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Macrovision now owns BD+ for protection of Blu-ray Disc movies

Macrovision, the long-standing provider of copy protection for home video entertainment, will be jumping straight into Blu-ray Disc following its acquisition of SPDC (Self-Protecting Digital Content) protection technologies from Cryptography Research, Inc.

In a deal worth about $45 million USD in cash plus warrants for stock, Macrovision will own the patents, technologies and agreements of BD+, a small virtual machine technology embedded inside Blu-ray Disc hardware for the purpose of digital rights management.

“We are a research organization dedicated to solving difficult cryptography problems,” commented Paul Kocher, president and chief scientist of Cryptography Research Inc. “We developed SPDC to enable consumers to experience content across a broad range of devices while simultaneously providing content owners with the control to manage the security of content in this dynamic environment. Macrovision shares this goal and now that SPDC has entered commercialization, we are confident Macrovision will take it to the next level.”

“The integration of SPDC into our product portfolio will enable us to continue to provide innovative technology to our customers as they expand their distribution vehicles,” said Macrovision CEO Fred Amoroso. “Not only is BD+ critical for content security, but it also supports value-added features that enhance the consumer playback experience, such as potentially unlocking bonus content.”

BD+ technology allows content providers to include executables on Blu-ray Discs to perform specific, content protecting functions. For example, the BD+ virtual machine could run diagnostics on the host environment to see if the disc player has been modified, or to verify that the media keys have not been changed.

As part of the BD+ scheme, video may be deliberately corrupted or modified to prevent the ripping of the data stream for piracy purposes. The BD+ environment, once verified, will correct and descramble the content to render it viewable.

The BD+ protection technology is cited as a reason for Hollywood studios such as Fox and Disney to side exclusively with Blu-ray Disc over HD DVD.

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And you wonder why...
By masher2 (blog) on 11/20/2007 12:16:20 PM , Rating: 4
...why some people have long supported HD-DVD over BD. Broken or not, BD+ is a more intrusive and potentially troublesome scheme than HD's implementation.




RE: And you wonder why...
By TomZ on 11/20/2007 12:22:17 PM , Rating: 2
I agree, and I think that HD-DVD stikes a better balance between the needs/wants of both consumers and content producers. BD/DB+ is overly restrictive, in my view.


RE: And you wonder why...
By Locutus465 on 11/20/2007 12:47:00 PM , Rating: 3
In the end, consumers will choose the winner... I hope they will choose the technology that is actually best for consumers rather than buy into the hype.


RE: And you wonder why...
By noirsoft on 11/20/2007 1:04:06 PM , Rating: 4
For more than 99% of consumers, the presence or absence of copy protection has nothing to do with the perceived benefit of either format.

It only matters to the small number of people who are paranoid about making backups, and pirates. One of which should rightfully be prevented from doing their business, and the other, like it or not, consists of insignificant numbers to affect corporate policy.

Most people treat digital the way the did analog: The medium is interchangeable with the data. When an LP becomes scratched, you buy a new LP, and the same with DVD. Very very few people see a purchased disc only as a master copy from which you make every-day playable copies.

It's only the ease of making perfect digital copies that has led to the current debate of fair use vs copyright, as well as widespread piracy.


RE: And you wonder why...
By ChristopherO on 11/20/2007 1:10:53 PM , Rating: 5
I wouldn't make that assumption. Mandatory Managed Copy is a fantastic idea. I'd rather have a media server in my house (with a couple TB of disk space), copy my entire HD collection over, and be able to stream video to every set-top box in my house.

That's one of HD's biggest "unknown" features, and it has nothing to do with "backups or pirates." I don't care if 99% of users won't take advantage of this... *I* will, and that's the only thing important to me.

I can already stream MP3s to every TV in my house, why not HD video?

The reality is that HD's copy protection is fine for studio use. Insiders have said that's really all they need. The BD layer gets in the way. From a content protection perspective, all you need to do is discourage casual piracy. You'll always have determined guys who break any encryption you throw at them, and thus, trying to fight them is sometimes pointless since you'll spend ever greater money and still walk away the looser.


RE: And you wonder why...
By GreenyMP on 11/20/2007 3:34:25 PM , Rating: 2
A couple flaws in the "Blu-ray sucks because of DRM" argument:

1. Anybody that wants to rip any blu-ray disk can. No amount of DRM has stopped this in the past, and it doesn't now. One might have been harder to crack than the other, but that is done. You don't have to crack it again for every disk.

