xpgeek
25-01-2007, 05:32 AM
The next generation of optical disc technology holds the promise to change the way we interact with and store digital media. Perhaps the most exciting change is the arrival of High Definition (HD) video, with its glorious 1920x1080 pixel resolution. It’s a quantum leap forward in terms of watching digital content, as its vast resolution reveals a quality never seen before in such fine detail.
Because of the rapid escalation of digital file-sharing – especially of video files – Hollywood has been working around the clock to protect HD content. This is especially relevant for one of its primary delivery mechanisms – HD DVD and Blu-ray discs. These next generation discs, with capacities of 30 gigabytes and 50 gigabytes respectively, have their content protected with an array of DRM (Digital Rights Management.) Both are protected with a scheme called AACS, or Advanced Access Content System. This DRM is a great leap forward compared to the weak CSS, or Content Scrambling System, that currently “protects” DVDs. Thanks to Fox, Blu-ray has an additional layer of protection, called BD+, however most discs have yet to support this protection.
Although Hollywood has constructed enough DRM architecture to rival the Pyramid of Giza, it has long been suspected that it would be only a matter of time before HD DVD and Blu-ray content protection were compromised. Convinced the golden DRM egg had been laid, it seemed that nothing could penetrate the great AACS wall. And to this day, that great wall still stands.
But why crash through the main gates of Constantinople when you can just pick the lock of a long forgotten rear entrance?
Read the full interview here. (http://www.slyck.com/story1390.html)
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A very interesting read. And you know what, I completely agree with his stated motivations for doing it.
Even if I had a HD-DVD or Blu-Ray DVD drive in my PC, and a legally purchased HD-DVD / Blu-Ray DVD movie, AND a brand new mandatory video card that supports the copy protection scheme, I STILL wouldn't be able to watch it, because I'd need to buy a brand new computer monitor that supports the copy protection scheme as well.
Every piece of the hardware, the player you're playing the movie with, the video card transferring the movie data to the monitor, AND the monitor itself, has to actually have built in support to play the copy protection scheme. If you don't have every single part of it, you're not watching the movie, it doesn't matter that you legally bought the movie.
So a brand new video card that supports the new copy protection, a brand new monitor that supports the new copy protection, on top of the thousand dollar price tag just for the HD-DVD / Blu-Ray DVD drive itself, all just to watch a movie in HD?
That doesn't seem very fair to the consumer at all. I understand the fact that these techniques will be used for piracy whether we like it or not, and maybe I am wrong, but I still completely agree with his motivations for doing it.
Because of the rapid escalation of digital file-sharing – especially of video files – Hollywood has been working around the clock to protect HD content. This is especially relevant for one of its primary delivery mechanisms – HD DVD and Blu-ray discs. These next generation discs, with capacities of 30 gigabytes and 50 gigabytes respectively, have their content protected with an array of DRM (Digital Rights Management.) Both are protected with a scheme called AACS, or Advanced Access Content System. This DRM is a great leap forward compared to the weak CSS, or Content Scrambling System, that currently “protects” DVDs. Thanks to Fox, Blu-ray has an additional layer of protection, called BD+, however most discs have yet to support this protection.
Although Hollywood has constructed enough DRM architecture to rival the Pyramid of Giza, it has long been suspected that it would be only a matter of time before HD DVD and Blu-ray content protection were compromised. Convinced the golden DRM egg had been laid, it seemed that nothing could penetrate the great AACS wall. And to this day, that great wall still stands.
But why crash through the main gates of Constantinople when you can just pick the lock of a long forgotten rear entrance?
Read the full interview here. (http://www.slyck.com/story1390.html)
.................
A very interesting read. And you know what, I completely agree with his stated motivations for doing it.
Even if I had a HD-DVD or Blu-Ray DVD drive in my PC, and a legally purchased HD-DVD / Blu-Ray DVD movie, AND a brand new mandatory video card that supports the copy protection scheme, I STILL wouldn't be able to watch it, because I'd need to buy a brand new computer monitor that supports the copy protection scheme as well.
Every piece of the hardware, the player you're playing the movie with, the video card transferring the movie data to the monitor, AND the monitor itself, has to actually have built in support to play the copy protection scheme. If you don't have every single part of it, you're not watching the movie, it doesn't matter that you legally bought the movie.
So a brand new video card that supports the new copy protection, a brand new monitor that supports the new copy protection, on top of the thousand dollar price tag just for the HD-DVD / Blu-Ray DVD drive itself, all just to watch a movie in HD?
That doesn't seem very fair to the consumer at all. I understand the fact that these techniques will be used for piracy whether we like it or not, and maybe I am wrong, but I still completely agree with his motivations for doing it.