Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Sony Fixes Problems With New DVDs

Posted by kdawson on from the DRM-again dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Following up on reports that DVDs for some Sony titles were causing problems, Video Business is reporting that Sony has fixed the copy-protection problem on recent DVD releases, and will provide replacement discs to customers. The problem was with the ARccOS DRM system. The company issued the following statement: 'Recently, an update that was installed on approximately 20 titles was found to cause an incompatibility issue with a very small number of DVD players (Sony has received complaints on less than one thousandth of one percent of affected discs shipped)... Since then, the ARccOS system has once again been updated, and there are no longer any playability problems.' Customers can call 800-860-2878 to inquire about replacement discs."

12 of 210 comments (clear)

  1. So few complaints? by Biogenesis · · Score: 5, Interesting

    0.001%? Did they even ship enough disks in the first place to get such a small number of complaints as one in 100,000?

    *crosses fingers and hopes my maths is right* :p.

    --
    ...just so Google finds it.
    1. Re:So few complaints? by Ed+Avis · · Score: 2, Interesting

      So what exactly was the defect with these DVDs? Did they carry the official DVD logo? Isn't that a guarantee that the disc follows the published standards?

      I know that with CDs, crippled discs (with deliberate data errors to defeat computer copying) cannot carry the official CD digital audio logo.

      --
      -- Ed Avis ed@membled.com
    2. Re:So few complaints? by freedom_india · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Ya that's what Intel said about the Pentium bug...people should send in physical letters to Sony (not emails) by millions.
      This will make them see light of day.

      --
      "Doing what i can, with what i have." ~ Burt Gummer
    3. Re:So few complaints? by rucs_hack · · Score: 2, Interesting

      You can be sure they will have applied a minimising criteria to the complaints reported. Honesty does not usually mix well with profit in corporate land.

      There's another thing too. They seem to be talking about a large number of dvd's. Have they all actually been sold yet? I doubt it. I reckon there's some large scale behind the scenes recalls going on.

      This is yet another PR blow for sony involving DRM, that makes how many? Well I don't know, if you include mp3 players its barking huge is it not.

      So who was it who thought drm would be great? Seems to be costing sony rather a lot. Ant this isn't even with it being cracked, it's just with it being crap.

  2. Contradiction? by catxk · · Score: 2, Interesting

    there are no longer any playability problems

    So, the update consisted of removing the DRM? Not even Sony can deny that the soul point of DRM is to create playability problems...

    --
    Don't be crazy anymore!
    1. Re:Contradiction? by aadvancedGIR · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Since I read on different places that an easy solution was to rip the disk (apparently, many different easily available tools were capable of this task despite the new protection), the purpose couldn't seriously be fighting against piracy.

    2. Re:Contradiction? by pandrijeczko · · Score: 4, Interesting
      Yep.

      As a fan of "The Simpsons" who buys the series boxed sets when they're released, I emailed Fox about the logic of putting their "Piracy Is A Crime" video at the front of every DVD (a video which is impossible to skip through) when the first thing any pirate will do is remove that same video on any copied disks.

      I also told Fox that I considered it fair use to rip those DVDs to AVI format to store and watch on my media PC and that the anti-piracy video was contrary to what I bought that product for - namely the ability to use the "Digital Versatile Disk" format as and when I chose to watch Simpsons episodes, without having that blasted video popping up every time.

      That was over a year ago and despite two follow-up emails, I have never even got any acknowledgements from them, let alone a reply.

      --
      Gentoo Linux - another day, another USE flag.
    3. Re:Contradiction? by Hyperhaplo · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Erm, I hate to say this but.. stop buying them?

      I have the entire Farscape series on DVD.. and I love watching them. If they had that message I would be sickened before getting through series one. I have one (1) DVD that I know of that has this message. After seeing it on a disc I purchase I stopped buying DVDs.

      As a footnote, after going to the movies 3 times and sitting through the useless mpaa ad about 'stealing is a crime' I don't go to the cinema any more. (yes, I know what stealing is, and what a crime is, and I know what mpaa do to people in the US through the courts). Besides not having my ears blasted, other people ruining the movie and a whole list of other reasons not to go.. I find myself with 1/2 hour of my life NOT spend watching ads and short versions of movies (which they pathetically call 'trailers'.

      --
      You have a sick, twisted mind. Please subscribe me to your newsletter.
  3. If the disc plays... by DrXym · · Score: 3, Interesting

    What's to stop me whipping out DVD Decrypter and just stripping this copy protection? If need be, I could then fire up Nero Recode and do my own menus too. How does any copy protection scheme work on a format that doesn't expect one or have any way for a player to enforce it? Seriously I wonder if Sony HQ shouldn't muzzle Sony BMG and tell them to forget about retro DRM schemes because it seems to be fuckups all the way. The whole company is getting a bad reputation because of one small part - a part which in truth should be subservient to the rest, and not the other way around as it seems to be at the moment.

    1. Re:If the disc plays... by 91degrees · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Uhm. Apparently nothing stops you. All the ripping tools seem to work.

      I'm not quite sure what the improved DRM does to protect them. Maybe it means that if someone does a bit-for-bit copy it isn't going to work or something but cracking these is so easy I'd be surprised if anyone does that. Most of the pirate DVDs I've seen are either cheap DVD-R copies, or are so well presented that the extra work of decrypting them would be trivial.

  4. Great attitude... by SanityInAnarchy · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Now if only we could all be so bold when it comes to Microsoft?

    --
    Don't thank God, thank a doctor!
  5. Re:It must suck to be a DRM engineer by suv4x4 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    When your stuff works too well, you have to "fix" it. When it doesn't work well enough, you have to fix it. And in the theoretical scenario where you get it to work just right, you'll be hated, and likely out of a job.

    Most DRM technology providers so far were clueless idiots capitalizing on the greed of the media companies.

    Granted AACS is actually well designed (but due to implementation flaws and nature of DRM, not perfect), but everything else I've inspected is just hack upon hack creating the illusion of protection. No wonder it's failure prone.