2. There are Blu-ray burners available with which to make back-ups. There are no HD DVD burners available (AFAIK).


RE: And you wonder why...
By Pythias on 11/20/2007 4:28:11 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
1. Anybody that wants to rip any blu-ray disk can. No amount of DRM has stopped this in the past, and it doesn't now. One might have been harder to crack than the other, but that is done. You don't have to crack it again for every disk


That may be true, but I'd prefer not to have to break the law to do so.


RE: And you wonder why...
By BansheeX on 11/21/2007 3:42:39 AM , Rating: 3
First of all, a lesson in ethics. Don't immediately associate breaking the law as a bad thing. It was once against the law for blacks to use a white bathroom.

The special interest "law" for managed copy only gives you the right to one personal backup. If you create more than one copy, which you SHOULD be able to do, you're breaking the law anyway. What happens if your copy gets damaged, do you get to make another one? Stupid DRM limitations on both platforms will get cracked and you will have equal copying ability on both. It's a meaningless issue that some HD-DVD fans like to use as a rallying point.


RE: And you wonder why...
By Pythias on 11/21/2007 10:43:25 AM , Rating: 3
quote:
First of all, a lesson in ethics. Don't immediately associate breaking the law as a bad thing. It was once against the law for blacks to use a white bathroom.


Thank you, Most Holy One. May I wash your feet now?

Can you hear me rolling my eyes? Because I'm rolling them as hard as I can.

Some of us place a high value on the law and would prefer to change the law than simply ignore it.


RE: And you wonder why...
By Locutus465 on 11/21/2007 11:00:38 AM , Rating: 2
Except those laws restricted the rights of a group of people unfairly... While I agree the media companies can be over the top, the heart of the anti-copy laws isn't inherantly corrupt like the old anti-black laws were, i.e. in this case trying to prevent theft (yes, piracy is theft).

As for any other posters feelings regarding "having to break the law" to make a back up of their media, I guess it's up to each individual to decide what is morally correct for them selves. Personally I have absolutly no problems with it at all, and I think it's stupid of the media corperations to stress about legit backups. Other posters may feel differently and that's fine.


RE: And you wonder why...
By Pythias on 11/21/2007 11:07:59 AM , Rating: 3
The burning question here is: Who gets to decide whats fair? You? Me? Topo Gigio? Seven of Nine?


RE: And you wonder why...
By BansheeX on 11/21/2007 4:47:26 PM , Rating: 4
quote:
Except those laws restricted the rights of a group of people unfairly...


DRM does nothing but hurt legitimate consumers by assuming everyone is a criminal. It won't stop pirates. It restricts our right to have complete use and control of something we purchased. Managed copy is corporate speak for "limited backups" and a marketing facade to make use complacent with DRM. The copy is still DRM restricted so no playing with any player, no using with any device, no transcoding and streaming how you please. HD-DVD fanboys praising it as a glorious idea that is happy friendy bear in comparison to blu-ray need to shut up before I hit them with a rubber spatula.


RE: And you wonder why...
By retrospooty on 11/23/2007 10:28:12 AM , Rating: 2
"DRM does nothing but hurt legitimate consumers by assuming everyone is a criminal. It won't stop pirates. It restricts our right to have complete use and control of something we purchased."

Very well said... totally agreed.

"HD-DVD fanboys praising it as a glorious idea that is happy friendy bear in comparison to blu-ray need to shut up before I hit them with a rubber spatula."

As for the last sentence, I don't think anyone said HD-DVD DRM was glorious and BR was bad... What was said is that BR's DRM is far more intrusive than HD-DVD.

I can see by your first sentence that there is a light on up there, and thus there is hope, you just need to remove your Sony fanboy colored glasses to let it shine. ;)


RE: And you wonder why...
By mars777 on 11/21/2007 6:49:41 AM , Rating: 2
Buy AnyDVD HD and backup your BD discs as much as you like.

BD+ or not...


RE: And you wonder why...
By porkpie on 11/20/2007 4:29:35 PM , Rating: 1
A couple flaws in your "flaws"

1. BD+ has not been cracked yet. Maybe it will be in the future, but who knows?

2. Blu Ray burners don't backup DRM'd discs.


RE: And you wonder why...
By bisoy on 11/20/07, Rating: 0
RE: And you wonder why...
By jay0110 on 11/20/2007 4:16:51 PM , Rating: 3
quote:
I don't care if 99% of users won't take advantage of this... *I* will, and that's the only thing important to me.

