Bad movie: Hackers can raid networks with burnt Blu-Rays British hacker Stephen Tomkinson has found two Blu-Ray-borne attacks. His first exploit relies on a poor Java implementation in a product called PowerDVD from CyberLink. PowerDVD plays DVDs on PCs and creates menus using Java, but the way Oracle's code has been used allows naughty folk to circumvent Windows security controls …
Untrusted source? That would be a certain Japanese company by the name of SONY I believe. They've proved once they can't be trusted with even a simple CD, tech has moved on and become more complex and so I certainly wouldn't trust any media they have to sell me.
There is no reason to have Java installed on any computer, for any reason. It is a security risk worse than Flash. If your software vendor insists of Java, find a better vendor. Java is not only riddled with security flaws, it is a slow an bloated P.O.S. that will only ruin your day.
.Net is by far the more secure and performant choice; either server or client.
".NET is secure and performant?
Tell the London Stock Exchange:
http://www.computerworld.com/article/2467082/data-center/london-stock-exchange-to-abandon-failed-windows-platform.html"
Reading that and several related articles quickly shows that there were no security issues and that the system performed as per the design specification - to sub 10ms transaction latency - or 14 times faster than the system it replaced. The failure mentioned was also nothing to do with the software stack, but was network related.
There was a time when Java was a multi-platform OS. Write once, run anywhere. Somewhere along the line it became a slow, resource hogging programming language that seems to be the favorite of companies wanting to save money on a still pretty much write once, run anywhere, albeit slowly and poorly programming language. I thought it was just a Windows thing but it runs equally slowly on Linux. It seems that Java has become the bastard legacy programming child adopted by Oracle.
Fortunately I don't have any dependencies on Java so it doesn't exist on any of my systems and I avoid it at all costs.
PowerDVD? That monstrosity still around? I guess if you buy a new PC with a blu-ray drive you will have the misfortune of having that pre-installed (trial version?).
Is this some sort of physical media format?
Joking aside, I just don't have the space or desire to store a crate of discs for someone. If the publishers/studio wants me to store a copy of their latest "re-make of a prequel to a re-make of a book" for them then that's fine. Storage prices start at £20 per year for long-term archival. Though contracts might be terminated without notice when I decide to dump them at a charity shop.
If they want me to give up my time to actually watch their latest "re-make of a prequel to a re-make of a book" then that will cost them $£$$£. Prices on application.
Their business model is all wrong :)
You don't have an extra cubic foot of space?
Indeed. I don't own a single Blu-Ray disk - I'm not sure if I even have a BR player (possible one of my computers has a BR drive). I have no interest whatsoever in the format. DVD works1 on the rare occasions when I want to watch a recorded program.2
But this argument - "where can I store all these troublesome disks?!!" - rather strains credulity. Take 'em out of the case and put them in one of those notebook-style holders if you must. Even in a highly space-constrained environment (a Hong Kong flat, say) there must be some place you can stick something the size of a coffee-table book.
1When the menu and other aspects were designed by someone who's not suffering severe brain damage, which seems to be about 50% of the time. I rented a DVD of The Italian Job (the real one) once, and the idiots who produced it had disabled all the controls. Couldn't even pause, rewind, or fast-forward. One title for the entire film. We were interrupted halfway through and never got around to rewatching the whole thing from the beginning.
2Generally when I'm donating platelets at the Red Cross. Apheresis is about as lazy a way to give something back as I can imagine, but it does mean lying on a couch for upwards of an hour with needles in both arms, which makes it hard to do anything productive.
> What Blu-ray playback software would you recommend then?
Something that just plays the stream you are interested in. Perversely, the MacOS BD player is a better option in this regard. Ripping the content away from the context of the rest of the disk is also a good option.
"Something that just plays the stream you are interested in. Perversely, the MacOS BD player is a better option in this regard. Ripping the content away from the context of the rest of the disk is also a good option."
Let me rephrase the question:
What Blu-ray playback software would you recommend for the IT-declined people with their 'HP Laptops'?
PowerDVD and such don't require ripping or searching for the correct stream file. HP pays something for the these programs so that people would be able to easily watch films. If HP was to replace it with another BD playback software what would you recommend? It doesn't have to be a free solution, but it should be easy to use for all those masses who buy computers from supermarkets.
"What Blu-ray playback software would you recommend then?"
I use VLC. It won't play the whole disk, but it will play the movie file in the "stream" directory, which is all I am interested in watching. I don't have to sit through several minutes of FBI warnings and skipping movie trailers etc. The biggest file in the "stream" directory usually holds the entire movie, but a few movies are split over more than one m2ts file, so you have to look at the playlist to see which order to play them.
For HP users, there should already have been an HP program called "DVD play BD" in the programs list, and it should automatically come on anytime you play a blu-ray. As soon as Secunia PSI tagged PowerDVD as vulnerable I got rid of it - which severely pissed me off, because I had payed for an upgrade trying to avoid that. The stupid program got in a fight with all the DRM spies the IAA put on my computer when I bought it, and also seemed to be trying to destroy my built in HP software. So GOOD RIDDANCE Cyberlink. See if I ever try to spend a dime on their crap ever again!!
"What Blu-ray playback software would you recommend then?"
VLC! VLC! VLC! It reads the streams, not all the useless other shit they load onto discs. If you can't be arsed to dig about for the stream, simply pop in the disc and just throw VLC at the disc and it will soon fathom out where the menu system is and show that to you.
Let me expand that, "What movie (file) playback software would you recommend then?"
VLC! VLC! VLC! Transparent source and I've yet to find a format it won't at least have a crack at playing on any platform I've used it on, Linux, Windows, OSX and Android.
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