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  1. source: http://eheldman3.blogspot.com/2013/09/dvd-video-discs-encrypted-or-corrupted.html

    What's all of your opinions on this subject?

    If you own DVD Video Discs (and chances are you do) like most consumers you may have actually purchased or own an inferior disc, that is not what it claims to be – a DVD Video Compliant disc. This article attempts to address the technical aspect by arguing that companies should only use the “DVD Video Logo” if the product is within specification standards, if it is not which is more common than most people realize then it is fraudulent to do so and is taking advantage of consumer ignorance.

    I was one of the leaders and advocates for optical disc DRM technology, I spent many years on researching and developing copy protection for Audio CDs thus I am certainly qualified to be speaking on this subject. To me it is not just a consumer rights issue, but also no industry should be misrepresenting their product. When I buy a product that’s what I expect to get. I am not for or against DRM even if I think it does more harm then good, what I am against is the industry knowingly selling an inferior and non standard product and not informing the consumer, ignorance is no excuse, it is outright deceptive.


    The movie industry varies far from the open music industry as they have used copy protection since the VHS days by adding analog errors to the video tapes. Though unlike nowadays VHS did not have a so-called logo or different formats, nor was compatibility a major issue, though some TVs didn’t like the analog errors, no one gave it much thought.


    Today, we are in a digital age and since digital is more complex, a set of specific standards was created for different disc formats. In this article we are interested in the “DVD Video” standards controlled by the DVD FLLC: http://www.dvdfllc.co.jp/index.html


    Copy protection DRM (Digital Rights Management) and Security is a standard and necessary part of the digital age. What is important to understand here is false advertising and selling non standard discs as being standard. Though this issue was addressed and corrected with the short lived CD Music Copy Protection that non standard discs were not labeled as CDDA Redbook, this was never challenged or enforced with DVD Video discs that use non standard formats.


    On a true technical level, copy protection is encryption; this is used when you check your e-mail or sign into your Facebook account. This is also used on DVD Video discs; something called CSS (Content Scrambling System) but that was compromised early on and today is rendered almost useless.


    It is important to understand what the word encryption means dealing with data security. Basically a set of numbers such as 346751 is encrypted to something like 157643, which in this case is simply written backwards but a simple software application will know this and read them correctly. DVD Video standards built in the CSS encryption standard so it follows the DVD Video Specifications properly, but since it is defeated so easily third party, companies such as Sony, Rovi and Disney decided to create their own form of copy protection.


    This is where the problem begins. Since the DVD Video Specifications were already complete you can’t easily revise them or everyone needs to buy a new player, so how do you create your own copy protection so existing players will still work? Well, you can’t add newly revised encryption or existing DVD Players won’t know how to read something as simple as the bytes
    being in reversed order. The solution is not data encryption but instead actual data corruption.


    Basically non standard DVD Video data corruption all works in the same basic manner. This is by violating the DVD Video Disc specifications to add deliberate errors. In order to accomplish
    this VTS (Video Title Sets) will point to an unreadable damaged sector, dummy entries in the file system’s TOC (Table of Contents) will list non existent files, fake cells, chapters will be added etc. but all point to a common element and that is an error, either unreadable or non existent data.


    It is important to understand and to note that it is impossible to create a non standard so-called copy protected file system and still obey the standards, it simply will not work. The only way to create non standard copy protection is by violating the existing standards, or to revise the standards thus requiring new hardware.


    Thus any DVD Video disc that violates the book standards should not be labeled and sold as a “DVD Video Disc” as it is not. The non standard file system and data corruption used to create the so-called copy protection is data corruption and by corrupting data (adding unreadable sectors, fake files, chapters etc.) that disc is not within the DVD Video Specs and will not be guaranteed to play on every DVD player or drive – somewhere a player or drive will reject it as it is out of the specification! Playability isn’t everything, we know what a DVD Video disc is, we know what DVD Video disc copy protection is and we know how it should behave…thus we should know what we are buying. You can call it whatever you want but it is not a “DVD Video” disc if it uses a non standard file structure – it is now something else out of specs and should be labeled as such.


    Quality concern is yet another major issue with this, aside from being able to easily backup or copy the disc, since this disc already contains unreadable errors and a corrupted file structure normal wear such as standard scratches could compromise the disc to be unreadable in a normal manner. Additionally since it contains damaged and corrupted user data, there is the possibility of an error overflow that when such natural scratches come into contact with the disc, since that disc is “pre-damaged” it could in fact degrade the readability.