Mention that to corporate heads and let me know their response.

quote:
From a content protection perspective, all you need to do is discourage casual piracy.

That was really effective in stopping DVD piracy, or was it?


RE: And you wonder why...
By ChristopherO on 11/20/2007 4:25:40 PM , Rating: 1
quote:
Mention that to corporate heads and let me know their response.

It doesn't matter. That feature is a mandatory part of the specification. The studio heads opinion on the feature is irrelevant if they choose to release films on the format.
quote:
That was really effective in stopping DVD piracy, or was it?

Yes it was. It has stopped casual piracy. People running P2P and downloading down-scaled MP4s of DVD rips are not casual pirates. For the most part the technology has limited the damage to a determined minority. Perhaps it amounts to hundreds of thousands of people, but it's a significant enough barrier that only the technically inclined are likely to do it.


RE: And you wonder why...
By gramboh on 11/20/2007 6:42:58 PM , Rating: 1
I disagree with your response on point #2.

I doubt Hollywood is really concerned with people who download downscaled DVD rips or even DVD-R movies from Torrent trackers etc. They are concerned, but not hugely. What they do not like is how easily DVD's are copied and reproduced for commercial purposes and sold in large quantities in foreign markets (e.g. the reason for the creation of R5's or whatever they are called in Russia -- the unmastered DVD releases sold legitmately to preempt the sale of DVD screeners).

I would hope studios are trying to figure out the best way for them to manage all sorts of content piracy. They are idiots if they think any effort will stop the truly determined. There are sites dedicated to HD piracy from which you can obtain image files (25+ GB) of Blu-ray and HD-DVD discs already. From what I've read, it is not possiblet o back these up to physical media, but you can play them from PC software, and thus it is only a matter of time before you can stick a bunch of TS HD disc images on a media server and play them through an extender. I actually plan to do this with my media server because I find it more convenient than sticking in discs, and the load time should be faster. I don't care if it's illegal and requires cracking the protection, I purchased the media.


RE: And you wonder why...
By masher2 (blog) on 11/20/2007 1:12:32 PM , Rating: 2
> "It only matters to the small number of people who are paranoid about making backups"

I disagree...and when you see the first BD disks that are playable in a standalone player, but not a PC's BD data drive, you may tend to agree.

Another instance in which BD is more intrusive is region locking, preventing a region 1 player from handling region 2 discs. HD-DVD discs can be played on any player, anywhere in the world.


RE: And you wonder why...
By Christopher1 on 11/20/2007 3:10:32 PM , Rating: 1
Oh.... Thanks for pointing that out. I thought that both Blu-Ray and HD-DVD had both gone 'region-free'... apparently, I was wrong.

That makes me, for one, get behind HD-DVD even more.


RE: And you wonder why...
By jay0110 on 11/20/2007 3:28:50 PM , Rating: 2
masher, you of all people should've also mentioned region 0. That's an option if you'd like your BD to play anywhere in the world.

You also know that regions control price; so that argument can swing either way.

While I understand your perspective, I fail to see its major impact in the grand scheme of things.


RE: And you wonder why...
By masher2 (blog) on 11/20/2007 3:32:23 PM , Rating: 1
> "masher, you of all people should've also mentioned region 0. That's an option if you'd like your BD to play anywhere in the world."

That's just the point-- its an option, that studios can choose not to use. With HD-DVD, they don't have that option.

Is region locking a "major" impact? No, I don't think so. But all else being equal, I'd rather have studios forced to provide region-unlocked discs, rather than relying upon their goodwill to do so.


RE: And you wonder why...
By BansheeX on 11/21/2007 3:50:20 AM , Rating: 2
In terms of its potential effect on the war, regions are a moot issue as probably 99% of DVD consumers have never purchased a disc from another region. From an enthusiast perspective, I have to say that lossless audio tracks and 10GB more storage on single layer recordables far outweigh the ability to import Harry Potter two months before its release in the states. But you know, that's just me.


