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New Copy Protection to Make Playing DVDs on a PC Difficult
The Cowardly Pirate writes "ZDNet's Hardware 2.0 blog is reporting that new copy-protection software for DVD publishers from a company called ProtectDisc not only makes it difficult to rip movies that you've purchased but also prevents discs from playing in a Windows PC at all. From the article: 'Protect DVD-Video is the brainchild of a company called ProtectDisc. Part of the copy-protection mechanism is a non-standard UDF (Universal Disc Format) file system which results in the IFO file on the DVD (this is the file responsible for storing information on chapters, subtitles and audio tracks) appearing to the PC as being zero bytes long.'"
Countdown to DVD Jon hack 3..2..1..
Movies are actually meant to be watched? I thought they were collectibles!
new copy-protection software for DVD publishers from a company called ProtectDisc not only makes it difficult to rip movies that you've purchased but also prevents discs from playing in a Windows PC at all.
I don't know about you, but the only DVDs I watch on my computer are in DIVX format and come from sweden. GG MPAA.
The theory of relativity doesn't work right in Arkansas.
Chances are the FM recording had a serious bug that's still being worked on, but the FM recording is being disabled to minimize the impact of the bug. If that's the case, a future update will probably re-enable it.
Dunno if Creative has released any official information, though.
Nathan
Part of the copy-protection mechanism is a non-standard UDF (Universal Disc Format) file system...
Not very universal if it's non-standard, now, is it?
Next in news: new DVD protection that makes it impossible to play it at all. All you can do is watch at its shiny surface and think about how cool the movie is.
The sad thing is that people will probably still be buying them.
We've seen this tried before on CDs and the response was that they'd have to stop using the "Compact Disc" trademark because that's only for people who follow the standard.
Yeah. That showed 'em.
"Tell me doctor, with all of your defenses, are there any provisions for an attack by killer bees?"
I'd hardly call the XBox small.
"Nobody woke up this morning wanting to do less with their DVDs!"
The truth of the matter is, the pirates rule the ports, and if you try to remove ports altogether trade shuts down and the merchants and people are angry - the solution isn't to remove ports, but to create naval armies to fight the pirates away from the merchant vessels (being, DVD's). Or at least that's what my pirated copy of Sid Meier's Pirates taught me. But then when I pirated Pirates of the Carribean I learned instead that if you side with some of the pirates you can get rid of some other pirates. Also I learned that if a pirate falls behind, he's left behind, which explains why I'm still trying to use IRC/Torrents and it seems my fellow pirates moved on to Newgroups/Binaries. All in all though, the pirates have the better ships and are sexier, and you'll never get rid of them - so maybe just accept your losses and stop pissing off your customers so much that they prefer dealing with pirates not just because of the lower prices but because we don't fill their computers with plagued goods in the form of viral DRM softwares and anti-privacy/anti-piracy programs? If I wasn't a pirate, I would deal with them over you, and I am a pirate because you've been pissing me off for years. Soon you won't have customers at all, they'll all be pirates - and there will be panic on the high seas but also much rum drinking and dancing because - yo ho! - a pirate is a friend to a pirate when the only goods in trade are information and can verily be copied and the booty shared by all.
Is that there are people out there that think this is a good idea. It could be the greed or just misguided ideals. But the fact that there are people out there that think this is both a good idea and worth of working on is just sad.
People rent movies because it beats watching paint dry. All this DRM stuff is doing is making wall paint more and more interesting...
Tom
Someday, I'll have a real sig.
To paraphrase the NRA:
If watching a DVD is a crime then only criminals will watch DVDs.
It is by the juice of the coffee bean that thoughts acquire speed, the teeth acquire stains. The stains become a warning
And since you can already read the disc on your toaster, you can also BURN IT!
I can see it now...
"I tap my 'Ghostbusters' and my 'Stripes' to power my Bill Murray's Sarcastic Comment Attack..."
"Well, I counter with my Renee Zellweger's Pinchy Faced Squint Attack, so let's see, my Zellweger is destroyed, but your Murray takes six points of damage, and I tap my 'Showgirls' to power a Flashbulb of the Paparazzi and finish him off."
"Damn! Your turn..."
- None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
Black-clad men entered my house through the windows and shot my Mac and blew my Linux servers with C4 but they did NOT find my NetBSD-enabled toaster! MWA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!
Global warming is a cube.
1.) Stop making DVDs. Distribute the crap by download only.
2.) Put Adam Sandler in every film.
"1" is already happening, although Mal-Wart and the rest of the retailers are not happy about it.
"2" would be a crime against humanity.
Rich And Stupid is not so bad as Working For Rich And Stupid.
(you won't benefit, class action suits never actually benefit the consumer)
Hey! That's not true...I got like $12 from that CD price-fixing lawsuit about four years ago to reimburse me for the money I lost paying too much for the 500 or so CD's that I own. That's twelve whole dollars, man!
I probably spent it on a CD...
ZuluPad, the wiki notepad on crack
1989 called. They want their bit about some year calling and asking for something back.
... and then they built the supercollider.
I really don't know what the big deal is. You buy a DVD, take it home and play it on your computer. If it doesn't work you take it back for exchange. If the replacement doesn't work, take it back again. Keep at it until you've gone through their stock and get your refund. Repeat with another movie.
It depends on when you lock the outhouse door. If you do it while the outhouse is in use, well, you've just bought yourself at least a few minutes of quality entertainment and time enough to get away.
Please stand clear of the doors, por favor mantenganse alejado de las puertas
Make it wider than 5 1/4"...
They can now dress casually?