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New Copy Protection to Make Playing DVDs on a PC Difficult
Posted by
ScuttleMonkey
on Wed Oct 11, 2006 03:18 PM
from the thankfully-there-are-alternatives-to-windows dept.
from the thankfully-there-are-alternatives-to-windows dept.
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.'"
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New Copy Protection to Make Playing DVDs on a PC Difficult
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DVD Jon (Score:5, Funny)
Re:DVD Jon (Score:5, Interesting)
Or: Fingers on the shift key!
It's always great to hear about new hacks, designed to keep us from watching our purchased content, likely to keep some legitimate players from being able to play the content, and which will be quickly and simply foiled by some low-tech solution. It's hard to believe companies want to be in this business of "content protection" (but of course they are, because a solid, secure protection system is the holy grail for content providers). Thanks a lot, Hollywood, we love you, too.
Re:DVD Jon (Score:4, Interesting)
You would purchase this? I suppose people must do... personally, I don't own DVD players, I watch everything through my computer, so the only way I could watch it would be to download it.
Re:DVD Jon (Score:4, Interesting)
(http://www.ajwm.net/amayer/)
Disney, for one, has never used the DVD-Video logo, They have their own "Disney DVD" logo that they've been using all along.
Re:DVD Jon (Score:5, Insightful)
(http://www.geocities.com/purpledinoz/)
Re:Wow, that would be so much fun. (Score:5, Insightful)
(http://anticirc.coconia.net/)
Tutorial: How to prevent ANY PC from playing it (Score:5, Funny)
(http://www.myspace.com/everestband)
Re:Tutorial: How to prevent ANY PC from playing it (Score:4, Funny)
(http://volodya-project.sf.net/)
No use.. someone will apply the word "hack" literally.
Re:Tutorial: How to prevent ANY PC from playing it (Score:5, Funny)
(http://www.jessemandel.com/)
http://www.dvdshrink.org/what.html [dvdshrink.org]
Re:DVD Jon (Score:5, Informative)
(http://www.elflord.net/ | Last Journal: Monday March 19 2007, @10:35AM)
Funny stuff. No, really.
Re:DVD Jon (Score:4, Interesting)
(http://www.subgenius.com/)
At the very least, ISO Buster [isobuster.org] shouldn't have any problems with it. There are many other utilities out there. I don't have an example with a screwed up IFO to test, but I suspect the popular freebie utility Daemon Tools [daemon-tools.cc] could do it, too -- it would just treat the disc in the drive as an image.
obDoctrow (Score:5, Funny)
Re:obDoctrow (Score:5, Interesting)
(http://b100dian.lx.ro/)
I first read "brainchild" as "child's brain"
I still do.
You see, whenever somebody invents a such pathetic copy protection for specific software (read: UDF filesystem driver) you have to keep in mind that the only device that is 100% surely programmable to avoid the protection is.. TA-DA.. the COMPUTER!!! [Applause]
This is a 1-day job for any CD/DVD writer software author, to read the raw and use it in another way.
So, some person will lose 1 day in life walking around this `protection`, the other `hackers` will lose 1 googling minute for finding, downloading, installing and finally playing the DVD.
This is why the entropy principle is there to stay! These sort of thoughts/inventions will never _create_ information
You misunderstand their motives (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:DVD Jon (Score:5, Interesting)
Cause being incompatible is good, right? (Score:4, Insightful)
(Last Journal: Thursday December 09 2004, @09:25AM)
I don't see how that can avoid being read by a computer with the proper drivers and software and yet stay compatible with the vast installed base of DVD players. Note: I have had a DVD-R, burned by a FOAF which would not play in any PC DVD player I owned, and I tried at least 7 different drives. It would play find in all three SO dvd players I tried. It reportedly was readable in the drive that burned it, but that PC was out of commission (don't know the problem). I don't know what was screwed up, but I hope the studios don't ever get thier hands on it*.
*I suspect it was just some odd bit errors or bad tracks that messed with the FS - maybe not unlike the topic system. I did not try to read it with Linux, as I did not have a machine that had it loaded at the time.
Re:DVD Jon (Score:4, Interesting)
(Last Journal: Monday January 29 2007, @06:49PM)
Oh come on. Breaking copy protection on data is easy. You don't need to be a genius hacker. Just try, as in just take a look. Dump the beginning of a protected DVD (dd is one tool for that), then compare what you see to specs on the UDF file system, or whatever it is, and you'll see stuff-- stuff like setting the file size to 0. In many cases the copy protection will fall right over because it's that pathetic. Change a few bytes (like, set the file size to the correct amount), and viola! Broken. That's why all those licenses say it's a violation to reverse engineer, etc. They know their stuff won't stand up to even casual examination.
