HDMI-Enabled Graphics Cards Debut 235
TrackinYeti writes "HDMI (High Definition Multimedia Interface), is the first industry supported digital-only interface, that requires a single cable to connect an output source to an HD-ready device, such as a television or monitor and deliver HD video, plus multi-channel digital audio, like Dolby Digital and DTS. Recently, Asus Computer released versions of their GeForce 7600 and Radeon X1600 cards with HDMI outputs on them, driven by an on-board Sil1930 controller. These are some of the first graphics cards to hit the market that can output HDMI natively with an integrated HDCP cipher engine and support HD-audio as well. Just the thing for that HTPC?"
oh boy oh boy oh boy oh ... (Score:5, Interesting)
I guess this is good for folks who build home theatres out of their computers, but then why do they need a 3D accelerator to show TV or videos?
Tom
Re:oh boy oh boy oh boy oh ... (Score:5, Insightful)
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Re:oh boy oh boy oh boy oh ... (Score:4, Insightful)
My longest run was 350 feet without any problems, but that was on a smallish screen, only 13 feet across.
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You may be interested in seeing a 100 ft. DVI connection over CAT 6 cable. It was on the most recent episode [national.com] of the National Semicondcutor Analog by Design Show. [national.com]
Sure, it's not 350 ft, but it is pure digital, and uses some cool (to me, at least,) techniques like pre-emphasis and filtering to achieve the 100 ft transmission. Also in the episode is a 15m PCIe extender! (The demos are in the last half, the discussion on how it is done is in the first half.)
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I didn't spend big bucks on cables either...both cables were in the $30-$50 range. The image looks great in both cases.
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Xbox 360 Controller for Windows [joystiq.com]
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Vista's Aero GUI. GPU hardware acceleration for video processing. PC gaming on the 60 inch plasma or rear projection screen.
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If you're trying to suggest that your VGA monitor is better, I think you mean lower dot pitch...might mean something if people sat twenty inches away from their TV.
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Because, unlike dumb appliances, a computer can be used for lots of different tasks.
Also, as the AC pointed out, just because you don't need something doesn't mean nobody else does. But kudos for the correct spelling of 'theatre' :)
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Anyways, I'm not entirely sold on the need to jump on the HD/BD bandwagon. They're still pressing DVDs. I'll wait till the last possible minute to upgrade [if I do at all]. Especially while they're still fighting over what resolutions to support... < 1080i == teh lame.
If my monitor can do 1280x1024 just fine, why can't a more expensive TV do 1080i or 1080p?
Tom
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The way you are thinking would be that as soon as I play an interlaced video on my computer, the display resolution is automatically hal
Just means more DRM controlled hardware.. (Score:3, Interesting)
Exactly (Score:5, Insightful)
Otherwise she might be ill and not feeling up to her usual daily routine of running around the park/garden/trashing-the-house generally so we stick on a bunch of disney/animal films and play them whilst she's chilling out on the sofa and she slyly grabs one whilst i pop the the kitchen to fetch some kiddy medicine.
wouldnt it be nice if i could play backups of my original copies, and not have to worry if that happens.
of course one day i'd like the ubiqutous server-under-the-stairs but in the mean time i'd rather not have to fork out another £20 quid because the only PHYSICAL COPY of the movie who's CONTENTS i purchased the RIGHTS TO WATCH got used as a teething ring.
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I store all my kids movies on a home server and stream them to an Xbox running XBMC(which can read from a simple SMB share).
I made this decision when I had a damaged "Beauty and the Beast" disk. I wrote disney to ask what the replacement cost would be if I turned in the damaged copy and they said "buy a new copy". They are not in stores anymore and I dare you to get in a bidding war on fleabay. So I netflixed it and ripped it. Never looked back. Ripped m
Re:Exactly (Score:5, Insightful)
That's not the point! The point is that we shouldn't have to break the law to use the media we legally purchased!
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I simply wanted to provide initial poster with a known working solution to backing up disney DVDs which I have found to be highly problematic in most copy situations.
AnyDVD seems to work well at the sector based protection that DVDdecryptor can't handle very well, while DVDdecryptor can rip all the wonderful stream information.
