DVD copy protection strengthened

[imtigger2]

Rich.. that's funny you mention that, I think about that with the gaming industry. My nephew is a perfect example of your average kid who's just totally excited about the idea of being able to download games. I truly believe that the majority of games he downloads (and music) he does so ONLY because he can. Just to show off... just to build a collection. Constantly I'm asking him, "did you play...... yet?" and always I get, "no... I'm too busy downloading!"

Keep in mind he's piss poor. His mom took out a loan to get him a computer in the hopes it would improve his interest in something (is there a career in Piracy? and it has, he's now taking computer classes and wants to be a programmer. However, there's no way in hell he'd EVER be able to buy a game at $50 a pop.

So is the game industry losing money because of him? I honestly don't think so.

Oh, if anyone is tempted to do so, don't scold me with "you can justify anything". It's true, I know. I believe me, I've told him just how wrong it is and when he 'can' afford to pay for games, start supporting the game companies you like the most. I know he understands the concept. (he's 17 by the way).

Take care,

Danny B
imtigger

[DTSL06]

If it can be played on existing stand alone DVD players, it can be ripped.

Measures and countermeasures...it will never end.

[Gurm]

Well, a couple thoughts:

1. Yes, I do think that they're that stupid. Honestly. It's not a matter of "stupid" so much as "market percentage". Think about it. Grab 100 people walking in and out of Best Buy. Out of those 100, maybe 10 know how to burn a DVD. Out of those 10 maybe 5 know how to copy a commercial disc. Out of those 5, at least 4 are using DVD XCopy or another commercial package you can buy at a place like Best Buy.

2. They can't be talking about THIS market segment, in other words you and I. You think they're smart enough to know that we all use DVD Decrypter, but NOT smart enough to know that it took all of 6 hours for us to find a workaround, and a whopping weekend for the DVD Decrypter authors to make a permanent fix for Arccos? I think not. Olli from Slysoft and the Decrypter boys account for a minute segment of the "retail market". The "retail market" doesn't know about the tools we use.

And honestly, they're not trying to stop anyone hardcore. They're trying to stop the casual idiot.

It's like software piracy - Microsoft wants to stop exactly two kinds of people. Corporate users who buy one copy of Windows and put it on every machine in their office, and Joe Schmoe who makes a copy of the Windows CD for all his friends. They quash the first by working with the software piracy agencies. They squish the second by introducing WPA.

This is similar - only replace the corporate abusers with the DVD piracy rings in the far east. They're primarily looking to stop John Q. Public from making copies for all his friends. There will always be a core group of people who get the latest in pirated movies and software, or who make perfectly legal backups of their movies. That's not who they're looking to stop.

[Rich86]

Actually, I think they are looking to stop any and all copying of anything.
If they had their way, you and I would pay each time we heard a song or saw a movie.
They just haven't found a way to make that work in a practical way yet.
I generally figure for every smart tech in places like macrovision trying to lock something up, there are 10 other smarter tech's elsewhere making keys . . .
It will be interesting to see how these new macrovision polluted dvd's actually work. These supposedly newly protected dvd's (The Forgotten, Ray, etc.) are a disaster, since the originals play terribly, the copies are obviously easily made and actually seem to perform better than the original. I certainly will return as defective anything that doesn't meet the dvd standards and play perfectly in my players or computers in a heartbeat.

[doppletwo]

Any announcements of the first movie to have the Ripguard?

[GKar]

I'm more concerned with the price of beer going up

[proxyx99]

Gurm, I admire your stiff position on this subject and can only say that future will bring the answer. I know 2 grandmas in their late fifties that are quite verse will DVDDecrypter and what follows afterwards... Even though your arguments are not very convincing I'd like to share your optimism and for the sake of discussion assume they are really that dumb. That would mean that the whole DeCSS noise didn't teach them anything and they decided to leave alone the fastest growing segment of this market (assumption only as there is no data...). Additionally, ... that every DVDR/RW sold is followed by a copy of 123Studios stuff to supplement the combo. If so I can only laugh. Time will tell...

[Gurm]

If you know grandmas that run DVD Decrypter, then you are in a unique position.

The PC ignorance of the casual user would shock and amaze most people who have some know-how. You have to remember that. You and I are members of a solid 0.01% of the population, and those around us make up the remaining 0.09% so as to bring the total to 0.1%. I'm making these numbers up, but long-time techies know I'm right.

[dvdguy4]

By the time this NEW protection comes out DVD Decrypter , Anydvd, DVDshrink will all be updated to allow us to backup "OUR" dvds. Just seems that people are panicking alittle

[Deku Scrub]

People don't seem to be worried about the new copy protection.

But we have yet to see its impact.

Hypothetically, what's the worst case scenario? DVDs won't play in our computers at all?
DVD burners will stop working? Any thoughts?


edited for grammar

[trossin]

The worst case is what Sony did when they decided that we must buy CDs instead of LPs. They bought the record company and stopped selling LPs. They and the other studios will stop releasing new movies on DVD and try to force us to buy HD DVD (Blue Ray or whatever). If you want to watch a new movie you have to buy a new player.

This will take time but it will happen. Have you tried to rent a recent movie at Blockf*cker on VHS? I was living away from home for a bit and there was only a VCR. When I went to rent a recent movie I was told the VHS copy was checked out. They had 100s of DVDs of the movie and ONE VHS copy.

[Gurm]

People don't seem to be worried about the new copy protection.

But we have yet to see its impact.

Hypothetically, what's the worst case scenario? DVDs won't play in our computers at all?
DVD burners will stop working? Any thoughts?


edited for grammar

Worst case, assuming that their press release is accurate? Worst case is that we'll have to wait for a new version of DVD Decrypter in order to rip them. They'll still be watchable in all devices, including DVD-ROMs.

[Regal]

all I can say is they can only protect so much then it will be hacked. If the company keep trying to copy dvds, son they will mess up so bad that the dvds will not even play in dvd players and then there will be plenty of pissed off customers like me that pays for dvds and now just can't watch them on my dvd player, but can't back them up b/c the jerk offs are tryig to save a buck from the few that copy movies b/c they love to pirate.

End of my sad, sobbing story

[Sabro]

My question about all of this is...if the MPAA and others are spending so much money on the war on piracy, shutting down ripper companies, plastering anti-piracy messages all over the theather and films, dvds, prime time tv and sueing the hell outta P2P'ers, where are they getting all the funds to do this is piracy is hurting them that bad?

If your war on piracy is really going that well Hollywood, why do ya need another encryption scheme? hmmmmmmmmmmmm

As usual piracy is not condoned, just thinking outloud here.

Sabro

[AlecWest]

The BBC article said:

Macrovision said the new technology will work in "nearly all" current DVD players when applied to the discs, but it did not specify how many machines could have a problem with RipGuard.

I think I've heard this before, back when Macrovision was first applied to VHS tapes. Problem is, it wiped out "closed captioning" for the hearing impaired. They had to "weaken" the copyguard to make both work. Now here they are again, not specifying how many machines might have a problem with RipGuard. All I can say is, this time around, they'd better not mess with closed captioning. Disenfranchising the disabled (deaf) isn't just bad PR anymore, it's illegal (A.D.A.).

[arnisandyz]

My guess is if they DO come up with a working system, somehow word from inside will get out how to defeat it. Its all about the money. Come out with a product to fill a need, then create a new need for an updated product. Companies like Macrovision doesn't want Piracy to go away...they wouldn't be making money if it did. Pretty much the same thing as virus protection software. I would guess that many of the viruses out there were created by someone associated with the company, although they'll never admit it.