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BD+ Resealed Once Again
IamTheRealMike writes "It's been a few months since we last checked in on how the Blu-Ray group was doing in their fight against piracy. In December 2008, a new generation of BD+ programs had stopped both SlySoft AnyDVD HD and the open source effort at Doom9. At the start of January, SlySoft released an update that could handle the new BD+ programs, meaning that Blu-Ray discs could not be decrypted for a period of time about the same length as SlySoft's worst case scenario. The BD+ retaliation was swift, but largely ineffective, consisting of a unique program for every Blu-Ray master. Users had to upload log files to SlySoft for every new movie/region. They would then support that unique variant in their next update, usually released a few days later. Despite that, the open source effort never did manage to progress beyond the Winter 2008 programs and is currently stalled completely; SlySoft is the only group remaining. This situation remained for several months, but starting around the same time as Paramount joined Fox in licensing BD+, a new set of programs came out which have once again made Blu-Ray discs unrippable. There are currently 19 movies that cannot be decrypted. It appears neither side is able to decisively gain the upper hand, but one thing seems clear — only full-time, for-profit professionals are able to consistently beat BD+."
The BD+ VM is pretty simple actually and can be implemented in software. I imagine the bulk of the cost is in licensing, not the actual technical cost of implementation. And by the way, BD+ only really digs into your player if it's known to be compromised. If a new version of the player firmware is released that resecures it, BD+ programs won't bother to do any checks on it.
A number of major labels have decided to no longer put the logo on their packaging even when the disc conforms to Redbook specifications.
The Toshiba HD-A3 plays HD-DVDs, not BR. The lowest price your link shows is $141.69 for a Samsung BD-P1500. That, combined with the fact that to purchase the same movie in BR format costs more as well.
Karnal
I feel like there is a huge groupthink happening here. Do we all really dislike Blu-Ray? Is there no one else that finds the quality unbeatable and worth the price?
I cannot believe you do not appreciate the quality difference between a DVD and a Blu-Ray. That is as bizarre to me as people, and there are many of them, that say they cannot tell the difference between a CD and a 192 kbps MP3. I think those people have hearing problems. The loss of quality is like nails on a chalkboard.
In both cases, the difference is striking and the higher quality product is significantly better. I love my Blu-Ray films and I love losslessly compressed audio (FLAC anyone?).
I see Blu-Ray as a significant step forward and as a film lover, I truly appreciate the quality of this format. No satellite, broadcast TV or cable company is giving me the quality of HD signal that the Blu-Ray format does. Blu-Ray is the best in show for the quality category for digital multimedia.
Now, is it more expensive than DVD?
Yes.
More importantly, is it TOO expensive?
I answer firmly, "No. The quality justifies the price."
Prices are less expensive, considering inflation, than DVDs were at this same period in their adoption cycle. Also, as adoption/market-share increases prices will drop as well.
I care about Blu-Ray because I care about film and quality is important to me. May Blu-Ray have a long, happy life.
What are you talking about?
The standard is to encode a blu-ray rip down with x264. 720p in 4.37 GB and 1080p in 7.93 GB (single layer and double layer DVD +/- Rs).
Of course there are people out there who will just encode with a constant bitrate / quality target without caring for final file size (and some people who exceed 8 GB on purpose to make it seem like their release has higher quality, or just to piss people off).
It's a very active scene.
Rips can be had easily.
Encodes in various formats, sizes, resolutions, etc. can be had very easily.
You're missing the fact that the chip itself gets an encrypted HDCP stream (that's the whole point of end-to-end encryption) and thus needs to be blu-ray (HDCP) compliant and needs to do decryption and thus have decryption keys from sony. To get those keys you (as a chip manufacturer) need to sign a ginormous 'you're screwed if these ever leak' document that is very scary.