tempest210
11-18-2005, 10:07 PM
The Nov. issue of Maximum PC is reporting that the upcoming next generation Blu-ray and HD-DVD technologies have adopted the Advanced Access Content System (AACS). Maximum PC is calling this "The most draconian Digital Rights Management technology ever implemented on removable media."
This in a bid to stop unauthorized duplication. Two 128 bit encryption keys are used in order to access a disc’s content. One key on the disc, the other unique to each player.
But Blu-ray is upping the ante with an additional system called BD+, which is really nasty stuff. For example, if you have made copies of some DVD’s you own because you don’t want your kids ‘biting, scratching, playing Frisbee, etc with the originals, the BD+ system can refuse to play the ‘cracked’ version, or ‘Disable the player itself’ rendering your hardware unusable until it’s serviced or reprogrammed via a BD+ disc update.
I’m not sure how reporting hardware problems will be handled, but it’s going to be a huge pain in the [bleep] I’m sure.
As most of us ‘Tech’ people are the first to jump into new formats and hardware, we should be aware of what we are buying. In a way we control what becomes main stream. If no one buys, for example Blu-ray set top DVD players, then either they change or go out of business.
Maximum PC wasn’t sure how these technologies will be implemented in PC optical drives, and Blu-ray had not responded to their inquiries.
(Raise your hand now if you plan to Never buy a Sony Blu-ray DVD player.) And maybe we should all start telling Sony that now.
This in a bid to stop unauthorized duplication. Two 128 bit encryption keys are used in order to access a disc’s content. One key on the disc, the other unique to each player.
But Blu-ray is upping the ante with an additional system called BD+, which is really nasty stuff. For example, if you have made copies of some DVD’s you own because you don’t want your kids ‘biting, scratching, playing Frisbee, etc with the originals, the BD+ system can refuse to play the ‘cracked’ version, or ‘Disable the player itself’ rendering your hardware unusable until it’s serviced or reprogrammed via a BD+ disc update.
I’m not sure how reporting hardware problems will be handled, but it’s going to be a huge pain in the [bleep] I’m sure.
As most of us ‘Tech’ people are the first to jump into new formats and hardware, we should be aware of what we are buying. In a way we control what becomes main stream. If no one buys, for example Blu-ray set top DVD players, then either they change or go out of business.
Maximum PC wasn’t sure how these technologies will be implemented in PC optical drives, and Blu-ray had not responded to their inquiries.
(Raise your hand now if you plan to Never buy a Sony Blu-ray DVD player.) And maybe we should all start telling Sony that now.