AutoGK makes nice reasonable sized files in Xvid or Divx format that XBMC can play flawlessly. It's an end-to-end solution that actually w
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If you want to make a backup (and that's what everyone says they want to do, there's no law stopping you.
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Yeah there is; it's called the DMCA. It says that even if you would otherwise have the right to make the backup (due to Fair Use), you aren't allowed to because it requires circumventing the CSS encryption on the DVD.
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Free Trade Agreements, Gene Patents, DMCA and all that crap.
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First of all, to make that comparable to electronic media you also need to assume you have a Star Trek style replicator, in order to duplicate the light bulb at zero cost.
In that case, sure, it should be acceptable to clone a light bulb! Why wouldn't it be?
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And why not? Inventor of the light bulb has been compensated for his work long time ago. Now light bulbs are in public domain and you can make unlimited copies if you have the right equipment. And so it should be with DVDs 14 years after they are released.
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If you charge for physical media, and your kid wrecks it, then that's your problem (sorry). If you backed it up, then you solved your problem.
But these days, that isn't what's happening. They think they control your rights. They don't let you back up, because it "isn't within your rights". But it's still on a physical media, which can be wrecked by your kid. Since they're so adamant that you aren't buying media
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And back on topic, toddlers (cats, dogs, vacuum cleaners, etc) are incompatable with HDMI.
For the life of me, I don't know why this connection ever became a standard. For thos
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I'm not familiar with the integraded Apple cable, but the HDMI cable with integrated sound is kinda cool. How this benefits a video card on a computer, is to be determined. But with HDMI and integrated video a
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Seriously, though. Shit happens and kids aren't careful. Backups are a necessity in information situation, including movies and games. If the company you work for lost even $50 worth of anything, they'd not be real happy. Why should a family be any different?
Not excuse (Score:2)
No, it's not an excuse, It is a reality for some of us.
My brother is mentally-challenged, and is still chewing discs even as an adult, you insensitive clod.
Moving to digital formats like DVD is a godsend in term of backup possibilities, specially for all those discs that you can't find on the market anymore. It's just stupid that in most legislation, to do this [legal as per co
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Does 8800GTS has HDTV support? (Score:2)
Play HD DVD and Blu-ray movies on your PC with PureVideo HD technology.
Available on HD DVDs and Blu-ray discs, high-definition movies are bringing an exciting new video experience to PC users. NVIDIA® PureVideo(TM) HD technology lets you enjoy cinematic-quality HD DVD and Blu-ray movies with low CPU utilization and power consumption, allowing higher quality movie playback and picture clarity.
But wait, only these cards are supported: nvidia's list of cards [nzone.com]
But hrmmm...it
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What about them? They don't have DRM, so they'll display just fine. HDMI doesn't have to have HDCP.
it wasn't quite clear to me, though, how the audio works. Ideally you would like just to send out a digital audio signal via the HDMI or separate connector, and no sound card need be involved for video file playback. Having it go via the HDMI to a device that then feeds the audio out to a separate audio system is the most convenient,
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Hmm (Score:5, Interesting)
Whenever I read 'high definition' these days I think: great, another product that's broken by design.
Someone wake me up when they've passed that part...
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Tell that to my PS3, Harman/Kardon AV receiver and Panasonic Viera TV that get along like a house on fire when dealing with HDMI signals. As in, screaming, flashing, and a lot of smoke but not much worth watching. It's not just Westinghouse that has "blinking screen" issues. The audio drops out on my ExpressVu HD box over HDMI.
Both work flawlessly up to 1080i on component and optical di
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Fire wire? From the time I first saw it on a Mac, working with a cam corder, I was wanting it in A/V gear. Just get rid of the whole tangle of crap. I guess there's a few pieces of equipment out there that use it but it's really being sidelined. Maybe I should look at what video editing studios use and go that route.
Keeping old business models (Re:Hmm) (Score:2)
"...15 years ago..."
Are you from the past?
Welcome to the present. We live in a time where there is great potential for the free exchange of information.
There are those that wish to "suppress the printing press", but ultimately attempting to roll back the clock 40 years to before copying, or 400 years to total publishing monopolies will not work.
If non-commercial duplication was freely allowed, would that kill innovation? No. Would it change some business models? Yes.