Message to DVD industry: Byte Me! (Score:5, Interesting)
(Last Journal: Wednesday August 15, @03:36PM)
Just the other night we had more DVDs to watch than TVs and players. Our daughter wanted to watch her Smallville (purchased), and we were watching one of our circulating Blockbuster "mailer" DVDs.
She was delighted when I showed her how to watch her DVD on the upstairs computer -- she hadn't known that was possible. Problem solved, everybody happy.
But, now this? What the hey? So now potentially what she presumably knows about watching on an alternative device could not work, and she wouldn't know why -- yes, the article mentions the latest new "tool" that "effortlessly" bypasses the security, but again, What the Hey? She isn't going to know about that tool, or how to use it, and I'm about as sick and tired as I can be of setting up the workarounds for restrictions that shouldn't even exist.
Interestingly, the article mentions (emphasis mine):
I only almost agree with that -- "they" in this case seem to be blurring the line between use-use and piracy. Each day I toss a coin to decide who annoys me more -- media "providers" or spammers. It's a close call.
I used to wonder whether the DVD industry would totally shoot itself in the foot with the HD vs. BluRay DVD wars coupled with intrusive DRM, sending potential customers away in droves. If this new protection technology is for existing DVDs (it's not clear from the article), they could send existing DVD customers away in droves. I no longer about the sanity of the industry -- I worry about the sanity of artists allowing contracts for their "art" to be wrapped in technology like this, I wonder why they allow it.
(Interesting (and I think important) aside: I recently updated the firmware on my Creative Vision:M mp3 player, a player I've absolutely loved for its features, ergonomics, screen quality, you name it, there was hardly a thing about it I could find fault with. As the new firmware was installing I browsed the release notes... looking for the standard blah blah blah on what's fixed, what's new. The very last line of the notes said (paraphrasing), This firmware upgrade will disable your FM recording capability(!). WTF? It was too late for me to stop the upgrade -- sure enough, I now have a Creative Vision:M sans FM recording capability, (a feature which I was quite fond of)! Creative doesn't say whether it's RIAA induced, I have no idea why they did this... but if it IS more DRM crap, what a crock!)
(Other aside: I love that the ad for the slashdot page for the "read more" for me was an HD-DVD ad...)
Re: Message to DVD industry: Byte Me! (Score:5, Insightful)
(http://slashdot.org/)
Eventually only the hackers will be able to watch movies and play games on their computer.
Re: Message to DVD industry: Byte Me! (Score:5, Funny)
If watching a DVD is a crime then only criminals will watch DVDs.
Re: Message to DVD industry: Byte Me! (Score:5, Insightful)
(http://slashdot.org/~karzz1)
Unfortunately the *AAs could not care less if you watch/listen to their products. All they care about is that you *buy* their product.
Re: Message to DVD industry: Byte Me! (Score:4, Funny)
Creative: prepare to pay the lawyers (Score:5, Interesting)
If you want to see Creative punished (you won't benefit, class action suits never actually benefit the consumer), take a screen grab of anything on their site that still shows this capability, and then email it to the proper vultures.
jh
Re:Creative: prepare to pay the lawyers (Score:4, Funny)
(http://zulupad.gersic.com/)
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...
Re: Message to DVD industry: Byte Me! (Score:5, Insightful)
Nah, the protection won't kick in until the main feature. You'll always be abe to see the trailers and commercials, no doubt.
Don't call them artists... (Score:5, Insightful)
Artists to me are people that attempt to share a unique, creative and inspired vision through sound and vision (or the combination of the two.)
(Yes I realize 'art' is subjective, but I'm talkin strictly to the movie/music type here.)
When it comes to the **AA's and their international counterparts, all we get is rehashed, same old same old in order to service a businesses bottom line.
Re:Don't call them artists... (Score:5, Insightful)
First off, I didn't say that. I even noted at the bottom that I was refering to the **AA's specifically.
Second, I hope I don't sound like a snob or something. I buy DVD's and have CD's. I'm just saying, my opinion is that, to me, they aren't "artists." They're more akin to a service provider. It's a business.
An artist can charge for their wares, but by working under the banner of a giant corporation with a contract that says "You must produce x amount of work over y period of time." that isn't producing "true art" by my definition. That's no different than doing what a manager tells you to for any other company. That's a job.
Art is more akin to science. It should be created for the pleasure, the interest and the mystique of thinking of new things, ideas, and the interest in sharing them.
Can you charge for it? Sure. If you make something people want to pay for, then by all means.