RE: And you wonder why...
By blojib on 11/21/2007 5:23:36 AM , Rating: 2
This 99% number keeps popping up. It doesn't seem to be backed up by anything verifiable though. In my experience, the percentage is lower (than 99%) in the United States but for the rest of the world, especially those who travel frequently, buying media from different regions occurs quite often and is nowhere close to 99%.


RE: And you wonder why...
By Nanobaud on 11/20/2007 1:12:41 PM , Rating: 2
A lot more than 1% of consumers would like more say about what they can play the content on.


RE: And you wonder why...
By deeznuts on 11/20/2007 12:46:48 PM , Rating: 2
What difference, for the normal average consumer (buy disk, put in player) does HD DVD vs. BD protections consist of? My BD disks play perfectly in my BD player, and I don't see any intrusion because of the copy protection scheme.


RE: And you wonder why...
By Locutus465 on 11/20/2007 1:04:07 PM , Rating: 2
I think what HD-DVD customers are worried about is what studio's could (and almost certainly would) do. I.e. Region conding... For the time being some BD players allow you to change regions at will so you can get around region coding... But if BD wins, how long till studios start hammering on the pressure through all means neccessary to fully reinstate region coding? HD-DVD is region free, no problems.

Perhaps you don't buy forgine films, and if that's the case I can see how you would not care as much about that issue. For those of us who do on occation, we would rather have the import option rather than having to wait for a local studio to screw up the content for us.


RE: And you wonder why...
By cubby1223 on 11/20/2007 1:18:34 PM , Rating: 2
Region coding is *optional*. To create a format, you still have to give it the options studios want for them to release their product. Example, region coding is the specific reason Hairspray is released today on Blu-ray but not on HD DVD, even though it's from a neutral studio. There are advantages for the studio and if it gets them to release more movies, then that's fine by me. There are only 3 regions, and the majority of Blu-ray movies released *have no region coding*.


RE: And you wonder why...
By masher2 (blog) on 11/20/2007 1:39:42 PM , Rating: 2
> "Region coding is *optional*."

Not in HD-DVD-- its not an option, period. Which means, if it becomes the dominant format, studios will have no choice but to release region-unlocked discs.

New Line can afford to not release Hairspray on HD-DVD now, simply because the HD market is microscopic. If HD was the majority of disc sales, then they have no choice but to release regardless.


RE: And you wonder why...
By cubby1223 on 11/20/2007 2:22:16 PM , Rating: 2
And region coding not being an option on HD DVD... is part of why HD DVD does not have full studio support.


RE: And you wonder why...
By Locutus465 on 11/20/2007 2:30:17 PM , Rating: 2
And bluray has full studio support? Universal? Paramount? Pixar? Both sides have exclusive studios, both have a great selection of exclusive content... Fortuently for HD-DVD owners at least some content that is BD exclusive in this country is not exclusive in other countries, and since our format is not shackled by regions we can import these movies and not miss out... The Brothers Grimm is one such example.


RE: And you wonder why...
By Locutus465 on 11/20/2007 2:36:23 PM , Rating: 2
You know what, I screwed up on Pixar.. I meant dream works... my bad!


RE: And you wonder why...
By killerroach on 11/20/2007 11:27:43 PM , Rating: 2
And Paramount/Dreamworks were paid off, and Universal has considered switching camps. Also, Dreamworks is looking to break away from Paramount, which would place their HD-DVD-only status into question.

That being said, the HD-DVD commercial that Dreamworks Animation did with Shrek the Third was pretty cool. "Did I mention we're calling from the parking lot?"


RE: And you wonder why...
By Locutus465 on 11/21/2007 11:13:09 AM , Rating: 2
You seriously think Disney and Fox support BD strictly out of the goodness of their hearts? Seriously now... I guess if we're going to throw around basless rumors, WB was thinking of HD-DVD because of the sheer number of stand alone players sold as opposed to BD camp, which presents a much greater growth potential... There you go, there's my pro HD-DVD baseless rumor :)


RE: And you wonder why...
By cubby1223 on 11/20/2007 1:27:22 PM , Rating: 2
BD+ gets studios to release more titles. Studios who don't care, don't have to use it. Yeah, we've seen HD DVD's implementation that put Transformers up on torrents before it's release date. If given the choice, yes everyone wants fewer copy protection schemes, but if one that really isn't all too intrusive can eases studios into releasing more movies, then why not? These HD formats will never be as popular as DVD, never see the massive numbers of releases, let's just get all we can out of it before the future of DRM-filled downloads are mainstream.


