Protecting My Own Videos From Copying

moviebuff2 · Member Joined: 21 Feb 2002 Location: United States

Hi everyone:

Is there any ways (authoring or burning or...) I can use to protect my homemade DVD against digital copying (disc to disc copying, for example)?

Thanks

Marvingj · Posted: Dec 01, 2007 14:53

DVD Architect Studio, there is nothing safe anymore.....
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thecoalman · Member Joined: 25 Feb 2004 Location: Pennsylvania

554 posts? You're joking right?
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videobread · Member Joined: 09 May 2006 Location: United States

You can not stop copying and will never be able to, but you can decrease it greatly by reading through the post on this forum and using some of the tips and tricks that content creators big and small alike are using. Copy protection is designed to cut down copying not stop it completely.

ricky1756 · Member Joined: 29 Jul 2003 Location: michigan

I just right "Gigli" starring jennifer lopez and ben affleck on the disc, then nobody wants to copy it.
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lordsmurf · Posted: Dec 01, 2007 18:04

No. Not possible, end of story.

Read the sticky: http://forum.videohelp.com/topic223640.html
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freebird73717 · Man of Steel Joined: 09 Dec 2003 Location: Smallville

olyteddy · Member Joined: 15 Dec 2005 Location: United States

I keep the DVDs I don't want people to have copies of under my matress, right next to the Playboy Magazine...

redwudz · Mod Neophyte Joined: 07 Sep 2002 Location: AZ, USA

Or you could get one of these:

But if all the move companies can't protect their DVD videos from being copied, I don't think anyone can

Midzuki · **Banned** Joined: 25 Jun 2007 Location: UNREACHABLE

ricky1756 wrote:

moviebuff2 · Member Joined: 21 Feb 2002 Location: United States

I think I will water-mark my own logo (something like "moviebuff's stuff"

) at various parts throughout the video. That will likely stop people from copying the video.

Digital copying will be highly undesirable since who would want something like "moviebuff's stuff" on their video collections?

Even if somebody wants to copy the video by analog means (i.e., RCA connection) and exclude the water-marked parts, the results will be totally useless since who would want to listen to piano pieces that miss several measures each?

videobread · Member Joined: 09 May 2006 Location: United States

Those who claim that you can not copy protect your content, end of story, just lack imagination. The closed mindedness and liner thinking of computer people can be used to the small content creators advantage. Their is a general consensus that it can't done. You can not protect your content. That is simply not true. Keep an open mind. If your BP is going up it just your ego.

I went back and searched the ripping section of this forum for the past six months for movies that gave people trouble backing them up. The titles and the number of views we as follows:

Ratatoulle - 19,111
Hairspray - 1,516
Spider Man 3 - 1,366
Deja Vu - 30,315
Casino Royal - 30,993
The Queen - 8,921
Apocalypto - 14,466
Blades of Glory - 3,391

The content owners searched out and found little tricks that targeted the current ripping software. The ripping software most used by casual copiers. <BLADES _OF_GLORY> was a great example. By simply putting carrots, <>, around the title the ripper was stumped. The goal of copy protection is to decrease casual copying. Casual copying was decreased in all the movies listed above. The problem is that the ripping software was patched to work around the new tricks within a short period.

There is no copy nirvana for Hollywood movie content owners. (Although they are still pinning their hopes on Blu-ray.) The popularity of blockbuster content makes it a target. The small content producer, on the other hand, can come in under the radar using similar stealthy tools. A neat original little trick like <BLADES_OF_GLORY> would make your content virtually uncopyable. By virtue of your size, flying under the radar, the current ripping software coders will never be aware of your slight of hand. They will never get 19,111 request to crack it, as in the case of Ratatolle.

Some people on this site can crack anything. They can just rebuild the DVD no matter what. They are in the one percentile on this site. They are not the general public. They are not going to backup your content for the general public either.

One of my favorite tricks to greatly reduce copying, and I say greatly reduce and not completely stop, is to overload your DVD and burn anyway. Don't ask me to explain. I will not respond. Just keep an open mind. Read the forums and do not accept the common wisdom that you can not protect your content. It's about percentages and not absolutes.

mats.hogberg · Modded Morloc Joined: 17 Jul 2002 Location: Sweden (PAL)

Beg to differ. A disk can either be copied, or it can't. I can say my home is burglar proof, unless the burglar knows how to use a crow bar. That doesn't make it burglar proof. And it only takes one crow bar competent burglar to let all crow bar disabled in.
If I can play it, I can back it up. With more or less trouble.
One simple way to make it harder (to Average Joe, but far from inpenetrable) is to pad your DVD out full with a dummy movie. Then put a scratch at the outer edge of the disk (where the dummy data is).

/Mats
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videobread · Member Joined: 09 May 2006 Location: United States

Mats - You may be able to crack anything, but the vast majority of people can only press GO. It's about percentages and not absolutes for the small content creator.

mats.hogberg · Modded Morloc Joined: 17 Jul 2002 Location: Sweden (PAL)

We simply have different views. You think about it in percentages, I think about it digitally.