If copyri
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If it's invisible then I don't really care. (Except that DRM is pointless and a waste of money. But: not my problem).
If (as I've been hearing) there's a good change of incompatability and breakage, I do care.
When stupid idea + bad implementation = broken product, I prefer to keep my cash to myself.
Why HD? (Score:3, Insightful)
I would rather the studios get cracking on some good content rather than having us watch the same, boring, stale content in OMG U CAN SEE THER POREZORS!1!!one! I get more entertainment value out of my free podcasts than out of my television. The content is stuff I actually care about, and while the production value isn't always the greatest it's almost always worth the price of bandwidth. And I can watch or listen to them at work.
And the worst part is that when the studios make good content, it's canceled or sunk very quickly. Most people have probably never heard of Idiocracy, but everyone I've heard who's seen it says it's awesome, but it only ran for one weekend in 8 theaters because some exec got scared because it made fun of all the idiots of the world. And then there's Firefly, and Dr. Who, and Torchwood, which got shown out of order and canceled, butchered unrecognizably to add commercials, and completely ignored respectively.
To put it another way: I don't see any reason I should upgrade to HD just so I can get the MPAA regulating what I watch or be able to see the blades of grass on the field where millionaires in tights jump on each other.
MPAA is not the only fruit (Score:3, Informative)
HD cameras and equipment are available to most filmmakers currently using SD.
HD Digital cinemas [broadway.org.uk] are not just exotic rarities.
Lots of material is currently being gathered in HD and dropped down, particularly sport.
An HDMI enabled video card is *exactly* what some have been waiting for. Now we can preview our work on a TV screen, which has a different colour space to computer monitors.
So, in summary, quit yer bitchin' cos you're talking out yer arse
Re:MPAA is not the only fruit (Score:4, Insightful)
That's all well and good, but if the content is going to be bad, no amount of high definition will fix it.
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I'm aware that whether it's SD or HD doesn't make it any better, but the content producers and the content distributors are marketing HD like it's going to make Gigli an Oscar-worthy production.
It's like a cult, really. They're saying that if only I spend thousands on an HD system, all the content they spew at me will be engrossing and entertaining.
exactly what some have been waiting for (Score:3, Insightful)
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Actually, no. If you really wanted digital video on a TV screen you'd be using HD-SDI (with embedded AES audio). You can get some nice cards from Bluefish [bluefish444.com].
HDMI is a useless specification. It does nothing not already done by HD-SDI (and over co-ax, the cheapest possible cabling!), except for the Digital Compatibility Prevention.
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Is it really the cheapest? What about telephone wire?
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> Now we can preview our work on a TV screen, which has a different colour
> space to computer monitors
Wouldn't a DVI to HDMI converter [google.com] work?
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close-- the first part (Score:2)
3CCD full hd camera..
other consumer full hd cameras exist, (I own one) this is the first one with 3 sensors which some feel gives a superior recording.
Ummmm (Score:2)
Low budget filmmaking is no more expensive in HD t (Score:2)
Wrong.
Maybe the electronics and media aren't significantly more expensive, but those aren't where the real expenses are. Back in the old pre-HD days Hollywood was griping about upcoming HD, because of the secondary implications.
Makeup needs to be more carefully done. As someone else mentioned, every pore in the skin, and that includes every bit of makeup, including flaws. The makeup lines at the edges of the Klingon forehead that didn't show on S
Re:Low budget filmmaking is no more expensive in H (Score:2)
http://www.britfilms.tv/index.php?id=4 [britfilms.tv]
That's all well and good (Score:2)
I'm not sure the next crop of VTRs will have DVI.
Our new studio is having these
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sony-KDL40V2000-Widescreen -Bravia-Freeview/dp/B000F5QUNG [amazon.co.uk]
DVI Interface: No
HDMI Interface: Yes
http://www.libraprobroadcast.co.uk/proddetail.asp? prod=sony-hvrm25e [libraprobroadcast.co.uk]
Which makes it a fait a compli really.