RE: And you wonder why...
By cubby1223 on 11/20/2007 2:27:34 PM , Rating: 2
Here is a glimpse of the future:
http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/digital-downloads/vudu-...

Universal supports it. A set top box to hold your HD movies never to be taken out of it. Hows that for DRM? In comparison, is BD+ really all that bad?


RE: And you wonder why...
By masher2 (blog) on 11/20/07, Rating: 0
RE: And you wonder why...
By EglsFly on 11/20/2007 5:09:27 PM , Rating: 3
I have been shopping around and am very interested in someday getting an HDTV and appropriate player.
It seems to me that BlueRay has more studios and manufacturers supporting it, than HDDVD. So I don't foresee HDDVD winning this format battle.
Sure, the consumer will ultimately decide, but when more big companies (movie studios and player manufactures) are supporting BlueRay, it seems an uphill battle for HDDVD.

When I am shopping around I see BlueRay players made by Panasonic, Pioneer, Samsung, Sharp, Sony, etc... When I look at HDDVD players all I see is Toshiba. Not much consumer choice there.
(I have seen a combo player supporting both formats made by LG.)

As far as the copy protection stuff goes that this article is about, I would agree with some of the posters here that the "majority" of the consumers could care less. All they want, myself included, is when you buy the movie, you put it in the player and it plays.

Perhaps its possible that both formats will stay around for awhile. We had music Cassette, LP (and later CD) formats available for a long time before CD eventually became the standard. They required completely different hardware to play, but so does BlueRay and HDDVD. Except in the previous case, each format was supported by the studios.


RE: And you wonder why...
By retrospooty on 11/20/2007 9:56:22 PM , Rating: 2
nope... The winner will be the one with sub $100 players available. Once that happens, people will start to buy in mass quantities. Studios can try to push influence, but the winner will be decided by price - right now it looks as if HD-DVD will be there far before BR.


RE: And you wonder why...
By cmdrdredd on 11/20/2007 10:57:41 PM , Rating: 2
Not really. Player sales mean very little because do you know how many people I saw buying a HD DVD player at walmart only to be buying regular DVDs at the same time and NOT ONE HD DVD title. It's like they don't even get it.

When you can sell 2 movies a month to everyone who owns the player you win. Not before. That's how I look at it.


RE: And you wonder why...
By Locutus465 on 11/20/2007 11:09:41 PM , Rating: 2
I beg to differ, there is huge market growth in having more players out on the market than current early adopter sales leads. Early adopters are willing to shell out almost any amount of money for what they persive is best, the mass market isn't. The first format to get to a $99 player, and better still $20 average movie price will be in a great position.

Also, your walmart experience didn't match mine... When I saw people picking up HD-DVD players I also noticed handfulls of HD-DVD's to go along with them. The night of the HD-DVD fire sale my local walmart almost completely ran out of HD-DVD media (along with players obviously). Also consumers didn't stop purchasing when A2's ran out, I saw plenty of people picking up A3's. And now for black friday A3's will be in the same neighborhood the A2 was in not long ago.


RE: And you wonder why...
By BansheeX on 11/21/2007 4:06:43 PM , Rating: 1
As has been mentioned before, no matter how badly you want it to be true because you purchased HD-DVD, the "race to $100" you've invented comes distant second to studio support and title exclusivity. With BD+ and a for-profit model, it doesn't look like blu-ray is going to lose any of its studios or player-producing members when Toshiba decides to drop below $100 MSRP for good. BRA will patiently and steadily drop prices, and they can do that because unlike you or me, the vast majority of consumers are quite happy with DVD or still use SD tvs. By the time these people do have new tvs and are convinced that spending $1000 to upgrade movies they already own is justifiable, blu-ray will have closed the gap in player price significantly.


RE: And you wonder why...
By Locutus465 on 11/22/2007 12:52:52 AM , Rating: 2
See below.


RE: And you wonder why...
By retrospooty on 11/22/2007 5:54:12 PM , Rating: 4
Yes and no, you are correct BR will not lose any studio support when HD-DVD drops below $100. BR WILL lose studio support after HD-DVD drops below $100 and people start buying it in masses over BR. This will happen, in spite of your fanboy mentality or not, others don't have that, they want one thing. To play HD movies cheaply. They dont give a rats arse about Sony, or BR, or Toshiba or HD-DVD, they want the cheaper solution... Both formats play movies inthe same quality.