/Mats
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gigantibyte · Member Joined: 13 Dec 2006 Location: Canada

What about putting the movie in WMV format with DRM? You know, those media files where you have to go online to acquire a license. I hate those. Not really a way to lock down a DVD, but it could secure the media for PC viewing. I "think" the only way to crack MS DRM is if you already have a license and re-encode the file.

Supreme2k · Posted: Dec 02, 2007 12:52

Some suggestions:

1. Don't loan out your DVDs.

2. If this is a personal business, price fairly for originals and backups, or allow for backing up at a slightly higher price.

3. If there is no money involved, or any "real" loss, don't worry about it. If someone wants to copy your fantastic footage of a school play, you should be flattered that they think so highly of your work.

4. If you are trying to prevent friends or family fom copying it, you have much bigger problems than copy-protection.
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lordsmurf · Posted: Dec 02, 2007 12:58

moviebuff2 · Member Joined: 21 Feb 2002 Location: United States

Perhaps "water mark" is not the correct term. I was referring to the effect we all see all the time on televsision: you are watching a show, suddenly the station logo appears at a lower corner of the screen for a brief moment.

I have not figured out how to achieve that effect. I tried Y connections with 2 video sources going into 1 video in, that did not work.

All suggestions are welcome.

lordsmurf · Posted: Dec 02, 2007 13:43

That's a watermark, and it's obnoxious. I have never - NEVER - seen a homemade watermark that was not ugly and distracting. At least network logos are simple and easy to overlook.

Having MOVIEBUFF'S VIDEO on screen is a distracting eyesore. Those is why stations use small logos with no words. There are many exceptions (on screen pop-up ads, promo watermarks, etc.), but people really do hate them. Brief on-screen items are almost worse than constant ones. You are distracted and forced to ignore the show.

The best idea is to brand the menu. Want more? Do a few seconds in the intro, and the end credits. Better yet, make your very own firstplay and put in a PUO to prevent skipping. Consider things from the viewer stance, not the guy trying to worry about being copied stance. This is why people hate Hollywood so much, because they think about themselves, not the people watching the content.
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MOVIEGEEK · Make My Day Joined: 08 Mar 2002 Location: CA,USA

Ulead VideoStudio can add a watermark(or overlay),I believe Virtualdub can also.
I agree it's ugly but it's hard to get rid of.
Here's a sample:

overlay.wmv
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moviebuff2 · Member Joined: 21 Feb 2002 Location: United States

lordsmurf · Posted: Dec 02, 2007 14:10

Yours could be simple. But I've never seen one. What have you got in mind? Have any example?
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moviebuff2 · Member Joined: 21 Feb 2002 Location: United States

Nothing concrete, yet. But a simple phrase like "Property of ....." in a small font size and a pleasant color, perhaps?

mats.hogberg · Modded Morloc Joined: 17 Jul 2002 Location: Sweden (PAL)

It's pretty easy to do with Donald Graft's Logo filter (quite superior the the logo filter bundeled with most VirtualDub distros) http://neuron2.net/logo/logo17b2.zip

You ca specify start and en frame, transparent color, overall opacity, fade in/out...
To add it at several points in your video, add the filter several times, and set start/end frames to where you want it to start/end.

/Mats
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lordsmurf · Posted: Dec 02, 2007 14:38

Nope, words are bad during the video. Some sort of MB2 logo might work for you. Save the words "property of... blah blah blah, etc etc" for the menu, intro or end credits.

I don't know your projects or personality well enough to create one.

Most pros outside tv networks detest waterbugs, so they're never used. When they are used, it needs to be vector art, not raster images. Use an Illustrator EPS, not a Photoshop PSD. Adobe Premiere and similar quality editors will work with vector art. Homebrew cheap methods with rasters almost always result in funky ugly little images on screen, because raster artwork has boogers on transparencies.

Use white or black, the best is a 30% transparency of white. No colors (few networks use color, as they must be NTSC safe).

Here's a random screen cap I found using Google images (I have no idea what it is):

The MB2 is done with the Cuckoo font (free, easy to find online). Blue lines are safe zone markers.
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moviebuff2 · Member Joined: 21 Feb 2002 Location: United States

Thanks, Mats. I just downloaded the zip file. I will try it and let you know.

moviebuff2 · Member Joined: 21 Feb 2002 Location: United States

lordsmurf, that MB2 looks nice and neglectible. Thanks.

gadgetguy · Contestant Joined: 14 Feb 2002 Location: Michigan, USA

lordsmurf · Posted: Dec 02, 2007 14:53

Here's the PSD.
(I rasterized the MB2, since you may not have the font or same version of Photoshop).

Ideally, you'd re-create the MB2 in Illustrator and save as PDF.

This file is more for show than anything else.

Personally, I'd do all of the work in Premiere, not VirtualDub.

mb2-psd.psd
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