And the argument that "These people are screwed by **AA's and just trying to survive..." Fuck, I will bet dollars to donuts that most groups you hear on Clear Channel, see on MTV and who are prominently displayed up front at Best Buy just want lots of money. A lot of them even say it outloud. They aren't artists. At least not in my opinion. They entertain for a fee. They sell a service produced to generate the most income. Their decision to get into that line of work, under potentially shitty conditions, is their own choice.
Downgrade while you still can... (Score:5, Informative)
(http://kadin.sdf-us.org/ | Last Journal: Tuesday October 16, @01:46PM)
http://www.epizenter.net/e107_plugins/forum/forum
I would send a nasty letter to Creative when you're done downgrading too, but that's just me. I know I sent one to Apple when they castrated iTunes' ability to share over the internet, a feature that I had used all the time to listen to my music while studying or working in another building.
Companies need to know that we won't just bend over and let them fuck us with little "upgrades" like that, at least not without noticing.
Security policy (Score:5, Insightful)
Ooh! More great news! (Score:5, Informative)
(http://skippus.blogspot.com/ | Last Journal: Sunday June 19 2005, @07:25AM)
I love reading stuff like this. I hope that they lock DVDs down so tight that no one can even play them on their regular players. Then, when the next blockbuster movie sell a grand total of four DVDs, maybe the movie and television studios will finally realize how much money this is costing them.
And seriously, can I see a quick show of hands of everyone who thinks that this will keep people from copying DVDs?...
Yeah, that's what I thought, and neither do I.
TGFH (Thank God For HandBrake) (Score:5, Informative)
(http://kadin.sdf-us.org/ | Last Journal: Tuesday October 16, @01:46PM)
Agreed. I hardly even watch movies straight from DVD anymore. Even if I'm just going to watch it once, I just run them through HandBrake first. That way I don't have to deal with crappily designed menus, FBI warnings, and mandatory-view advertisements. (Because yes, Virginia, a "preview" is just an advertisement for another movie.)
I've told more than one other person about HandBrake and now they do the same thing. I wouldn't call it quite "Grandma friendly" yet (although the stripped-down iPod version is) but it's pretty close. If the person you're instructing knows the difference between a Phillips screw and a Torx, they can probably deal with HandBrake.
Re:Ooh! More great news! (Score:5, Insightful)
(http://www.whitepost.org.uk/)
More likely they'll blame piracy.
Re:Ooh! More great news! (Score:5, Insightful)
(Last Journal: Wednesday September 20 2006, @10:30AM)
Re:Ooh! More great news! (Score:4, Interesting)
This will get broken just like every other measure, and the break will get incorporated into the same software people are already using to copy DVDs, and within a couple of months you won't even know there's any protection on the disc when you go to copy it.
Another thing it will do is to force people who otherwise would not copy their DVDs to do so, so that the copies will then be playable on their PCs. I already know people who have done this when they unknowingly bought out-of-region DVDs from eBay or while on vacation. They're not pirates, they just want to watch what they bought.
Re:Ooh! More great news! (Score:5, Interesting)
They will, however, play on my set-top after I "process" them on my computer.
Is this what the movie industry wants?
Re:Ooh! More great news! (Score:4, Interesting)
It absolutely refuses to play copy-"protected" CDs. If he puts one in it will refuse to function in any way until the disk is removed again, due to function locking while the disk is loading. The kicker is that if he copies the disk on his computer (which will luckily read the "protected" CDs just fine), the Denon player accepts the copy right away, every single time.
So the only way for him to play copy-"protected" CDs is by copying the damn things! How's that for ironic?
I would not be surprised at all if it acted the same way with these new "protected" DVDs.
Really? (Score:5, Funny)
(http://www.bihira.com/)
Movies: the Gathering (Score:5, Funny)
(Last Journal: Tuesday August 07, @01:18PM)
"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..."
Ultimately, we all still lose. (Score:5, Insightful)
(http://kadin.sdf-us.org/ | Last Journal: Tuesday October 16, @01:46PM)
We always would have had the cooler toys. People who are interested in learning about computers, will always be able to do more with them; this doesn't change whether the computer is a drum-memory beast or the latest bazillion-transistor Intel powerhouse.
What DRM means is that the stuff that we geeks will be doing on our computers, is the stuff that the masses should be able to do
When I think of all the time that really brilliant people like DVD Jon have spent breaking DRM, it doesn't seem like some great technical achievement -- it's just a lot of effort and time that could have gone to actual development of new features, but which had to instead be spent just making something simple work the way it should have.
DRM is like the ultimate broken-window fallacy. In fixing it you feel like you're accomplishing something, but really you're just treading water.
Re:Buy a mac? (Score:5, Funny)