Blu-Ray, HD DVD protection already cracked?
updated 11:10 am EST, Thu December 28, 2006
Blu-Ray, HD DVD cracked?
One skilled hacker is already claiming to have defeated copy-protection measures built into new HD movie formats, which were originally designed to stem piracy efforts. A poster in the Doom9 forums says that an application he's developed, BackupHDDVD, bypasses the Advanced Access Content System (AACS) encryption found on both Blu-Ray and HD DVD discs, allowing PC users to copy movies directly to their hard drives. The software is currently in a rough state that only supports a handful of HD DVD titles, according to Electronista, but shows that AACS is functionally similar to CSS -- the encryption for standard DVDs that was broken by 'DVD Jon' Lech Johansen in 2002. Johansen himself predicted that AACS would be rendered useless by the end of 2006.
Go hackers!
12/28, 02:02pm reply
Now I can put HD and Blu-ray titles on my iPod! (hah)
Eriamjh
Addicted to MacNN
Joined: Oct 2001
drm is the wrong answer.
12/28, 02:04pm reply
Every form of content protection is going to fail just as this will fail, and I'm glad. Once I own a DVD, I want to own the content on it, and make as many copies as I wish, just as I would a recipe from a cookbook. The same goes for audio CDs, which has been more-or-less accepted. The future of DRM is bleak, and that is as it should be.
There remains the issue of illegal downloads, and the only way out that I see is lowering prices (in stores) and increasing availability (iTMS). By the way, having seen a movie, I do end up buying it (unless it sucked), so this does work out for them.
Tack
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Jun 2006
In reality
12/30, 07:31am reply
In reality, a DVD usually costs about twice what a CD costs. Yet we usually listen to music more than twice. I mean how many times does a person watch a movie, 2-3 times a year. I mean how many times do you watch "It a wonderful life" usually once around Christmas. Movies usually reach a wider audience than say a particular genre of music. I think Holly wood is worried about DRM because movies are so much more costly to produce than music, and actors get paid before the movie is released, and some times royalities. They seem to be worried that movie profits may go the way of music industry. Look what Apple has done. I like music on the go...so to speak. But I can't carry a plasma set with me. Movies are almost watched at home. But if they make good movies people will buy them. People don't buy c***.
Gorloth
Registered User
Joined: Nov 2001