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In the wild, Microsoft, IBM, Intel, Matsushita (Panasonic), Warner Brothers and Walt Disney Company are sworn enemies, locked in a life and death struggle for market dominance.

In the wild, Microsoft, IBM, Intel, Matsushita (Panasonic), Warner Brothers and Walt Disney Company are sworn enemies, locked in a life and death struggle for market dominance. In normal circumstances I doubt whether Jordan Levin, the CEO of Warner Bros., would spit on Walt Disney’s Michael Eisner if he was dying of thirst.

But even the X-Men will team up with their arch-nemesis Magneto from time to time when it’s in their common interest, and the current concern over DVD piracy is definitely on of those issues for our corporate leaders.

The above groups have gotten together to develop and standardize a new technology that will allow people to make a limited number of back-ups of the next generation high-definition DVDs, while at the same time preventing illegal peer-to-peer copying and bootleg sales.

It’s currently illegal to copy your DVDs, which have a built-in CSS security device to throw off pirates. That’s what pissed off Norway’s Jon Johansen, who created a program called DeCSS several years ago that allowed people to circumvent DVD security protocols. He claimed that he was motivated by a desire to back up his DVD collection after noticing how scratches and oxidation took a toll on his CDs.

The cabal of electronics companies working together to create a standard security system for the next generation of DVDs undoubtedly recognized the merit in Johansen’s argument, and realized that other hackers would try to hide behind the same defence. By offering the customer a legal and limited way to back up DVDs, they will take away that defence while winning over many of their customers.

The new system isn’t expected to be introduced until early 2005.

Sony, Samsung team up on LCDs

Warner Bros. and Disney aren’t the only corporate giants hopping into bed these days. Last week Sony and Samsung announced the completion of a new plant in South Korea to manufacture LCD screens. The new plant, which is capable of producing 60,000 large screens a month, is expected to cause the price of a LCD television to drop from an average of $8,000 to around $1,500 in the next few years.

LCD verses Plasma – choose wisely

Speaking of LCD televisions, what’s the difference between next generation LCD and plasma screens? If you’re in the market to upgrade your "home theatre system" – what you used to call your boob tube and stereo – then there are a few things you should know. If you’re swimming in cash then any comparison is about as relevant as Billy Madison’s debate between shampoo and conditioner – LCD and plasma are both awesome. But if this TV has to last you a long time (my own Toshiba tube is turning 21 this year) then you can’t do enough research on the topic.

According to G4TechTV – www.g4techtv.com – there are several criteria you should use to judge the difference.

The first is contrast and colour saturation, and by their measure Plasma screens offer better contrast and colour saturation for the reason that Plasma pixels stay black when they have to be while LCDs twist liquid crystals to keep the light from coming through. As a result they say LCD blacks – the measure of contrast – aren’t as black as Plasma’s, and stray light tends to dilute the darkness.

Another criteria is "burn-in" – computer users who have never changed their desktops and don’t use screensavers have probably noticed that after a few thousand hours (it varies from screen to screen) ghost images appear on their screens. LCDs burn-in slower than Plasma TVs even though they are slower at changing colours. Most people won’t even notice that difference unless they are using their televisions for fast-paced video games.

Another criteria is viewing angle. Plasma TVs look just as good from the side while LCDs are best viewed head-on. Try looking at a laptop with a LCD screen from the side and see for yourself.

Altitude was also included in the list because Plasma screens have to work harder when gas pressure increases in the pixel chamber – people in Denver and Santa Fe have reported an annoying buzz. The base of Whistler is about 2,200 feet, so you should be okay.

The last criteria to consider is size and cost. You can get Plasma screens up to 60 inches these days, while LCDs currently max out at around 40 inches. Neither format is limited, so you can expect those maximums to change. Cost varies, but LCD televisions are new, in limited production and generally more expensive for comparable sizes, at least for the time being (see above article).

At Future Shop, a 30-inch LCD television goes for $4,499.99 while a 42-inch Plasma goes for $4,999.99. That’s a foot of extra diagonal for only $500 more.

According to The Plasma TV Buying Guide (slight bias here) the contrast ratio of a Plasma screen is 3000:1, which is the measure of the blackest black to the whitest white. By way of comparison, LCDs can only achieve 1000:1 contrast ratios, which is more than black enough for most viewers. Most people can’t tell the difference beyond 700:1.

In terms of colour saturation, a Plasma can reproduce 16.77 million colours. The LCD can beat that, but the colours aren’t as crisp because the technology used to reproduce colours is slightly slower and more prone to deviation. As a result, Plasmas are considered better for moving images, while LCDs produce far better static pictures with more pixels per square inch. This is a TV we’re talking about and you expect images to move, so I would give the advantage to the Plasma screen there.

In terms of longevity – a Madison Avenue word for life-span – LCD displays last anywhere from 50,000 to 75,000 hours, and individual bulbs can be replaced.

The half-life of the gases used by Plasma screens is approximately 25,000 to 30,000 hours, half as long as the LCD. If a pixel goes it’s hard to replace.

Putting those numbers into perspective, there are exactly 8,760 hours in a year. If your television is on 24 hours a day, seven days a week, then your Plasma may only last you three to four years. If you’re looking for a new television for your bar or storefront, then you might want to take that into consideration.

If you watch television and movies a more reasonable 20 hours a week, then the difference between Plasma and LCD is 28 years vs. 72 years. I think most people could live with 28 years, given that something even better will probably come along within the next three decades.