    There are also many DVD Player standard features not commonly used by consumers, such as listing the VTS (Video Title Sets) in the player. Since one of the most common non standard techniques is using multiple dummy VTS , if these are displayed or accessed it could freeze, crash or even damage a legit player simply because it contains errors.


    Thus anyone who uses non standard copy protection such as ARccOS, RipGuard, Disney X etc. on DVD Video discs should not be selling them as “DVD Video” discs that are copy protected; instead they should be sold as “DVD Video Compatible” discs since they are not using the standard and are technically inferior quality.


    Basic Theory – CSS DVD Video Standard DRM


    · Encrypt (that is to change) the actual sectors on the disc to an unrecognized format.
    · To use a “key” to decrypt the encrypted sectors on the disc (only compliant players may do this).
    · Thus all DVD compliant players w/ built in CSS will be able to play this disc (industry standard).

    Basic Theory – Non Standard Corrupted DRM


    · To introduce deliberate errors not permitted by the standard, so copying software will be fooled.
    · To hide the errors in the DVD control file so players will ignore them.
    · Thus some players will not be able to handle the non standard file system amongst other problems addressed in the above article.

    Weblinks:

    The MPAA: The Motion Picture Association of America who is the largest consumers for non standard DVD Video Copy Protection.
    http://www.mpaa.org/

    Rovi: The producer of RipGuard DVD Video Non Standard copy protection. Rovi used to be Macrovision the same people who added the errors to the old VHS tapes.
    http://www.rovicorp.com/

    Sony DADC: The producer of ARccOS mostly used and found on Sony related DVD Video discs.
    http://www.sonydadc.com/

    Protect Software: A German based company that also offers packed DRM for downloads.
    http://www.protect-software.com/

    Fortium Tech: Formerly known as “First 4 Internet” being the producer of the infamous “XCP Sony Rootkit” the company changed their name and developed non standard DVD Video Copy Protection.
    http://www.fortiumtech.com/

    Disney: One of the largest consumers for non standard DVD Video copy protection.
    http://disney.go.com/index

    Edward Heldman III
    CEO T.A.
    Productions Technology
    Eheldman3@yahoo.com
    Last edited by TubeBar; 23rd Sep 2013 at 18:17.
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    Good read!

    Tony
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  3. Member bendixG15's Avatar
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    ok .........
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    This came up few years ago so I made my own logo which I put on my discs. Case closed.
    Depends what the definition of the word inhale is.
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    Intentionally mislabeling a product in order to more easily sell it should not be allowed. In the food, drug and automotive industries it is a big deal when such a practice is discovered.
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    Originally Posted by videobread View Post
    This came up few years ago so I made my own logo which I put on my discs. Case closed.
    Exactly:

    https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/280532-how-do-i-prevent-my-dvd-from-being-copied

    and...

    https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/282585-Prot-DVD-test-results
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  7. This has been discussed in the past but technically a DVD-Video has:
    1. A VIDEO_TS folder with VOB and IFO files.
    2. The VOB files must not be larger than 1GB.
    3 The disc must be UDF 1.02.

    Other than that the DVD Forum which owns the "DVD Video" trademark can do whatever they want to their discs, I don't like all the copy-protection but it is what it is.

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    Where actual use of damaged sectors are used you could apply "dvd video compatible" .... but as for the rest, dummy chapters and cells then these would still be compliant.
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    Originally Posted by Bjs View Post
    Where actual use of damaged sectors are used you could apply "dvd video compatible" .... but as for the rest, dummy chapters and cells then these would still be compliant.
    These copy protection schemes are like a package of M&M's where the red ones have cheese inside instead of chocolate and no notice of this is made on the outside of the package. Sure, the green M&M's are compatible with the ingredients list. As long as you don't eat the red ones, everything is compliant.

    Unfortunately, not everyone instinctively skips the red M&M's, nor does every licensed DVD player skip the bad sectors on a non-compliant disk.
    Last edited by ejolson; 10th Feb 2012 at 18:31.
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    Originally Posted by El Heggunte View Post
    Originally Posted by videobread View Post
    This came up few years ago so I made my own logo which I put on my discs. Case closed.
    Exactly:

    https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/280532-how-do-i-prevent-my-dvd-from-being-copied

    and...

    https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/282585-Prot-DVD-test-results
    WOW!!!
    I totally forgot about that 2nd link!!
    Blast from the recent past!
    LOL!!
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  11. Fixed the link to the blog (thanks to Paul for the e-mail). Sorry I haven't kept on this issue as not sure the EFF or anyone wants to sue over it.

    Is DVD Copy Protection still used now that they have BD and ACSS? I have not had a protected DVD in a long time, but then again I buy BDs these days.
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