Re: Your Inquiry (Score:4, Funny)
Dear Consumer,
We appreciate you voicing your concerns on this pressing matter and are glad that you choose us for your entertainment purposes. It's people like you that make mass media what it is and we thank you. Unfortunately, many of the shows and movies you listed were not watched by a lot of people so we had to cancel them. The problem is that we need one billion dollars in ad revenue instead of the mere millions that a company would receive by airing quality entertainment and not pandering to ratings. (I mean, who, these days, can afford to run a company on the millions?). You mentioned an interest in the movie and/or television program "Idiocracy," I'm glad to inform you that on the violence channel, one of our best hits "Ow! My Balls" is entering it's 25th season with no end in sight. Perhaps if you enjoyed some of our other quality entertainment, you will find this enticing.
P.S. Don't you dare use other internet media outlets for your entertainment purposes or we will consider you a pirate and sue you for living. And if you don't buy/see our movies we will consider this profit loss due to the aforementioned piracy.
Yours Truly,
The Mass Media Overlords
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There, fixed that for you. Or did you honestly think you are so important that your opinion of a very subjectve medium is the only one that matters?
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It's more than just my opinion. The vast majority of content these days is geared towards the lowest common denominator and the lowest cost. Rather than taking risks and respecting their audience, they've decided that we're all morons and that we'll take what they're feeding us. There are a few shows and movies that do make it through, but they're few and very far between.
This is why I've gone to other, possibly illegal, ways of getting content that appeals to me. And I know I'm not the only one.
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I'm perfectly willing and able to pay for content. If I were able to get Dr. Who legally in the US in its original form in a short time frame, I'd gladly pay for it. There's really no reason for me not to be able to, other than antiquated distribution rights. I'm sure the BBC would love to be able to sell these things directly to me as they're produced.
As for actual facts, they're blatantly visible. The huge glut of reality TV shows, the masses of idiotic sitcoms, the shows about aliens and Nostradamus tha
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Not that I disagree with your point or anything, but its not their decision, it's their (arguably accurate) observation and most profitable means of continuing their business.
Why spend millions an episode for some high end well written scifi that 5% of the market will love and 95% won't like when you can spend a few hundred thousand at best a season on some reality tv show that 60-70% of the market will watch?*
It's just not c
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One thing that's encouraging for me is that the barrier to entry is being consistently lowered. Spielberg and Lucas started out on 8mm cameras making low-budget films with their friends. The big name directors of the future are on the Internet right now, making low-budget films with their friends, but they've got the technology to do very professional-looking work. And because of the Internet, a lot of people can see their work.
Things like Galacticast or Star Wreck or the fan-produced Star Trek: New Voyage
Is this anything but a sales gimmick? (Score:2, Interesting)
Bad Marketing (Score:2, Insightful)
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As Richard Stalmann predicted (warned) (Score:5, Insightful)
Who should your computer take its orders from? Most people think their computers should obey them, not obey someone else. With a plan they call "trusted computing", large media corporations (including the movie companies and record companies), together with computer companies such as Microsoft and Intel, are planning to make your computer obey them instead of you. (...)
Proprietary software means, fundamentally, that you don't control what it does;(...) It's not surprising that clever businessmen find ways to use their control to put you at a disadvantage.(...) These malicious features are often secret, but even once you know about them it is hard to remove them, since you don't have the source code.
In the past, these were isolated incidents. "Trusted computing" would make it pervasive. "Treacherous computing" is a more appropriate name, because the plan is designed to make sure your computer will systematically disobey you. In fact, it is designed to stop your computer from functioning as a general-purpose computer. Every operation may require explicit permission.
The technical idea underlying treacherous computing is that the computer includes a digital encryption and signature device, and the keys are kept secret from you. Proprietary programs will use this device to control which other programs you can run, which documents or data you can access, and what programs you can pass them to. These programs will continually download new authorization rules through the Internet, and impose those rules automatically on your work. If you don't allow your computer to obtain the new rules periodically from the Internet, some capabilities will automatically cease to function.
Read the rest in the above linked article. It is an interesting reading, even for the ones familiar with it, as we march slowly and steady to the worst case scenario predicted there.
What's the deal? (Score:5, Insightful)
Huh? They have been out for a while now. (Score:3, Informative)
Why does the article and summary act like they just hit the market?
They really are only useful for HTPC's connected to HD tv sets.
