Slashdot Mirror
Blu-Ray Facing Delays Caused by DRM Squabbling
Tomo Hiratsuka writes "Disney, Warners et al, the companies behind the AACS content management system,
apparently can't get their act together to complete the standard they wish to impose on Blu-ray. The result? Pioneer has the first Blu-ray drive for PCs ready for market next month but is openly admitting the DRM issue may force it to delay." From the article: "The inability of the companies behind the AACS (Advanced Access Content System) content management system to complete their work has already caused Toshiba to put launch plans for its HD DVD player on hold. AACS is made up of a number of companies from the electronics and content industries. The group's founders include IBM, Intel, Microsoft, Panasonic, Sony, Toshiba, Disney and Warner Bros."
Now that these companies are actually producing products instead of touting them on paper, will they realize (falsely or not) that it's not worth pushing DRM? Or will they continue delaying a DRM release at the expense of new, otherwise helpful, tech?
http://www.TheGamerNation.com/Forums
I'd like to see something like it come out, but take the time to do it correctly. i.e. NO DRM!
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
Err, am I welcoming the indecisiveness of our DRM overlords?
Indeed, the commercial mess that DRM schemes are now demonstrably causing around a promising technology should further convince decision makers and investors around the world that the business model of DRM is wrong. Reasonable pricing and value preserved DRM unencumbered media will do it. One new nail in the coffin!
DRM seems like the sort of thing that has to be, by definition, security through obscurity. The hurdle to breaking DVD protection was the actual block of hex bytes needed to decode the signal, which DVDJon provided us with; publishing the full spec of a DRM technology is essentially the same as breaking it, which would ironically then be against the law, since the DMCA prohibits publishing information about breaking copy protection schemes, IIRC.
This should make it more embarrassing when their DRM is cracked within 90 days of release.
Not that the media mafia really cares or anything but at least we'll get a laugh.
The obscure we see eventually. The completely obvious, it seems, takes longer. - Edward R. Murrow
...And the delay this creates will make blue laser DVD as obsolete as 8-track by the time it actually hits the market.
How ya like dat?
The real question is: Will Sony delay the PS3 if the DRM isn't worked out? Or will they ship with what they have at the time?
"It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
Someone bulding a next gen dvd player out of parts and breaking at least some of the DRM that way. As I understand it some information will be contained in tracks that can't be read by the player (well they can but you can't see the result of that read). Surely a home built player could just be made to read that info. Now I realize that building a DVD player is not a trivial task but most of the parts are already available. In fact surely all you would really need to build is a new control board just without all the DRM. The read head, trays, drive motors etc etc are already and waiting.
I used to have a better sig but it broke.
Jim Taylor in DVD Demystified explained that DVD's were ready to go (technically) 18 months before they were formally launched. The holdup: Studios wanted encryption. Finally, someone sold them CSS, convincing them it was *very* secure.
Noting new here. Same old IP concerns holding up innovation and the progress IP protection was meant to promote.
I'd rather have someone respond than be modded up.
I agree. Successful media transitions for consumer content are usually based on significant changes in form-factor or durability, not simply on quality.