The ONLY thing Sony can do to stop it is to drop prices. If both players are close in price BR will win. If Sony and BR are still double (or more) the price then BR will lose. Its that simple.


RE: And you wonder why...
By cmdrdredd on 11/21/2007 7:32:23 PM , Rating: 1
You can say what you want about people buying HD DVD players cheap and having more players. What use is it if they have no movies to buy?

WB is now supporting Blu-Ray, Disney is only on BD too. These studios produce content that is very family friendly (harry potter, disney's pixar movies for instance). The people buying a handful of new HD DVDs with their new player may do so for a short time. Given the recent releases for both formats I lean toward Blu-Ray having the better selection. That's what matters. If everyone witha SP3 or BD Player buys a movie every month then they did a good job. I've gone many months without buying anything on HD DVD. If I had a Blu-Ray player earlier then I would have been buying many titles in the past 5-6 months.


RE: And you wonder why...
By Locutus465 on 11/22/2007 12:52:15 AM , Rating: 3
Hmmm, in my collection I have:

The Matrix Trillage (WB)
Batman Begins (WB)
Blood Diamond (WB)
Harry Potter and the goblet of fire (WB)
Batman Begins (WB)
Superman Returns (WB)
TMNT (WB)

Well shoot, it seems like WB supports HD-DVD pretty well, infact the Matrix and Batman Begins are not even available in Blu Ray yet. Also, I'm not aware of a single WB Blu Ray exclusive. If you can find one let me know, but as of right now I don't think there's a single one. Then theres

Shrek the third
Sleepy Hallow
The Bourn Movies (no ultimatium as it's not yet available)
Chronicals of Riddik
The Mummy Movies
What Dreams May Come
Van Helsing
Dune
Serenity
Transformers
King Kong

All of these are Universal/Paramount/Dreamworks HD-DVD exclusives.

For free with my x-box hd-dvd (now sold to someone else) I'm getting:
Charlie and the chocolate factory
The Italian Job
Rattle & Hum
Pitch Black
Darkman

With my Toshiba HD-A2 I'm getting many of the same films as above because I didn't think they would honor my first request as I purchased outside of the time frame specified by the order form. I tried anyway because when I purchased the deal was running, I just didn't know it applyed to the x-box upgrade. So I'll only be getting this one, rest will be sold.
Aeon Flux

My next purchase is gonig to be another paramount hd-dvd exlusive:
Star Trek The Original Series season 1 remastered.

What was that about no movies available for HD-DVD again?


Welcome!
By kileil on 11/20/2007 11:29:14 AM , Rating: 2
Welcome to the front lines soldier! See those millions of people out there? They all want fiercely to get past you, but you must stop them.
Here's a spoon. Good luck. *scampers off*




RE: Welcome!
By gradoman on 11/20/2007 11:56:58 AM , Rating: 2
Doom (Doomguy, if you'd like) defeated all of Hell -- all alone! Doom, however, had very large guns...


RE: Welcome!
By therealnickdanger on 11/20/2007 12:02:01 PM , Rating: 2
A very BIG F***ING GUN, IIRC.


RE: Welcome!
By 16nm on 11/20/07, Rating: 0
RE: Welcome!
By psyph3r on 11/20/2007 4:09:54 PM , Rating: 2
oh my...Have you not heard of a BFG? wow...


RE: Welcome!
By Locutus465 on 11/20/2007 1:00:53 PM , Rating: 3
There is no spoon...


why bother?
By Screwballl on 11/20/2007 12:02:39 PM , Rating: 2
Why do these people even bother, they know the ones that want to rip the movies will do so. Their only saving grace right now is that due to the sheer size of the movies, they are not easily shared on even high speed connections (at least within the US).




RE: why bother?
By Bioniccrackmonk on 11/20/2007 12:48:38 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
Why do these people even bother


By setting up this security they are only enabling the ones that KNOW how to bypass it to actually make copies. How many people would be doing this if it was as simple as putting the disc in and hitting the copy button?


RE: why bother?
By Screwballl on 11/20/2007 1:16:48 PM , Rating: 2
With the number of programs out there and easily accessible, only the ones looking to get fair use/illegal use of it will be using them.
These shields are to protect the usage to being within an approved player but their copy protection also protects against legal fair use copying (of course nowadays they try to play off that ALL copying is illegal).

