Protect DVD-Video prevents discs from playing on your PC

Here's something that opponents of restrictive DRM implementations aren't going to be too happy with: ZDNet 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 -- no surprise there -- but actually prevents discs from playing in a Windows PC at all. So if you pop in a DVD "infected" with Protect DVD-Video, it can't be read by Windows Media Player, Media Center Edition, or any DirectShow-based software, thanks to a Universal Disc Format that tricks your machine into believing that the IFO file is zero bytes long. As you might expect, there are already workarounds out there that can bypass Protect DVD: SlySoft reportedly updated its AnyDVD software recently as a direct response to this protection racket. Still, this is a discouraging development for home theater buffs who have upgraded their setups to revolve around a hot new HTPC; remember that old standalone DVD player that you stuffed in the attic a few months ago? Well if Protect DVD and other tools like it take off, you may have to dust off that old player and return it to its rightful home in your gear rack.

[Via PVR Wire]

[Mrfreezie @ Oct 11th 2006 11:55AM]

Meh, it won't work.. Just reading that I heard so many ways to get around it. First of all, "Windows PC." Use Linux, or Mac. "it can't be read by Windows Media Player, Media Center Edition, or any DirectShow-based software", just write a media playing app and that takes care of the problem too.

It won't stop piracy, but I think it will just add another level to get around. Bottom line : Annoyance +1, and that's about it.

[strider_mt2k @ Oct 11th 2006 11:56AM]

Screw DRM.
There will be a quick workaround for this to be sure.

[TS @ Oct 11th 2006 12:08PM]

I can't imagine M$ and Intel being too terribly happy about this, what with M$'s push for a Media-centric experience with Vista and Intel's VIIV, which revolves solely around the Win XP Media Center Edition, and upcoming Vista Premium.

It'll never make it off the ground.

[Jamie @ Oct 11th 2006 12:09PM]

Surely that violates fair use laws? Or are the corporates now more important than the consumer? This is as bad as the rootkit.

[JC @ Oct 11th 2006 12:10PM]

DURR! Use a program like AnyDVD.

Added support for the "Protect DVD-Video" copy protection to the option to remove "Protection based on unreadable Sectors"

http://fileforum.betanews.com/detail/AnyDVD/1057642382/1

[Billy @ Oct 11th 2006 12:37PM]

Thank GOD for AnyDVD, is all I have to say. If any of you haven't heard of it, there is a 21 day trial. It costs $39 dollars for the full version, but it's worth it. It bypasses all DRM BS. It's a very nice program.

[Vilppi @ Oct 11th 2006 12:54PM]

Just as with drm-crippled music downloads and rootkit infested CDs the only way you can influence their adoption is to not buy into them. If ProtectDisc DVDs stay on the shelves, the companies using the protection will abandon it (sooner or later). In other words: put your money where your mouth is.

[Jason @ Oct 11th 2006 12:59PM]

If something like this takes off we have only ourselves to blame. We are the consumers and we have the ultimate control here. Any movie containing this crap should automatically go on our ignore list. It will not take long for the impact of our lack of spending to put an end to this sort of game.

Again, we ultimately have the real power here. We control the dollars (or ��₧�₪₣₫) and can give them or hold them back resulting in the changes we want. Far too often we as consumers feel we are being forced to do something when in reality we are folding.

Using AnyDVD is great but not the answer. We would be giving money to those companies which support the use of this technology and then giving more money to AnyDVD to circumvent the protection. Only we feel the impact of that course of action.

[Franssu @ Oct 11th 2006 1:00PM]

It is just another ploy of the MPAA to turn their customers to the only source where they can be sure of finding content without bothersome and buggy DRM schemes : piracy !

Seriously, I begin to wonder if it's not their true aim : turn everbody into pirates and then sue everyone, because it's cheaper to sue than to produce worthwile content.

[Wonderboy @ Oct 11th 2006 1:19PM]

"remember that old standalone DVD player that you stuffed in the attic a few months ago"??? Months ago? How about 2 years ago, and instead of putting it in the attic, I just gave it away.

The idea behind this is a bunch of crap, the implementation is weak. If the disc can't play in a DVD "player" (i.e. the one I have installed in my PC) then it doesn't seem to me that it deserves the title of "DVD".

But either way, this will be an easy work around for anyone who is savvy enough to already have a HTPC setup, as AnyDVD has already proven. I don't think this type of protection will ever really hurt DVDs, if it's still in the correct format that a stand-alone can play it, any attempted blockage can be circumvented on a PC.

