Spielberg Bitten by DVD Encryption

diodesign writes "The Guardian newspaper has reported that 5000 DVD based preview copies of Spielberg's 'Munich' sent to reviewers in the UK can't be played due to the copy protection system involved. Human error at the laboratory where the DVDs were encrypted lead to the wrong region code being set, plus the reviewers use special players from Dolby that prevent the pirating of 'screeners'. An ironic twist in the on-going battle of DRM and media vs. consumers."

Comments

Story Post Misses the Main Point

[BandoMcHando]

The post has completely missed the significant point with this story. It's not so much that the dvds were unviewable, it's that because the reviewers couldn't see the film, the film itself is ineligible for the main official UK film awards.

Re:Story Post Misses the Main Point

[tc]

I am a BAFTA member, and as such I vote in these awards. And yes, I still haven't seen Munich due in part to this debacle. The distributor does offer screenings in a cinema for members, but if you can't get to them when they are scheduled (as I couldn't) then you can only judge from the DVD. If you can't play the DVD, then you're out of luck.

However, it's not correct to say that Munich is ineligable. It is eligable for the awards, but members are (obviously) instructed not to vote for films they haven't seen. So, if most members don't get to see a review DVD or make it to a screening, then they're not going to (or at least certainly shouldn't) vote for the film or performances from it - consequently, many of them haven't. That may of course lead to a film/performance being eliminated from contention in an early round of voting (which is perhaps what you're getting at).

Re:Region Code is not Copy Protection

[TrappedByMyself]

It's amazing how often the popular press gets confused by the technical details.

And it's amazing how often Slashdot and its elitist readers do an even worse job. For example, in this case:
1) The bozo who submitted the article was the one who got the technical details confused. If you RTFA, they actually get it correct.
2) The Slashdot editors, not caring about accuracy, posted a summary which they saw as a button pusher and traffic gem. $$ trumps facts
3) You, the typical Slashdot reader, didn't read the RTFA, and posted a general rant about stupidity and included the mandatory karma whoring Wikipedia link
4) The mods, following the chain, gave your nice little culmination of ignorance a Score:5, Insightful

So to summarize, the press got the story and technology straight. It wasn't until it made it to Slashdot that the story was misunderstood and politicised at every level.

Interesting, ain't it?