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I think the subset of people that actually use a TV's
Another junk review (Score:5, Insightful)
Instead they go through another boring loop of 3D benchmarks. I hate these two-bit hardware sites that only knows how to overclock and run benchmarks.
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I'd trade it for a PCI-based CableCard reader (Score:3, Interesting)
We're still waiting for CableLabs to stop fellating the movie industry and license someone to make a PCI-based CableCard reader. I mean, I'd subscribe to digital cable service today, if I could tune it and record it on my PVR PC without needing to tape an IR emitter to the front of a set-top tuner.
Their loss, I suppose.
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Perhaps there will someday be a market for black-market CableCard tuners from retail HTPCs.
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On my Time Warner cable system, all the channels that are copy freely are available freely, either via unencrypted digital ca
This is worse than DVI+HDCP (Score:2, Interesting)
HDMI = single data link with HDCP
DVI = single data link with HDCP + dual data link for very hi res screens + Analogue
With the use of DVI to VGA adaptors and DVI to HDMI cables you get the most flexibility.
My Nvidia 7950GT card has DVI and HDCP for quite a while. A $10 cable gives me HDMI output...
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HDMI = video and audio data link with HDCP for consumer television sets
DVI = single data link with HDCP or dual data link for very hi res screens without audio for computer monitors.
There's a big difference there - HDMI is for TVs, which max out as single link data rates. You can keep your DVI for that 30" Apple Studio monitor, but you underestimate the utility of having the audio in a single cable. The only reason to buy these cards is for HTPCs and the like. And its a n
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As for amps - you do have a point. I've been without one for a while, so the "big" tv just gets the one cable. (okay, more like a dozen once you add the comp input, plus the two sd inputs and the coax..what a mess). I'm grasping at straws here, but it would also be useful for sending the HDMI to a splitter and fe
Little bit of DRM advice... (Score:5, Insightful)
You don't really have much choice (Score:2)
Now it doesn't affect you at all unless you choose to try and use DRM'd media. HDCP isn't required when you are playing games or anything. It's no an evil DRM gremlin that tries to fuck you over.
So
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of course since when has carte blach violation of antitrust laws actually brought about enforcement
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Oh get the hell over it. How about this:
"If you really care about stopping DRM, then DO NOT BUY DVDs! CSS is DRM at its worst and will not let you rip your DVD content to watch on your computer. So, if you really do care about DRM and stopping it, then DO NOT BUY DVDs! Show them that we, the customer, do not want DRM."
Get real. CSS was cracked, and HDCP will be cracked. If the DMCA impedes you because you feel some weird moral obligation to follow a completely bullshit law, that could never be enforced
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HDMI cable length (Score:2)
I would love to see a standard that would allow 100 ft cables for both video & USB. This would make it easy to move a loud computer into a different room, and you could hook up a DVD drive via local USB.
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Go to www.monoprice.com if you want one.
"HD Ready" is newspeak for "DRM ridden". (Score:3, Interesting)
there were so many drm requirements for that trademark cert it made my head spin.
I decided then and there i would never buy anything marked "HD Ready"
I fully expect linux drivers for these cards to be DMCA'd to death, if the hardware based lockdown even allows the development of linux drivers (you probably have to reverse engineer the handshake.. then get hit with the DMCA bat).
then there's the fact that cablcard cant be read in these cards... making them completely useless for real pvr's.
as for the previous poster mentioning HD-DVD and BLU-RAY backup utility, atm it's in its most primitive states. they are still in development(theyre still reverse engineering the final 40% of the process) and far from layman usable. There is still a distinct possibility that, despite having a system worked out to repeatedly and relatively trivially crack AACS, that the number of updatable points will make it impossible for a dvd-decrypter style 1 click app (i see it requiring as much skill as proper use of avisynth for the next 1 to 1.5 years at the latest.
not here, thanks (Score:2)
I do not want pigopolists to force me to replace it all when I must go HDTV.
screw 'em in the market, so they understand it.
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As it is does in an dedicated chip, lag should be in the single-digit millisecond range at worst. Most people don't notice anything under 50ms.
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50ms is 4 frames at 85 fps. And I believe it gets worse if you use an LCD monitor.
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