The point I am making is that these companies are spending untold amounts for copy protection when it always gets bypassed somehow anyways. So why not make a simple easy to bypass encoding that normal people cannot simply copy and save the companies millions of dollars at a time.


RE: why bother?
By cmdrdredd on 11/20/2007 6:07:48 PM , Rating: 1
All copying is illegal unless the studio, developer, creator says it's ok to do so. If HD DVD says that all disks are allowed to be ripped to a HDD for playback and every studio producing content on HD DVD realizes this and is ok with it, so be it.

If they say no, which is the case with most every DVD release ever then you are doing something illegal by making a copy. There's no way to get around it. Unless it's written down that it's ok to back it up, you can't. Simple.


RE: why bother?
By Screwballl on 11/21/2007 1:23:44 PM , Rating: 2
I haven't read through it all so I am curious about laws regarding if the media companies are required to allow fair use or if the media companies are taking it to the letter and using the copy protection to prevent fair use (which they claim is cracking and file sharing).


Cracked?
By therealnickdanger on 11/20/2007 11:41:14 AM , Rating: 2
Didn't "DVD Jon" already break BD+?




RE: Cracked?
By kileil on 11/20/2007 11:55:34 AM , Rating: 2
Yup, BD+ has been cracked for awhile:

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20071108-blu-...

I think Macro is hoping to introduce their own form of security within the BD+ spec


RE: Cracked?
By Carl B on 11/20/2007 12:14:51 PM , Rating: 3
BD+ hasn't actually been cracked; the present work around works only for an HTPC, and requires the storage of all the files on the disc on the hard drive. It doesn't allow burning, re-encoding, or anything else one would normally associate with a real "crack." Furthermore it's enabled soley through a hole in PowerDVD.

SlySoft says they have cracked it and will be releasing software that takes advantage of said crack, but until they do BD+ the actual encryption scheme remains uncompromised at present. Even then though, the primary advantage of BD+ is that the entire scheme can be changed on a per-pressing basis... so it should be a game of cat-and-mouse for some time to come.


Bluray: Its the DRM, stupid.
By Webreviews on 11/20/2007 4:58:49 PM , Rating: 5
In this week's Business Week magazine, Sir Howard Stringer got to the heart of what Bluray is about for Sony :

Business Week:
quote:
Microsoft (MSFT ) seems to have an interesting role in this. They're selling an add-on HD DVD for the Xbox, and Xbox competes strongly with you. Is Microsoft working in cahoots with Toshiba (TOSBF ) on the HD DVD? Is that a competitive challenge to you?


Sir Howard:
quote:
Only the spirits know (laughter). You never know with Microsoft, do you? Obviously, we care about the software side more than the Toshiba side. It doesn't own a studio. The most significant thing about the Blu-ray—going back to Microsoft—is that the disc has a very high security level. The studios wanted to have protection from instant ripping [copying]. That is probably not in Microsoft's interests.


There it is folks, from Howard Stringer's own mouth: Bluray is not about better content, an improved viewing experience, stunning visuals or anything that would benefit the consumer. It is about " high security " and it is " the most significant thing about Bluray ". That is the head of Sony saying essentially, we don't give a flying fuck about you the consumer, it is the studios that are calling the shots on what you get to watch, how and when.




RE: Bluray: Its the DRM, stupid.
By cmdrdredd on 11/20/07, Rating: 0
RE: Bluray: Its the DRM, stupid.
By Gio6518 on 11/20/2007 11:37:30 PM , Rating: 1
another thing the studios prefer is the disc space, uncompressed PCM sounds freakin incredible, it is a big disappointment when i listen to the audio tracks from a WB disc in compressed 5.1, so thats really a big downside to HD-DVD, it might be the look of perfect buts it not the sound of it...


RE: Bluray: Its the DRM, stupid.
By BansheeX on 11/21/07, Rating: 0
Why?
By psyph3r on 11/20/2007 4:07:21 PM , Rating: 2
Why would someone buy a broken protection scheme...poor ignorant masses getting broad sided by a complete corporate disconnect from real life




"Nowadays, security guys break the Mac every single day. Every single day, they come out with a total exploit, your machine can be taken over totally. I dare anybody to do that once a month on the Windows machine." -- Bill Gates

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