum habes
It depends how the player was created.
If it was made to read the WMVs as specified in a document from Microsoft, then that would be allowed. However, Microsoft, being Microsoft, aren't going to make these documents available to just anybody. You have to go through all sorts of certification. Some software, therefore, is designed from Microsoft documents that have 'leaked', whilst other software is designed through reverse engineering of the format. Both ways are illegal.
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WMV files are a great example of how everyone would benefit if Gamepark Holdings would release the source code to their modified copy of Mplayer used on the GP2X. Mplayer is perfectly capable of playing WMV files up to version 8, so adding support for this back in shouldn't be a very hard issue at all. However, even though Gamepark Holdings is legally obligated to release this source code under the terms of the GPL licensee, they have so far yet to do so. While there has been no official public statement from GPH at this point as to when exactly the source code will be released, it's likely that it will be done so when the next version of the firmware comes out.
Shikaku
ROFL THE WORD PENIS IS HILARIOUS!
Speaking of new firmware, didn't they announce that they were going to release a new firmware last week?
Um....?
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Ferentix
It's not a me!
Y'know, I've never really understood how reverse engineering a file format could possibly be illegal... a piece of software OK, I can see the argument there, but a file format? It's just a specific way of arranging data so that software that "understands" that format can read it... not really sure I'm making my point clear, but I'm having difficulty phrasing it properly- can't quite find the words.
Shikaku
ROFL THE WORD PENIS IS HILARIOUS!
It's like taking a soda's ingredients and getting the exact mixture correct: it's a trade secret basically.
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Ravnos
Asleep in Samsara
The problem is that, for newer version of wmv at least, you are using proprietary code from MS with your wmv codec. As I understand it, for newer wmv versions, most Linux players just use a wrapper for the Windows wmv dll, and that's what's included in your codec pack.
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And micro$oft never did anything like that, right?? :lol: :lol:
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