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Linux DVD One Step Closer

Posted by justin++ on from the need-dvd-drive dept.

Matthew Pavlovich, head of the new LiViD project, has released source code (from an anonymous source) to allow CSS unlocking on DVD drives. This means people with DVD drives (only IDE at the moment, SCSI soon) will be able to copy the raw, encrypted, MPEG off the disc. Once this software is refined, all that will be necessary to watch DVD movies under Linux will be a hardware decoder or a special software decoder (which would have to be non-free).

2 of 118 comments (clear)

  1. Don�t expect too much out of this by kju · · Score: 5

    Yes, it is true, we have now all needed parts for software decoding of DVDs, but any software doing so will be illegal and/or non-free.

    1. CSS
    The information about CSS was obtained by reverse engineering some DVD software decoder. Reverse engineering is nearly everytime prohibited by license agreements, and for example european law allows reverse engineering only for software compatibility issues. So the CSS source was not obtained in a legal way, and it is at least a very problematic issue if we may use this source however. Im unsure if CSS is also protected by patents.

    However CSS licensing is for free, but this will likely permit a opensource decoder.

    2. MPEG-II

    MPEG2 decoding software is available (Reference Decodec of the MPEG Simulation Group), but MPEG2 is subject to licensing with MPEG LA (www.mpegla.com). The license fee is $4 per copy.

    3. AC3

    AC3 decoding software is available, written using public available specs. However AC3 is subject to licensing issues (and probably patented too). The price for the (one-time) licensing is said to be about US$ 20000.



    To summarize: We have all needed information for writing a decoder but we may not do so. Im sure that some people ignoring law however will publish such software, like happened with MP3 encoders, but the software will be very likely illegal to use.

    Some countries apparently do not allow software patents, which will increase the possibility of a legal decoder, but be aware, that you as a user of such software are also bound to your countries law.

    Be careful in what you are doing. If you want to do something reasonable try to convince some company to release a software decoder for linux or write a device driver for their decoding hardware.

  2. Reverse Engineering by Sontas · · Score: 4

    What are the laws regarding reverse engineering, specifically reverse engineering a piece of software that has a specific clause in it's usage license not to reverse engineer or dissasemble the code? Are there any ways around a reverse engineering clause of a software product? Could someone, for instance, dissasemble a DLL or EXE in windows and figure out how it works. Then take their knowledge (not in electronic code form but written english/spanish/swahili(sp)/etc or through speaking) and pass it on to someone else who could then make a software product from that information. Would that constitute breaking the reverse engineering clause?