The potential worry for me would have been the next-gen HD discs, but it looks like this tech is just a little too late in the game to make it into the standard specs of HD-DVD or Blu-Ray. Not that it would have been impossible to work around if it were that deeply implemented into the specs, but it would have been much harder.

[kyler @ Oct 11th 2006 1:48PM]

companies just don't get it. all this is doing is hindering the legitamite users, and removing any guilt i might feel about pirating dvd's

[BluePearl @ Oct 11th 2006 1:52PM]

Do the same thing done for CD's that would not play on a PC.
Return them to the store and say that it would not play on your machine. Once the studios start getting those DVD's back they will pull this thing out.

[Chad @ Oct 11th 2006 2:01PM]

Just another thing to get in the way of paying, law-abiding citizens enjoying their media--and a thing that the pirates will happily ignore.

[StreetStealth @ Oct 11th 2006 2:01PM]

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20061010-7946.html

And yet studios decide that instead of not shooting themselves in the foot, they just need to use a bigger bullet.

[Finished Law School @ Oct 11th 2006 2:20PM]

This sort of thing just means that I will be forced to pirate DVDs instead of buying or renting them because I use a Windows PC to watch DVDs, not a DVD player.

[Wonderboy @ Oct 11th 2006 2:29PM]

Just looked at Toshiba's website, a really old page about what DVD is and what the benefits are. One of the key "specifications" of DVD is that it is compatible between stand-alone players and PCs... looks like ProtectDisc needs a refresher course about what they're really marketing. If they implement this security and make the DVD "incompatible" with the DVD standards, it's no longer a DVD and will have to carry a different disc format title.

[Rick Lyon @ Oct 11th 2006 3:07PM]

Does this affect macs? I don't use any of the listed software to watch DVDs.

[Rick Lyon @ Oct 11th 2006 3:07PM]

Also, as consumers, simply return the DVD as defective. If enough returns are made, the studios will get the message like they did with CDs.

[John @ Oct 11th 2006 4:31PM]

They don�t mention that you can not play the disc on a PC, but they do say its impossible to created 1:1 copies. Old information.
Now if they would include a list of movies using this protection so I don't have to bother buying them.

Notes from the creator:
****************************************************
Protect DVD-Video

The music and video industries are losing billions of dollars of revenue from unauthorized copying. Inexpensive digital recording devices are now widely available. And, it seems that freely copying somebody else's copyrighted material is often viewed as an entitlement.

Although the DVD originally came with copy protection systems by design, these systems (CSS and Macrovision Analog Copy Protection) were quickly broken, and today don't limit the copying of video material.

ProtectDVD-Video is a new form of copy protection, especially designed for DVD-Video. By combining special media structures implemented at the replicator facility with the DVD internal navigation structure, ProtectDVD makes it impossible to created 1:1 copies or complete rips of the protected DVD.

ProtectDVD effectively protects DVDs against copying and ripping - and thus prevents unauthorized distribution over the internet.

From the users perspective ProtectDVD is a preferred choice because of its unique compatibility and transparent implementation.

ProtectDVD-Video can be applied by almost any DVD manufacturing plant. Ask your DVD-Video replicator or contact us for a list of DVD manufacturers.
****************************************************

[DionV @ Oct 11th 2006 5:16PM]

Seems to me the author of this article may be biased against HTPC, or just not thinking about their choice of words:

"Well if Protect DVD and other tools like it take off, you may have to dust off that old player and return it to its rightful home in your gear rack."

It's "rightful" place? No.

[x24 @ Oct 11th 2006 6:05PM]

isnt this just the same thing as divx? wasnt divx some ploy to make discs that you could only play once? wasnt dixv hacked into a great file format/codec? i could be wrong.

[ben andersen @ Oct 11th 2006 6:43PM]

I invented nearly the same thing a year ago when I smeared poo on the readable surface of the DVD, only theirs seems a little less desireable.

[S.A. @ Oct 11th 2006 10:19PM]

So if I were to buy a DVD, im not allowed to watch it in the manner that I want? Thats ridiculous.

[JR @ May 24th 2007 7:19AM]

Yes, This Protect-DVD is Great... As an employee of a Photo and Video Production Company,I'm Searching solution of this big3x problem - how to Protect my Video Shots from duplicating it.. Yes, I guess they found a cure... I Guess, they got about 30% achievement in the rapid Piracy Worldwide... Great!