NEW technologies and devices are making it easier to watch videos from the Internet on living-room TV sets but they are having an inadvertent side effect - some are using them to watch pirated movies.
Many entry-level DVD players under $100 now support playback of videos encoded in the popular Xvid and Divx format. These file types, which compress a movie to as little as one-quarter its original size, are used to distribute pirated movies on file-sharing networks. They are also popular with independent film-makers who release videos using this format as well.
Last November, hard-disk maker Western Digital launched a device for photos, videos and music stored on portable hard disks to play back on televisions.
