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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.
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.