AACS patch for WinDVD, HD DVD and BD players: update or never watch movies again

In case DRM hasn't caused you -- the honest consumer -- enough pain already. Check it, you've got some required software updating to do now that Corel has introduced a patch to their cracked InterVideo WinDVD software. Best do it pronto too. According to Corel, "failure to apply the update will result in AACS-protected HD DVD and BD playback being disabled." That means no more hi-def movies for you, Mr. assumed criminal. Thing is, this is no ordinary patch since WinDVD exposed the hardware specific device key to video pirates. So not only are you required to update their janky WinDVD software, you also have to track down and install the paticular AACS patch for the HD DVD or BD player you own. Of course this only patches one flaw in the massively compromised DRM boondoggle. And just think, you can repeat the whole process again after hackers circumvent this latest attempt at "content protection." Isn't DRM nice?

[Via Impress]

[2Perfect @ Apr 6th 2007 6:41AM]

Gotta love it.

I don't think the DRM side has any chance of winning this war. Every protection can be hacked. And every hack can be patched.

The difference is, whenever protection is compromised, we get to watch HD movies. Every time they patch holes, they just return things to normal. They don't really get much ahead.

[Frank S @ Apr 6th 2007 7:29AM]

The Hollywood studios must really love those Pirates. They don't leave any stone unturned to make sure that Pirates sell more copies of bootlegged DVD's. This crack must have worried them that the Pirates would loose turnover.

If you think I am sarcastic, then you are only partly right. I live in ireland and nowadays about 5% of the population has as its first language Polish or Russian. Of course you can't get any DVDs locally that have these languages and buying them at home is either not possible due to region coding or to difficult (due to shipping cost, customs etc.). So the only place they can buy useful DVDs is from Pirates and they are doing great business.
The studios seem to be aiming their anti-piracy measures mostly at kids downloading material and third world countries were the majority of the population can't afford to buy the real thing anyway. So what they are protecting is real 'virtual turnover'.


I would say give WinDVD a rest, there are so many other players that it will be easier to change player software then trying to update this piece of malware.

[dave smith @ Apr 6th 2007 8:25AM]

... and the DRM wankerfest continues! Give it up already...

[ck @ Apr 6th 2007 8:34AM]

Ha ha!
/Nelson

DRM is stupid. The studios will fail, but only after massively inconveniencing the customers who wouldn't be pirating in the first place.

As an aside, remind me why I need to sit through an unskippable FBI warning on movies I've purchased? The ones I download don't have that. It's this same mentality that brings us DRM-infected content.

[ph @ Apr 6th 2007 9:48AM]

How stupid. The consumer always wins. DRM is doomed. The sooner companies realize this the better of we all will be.

[Tom @ Apr 6th 2007 9:54AM]

wow, movie studios, way to make me NOT want to buy any high def movies.


are they trying to sabotage their own success?

[wookiewarrior @ Apr 6th 2007 10:14AM]

This only effects WinDVD. You probably won't need to update your settop players unless those device keys are somehow discovered.

[Azrael @ Apr 6th 2007 12:27PM]

I this gives me the urge to never buy a HD / BD DVD.

In fact all these articles convince me of is getting a faster connection and 2 more 500 GB drives.

"That means no more hi-def movies for you, Mr. assumed criminal."
I take that as a direct Fuck You to the consumer and I am tired of being told to bend over and take it.

Well Fuck you DRM groups, I will relish the day you fall.

[James @ Apr 6th 2007 1:26PM]

In my mind's eye, I see the MPAA and other industry groups that have a hand in perpetuating this sort of horseshit getting a letter in the mail that simply says, in bold 48-point font: YOU CANNOT WIN. Every day, the number of letters doubles, like in the beginning of Harry Potter, until they're buried alive under letters, YOU CANNOT WIN over and over and over.

Of course, they still wouldn't get the message.

[Trent @ Apr 6th 2007 2:00PM]

The Disc is dead! LONG LIVE THE BANDWIDTH!!!!

[Kris @ Apr 6th 2007 2:08PM]

yay for vlc that still plays my dvds.

[B @ Apr 6th 2007 2:14PM]

How are they going to disable playback? Is there some kind of timer built into the software? If they simply send an instruction to the software to disable playback, wouoldn't it be ridiculously easy to prevent any communication for it over the internet via your firewall or router? I know I don't need my DVD software sending and receiving messages willy-nilly. In any case, it seems like itwould be a lot easier than breaking ghe encryption in the first place to just re-enable playback from the WinDVD.

[nigel @ Apr 6th 2007 3:12PM]

Damn! guess i have to wait 2 months to install another cracked version...

[Linda W @ Apr 6th 2007 4:14PM]

What happens if you are not online or the program is unable to contact their servers? My Windows PC is setup on a subnet, separate from the internet, and has to route through a proxy to access the internet (no direct access in; no direct access out). To programs that aren't proxy aware, or configured to use the proxy, it just looks like I'm not online. It's a pain sometimes, but it's also a security measure. Even though Internet Explorer is configured to use the firewall, MS-update runs about 1/tenth speed because it ignores proxy settings and tries to go direct. Only after each patch times out when trying to go direct does it go through the proxy as it is configured to do.

Basically MS tries to over-ride site security and obtain unauthorized access to our network everytime we do an update. You'd think that'd be illegal.

[Anonymous @ Apr 6th 2007 4:24PM]

This is exactly why I forcibly deny programs access to the internet via a firewall.
It should be absolutely illegal for them to come onto my machine, check my version
and then tell me that if I don't update, I can no longer use their product. Screw them. The one place where I don't mind being told to update is Xbox Live. Keeps the cheaters out. But in this case, the update would have raped the functionality. So again, screw them.

[Oolon Coluphid @ Apr 6th 2007 4:59PM]

...or you could just throw their software away, and refuse to ever do business with a company that uses such tactics.

[GraphiX @ Apr 6th 2007 7:41PM]

i never understood why a company would patch software that has been broken this to me never makes sense and here is why.

most if not all the articles and replies you see from people is "when its cracked i'll buy one"

so by patching up the hole allowing the software
you have PAID good money for is now actually restricting you using/playing watching hddvd-blueray.

so the question i have to ask is do they actually want to sell customers this product? do they want their products to fail? this patch would actually make the company sucsessfull in selling way more copies of this winDVD than patching everything up.

are they stupid or insaine to actually fix something that adds more features and enchancements to their products without actually adding them-themselves surely there cannot be any insentive at all to lock everything back up tight

and then still expect to sell it?

[frankhsu889 @ Apr 7th 2007 10:58AM]

I once bought a classic movie in RCA laserdisc format, then the same movie in Beta, VHS and DVD formats subsequently. Now, I don't want to fall into same trap buying the same movie again in HDDVD or BR formats. I think I paid my dues already. I will only buy the same movie independent of its media format if it is forever for me to own and enjoy without DRM and to play with any media player I choose. Most people don't watch the same movie twice, movies without DRM are even more appropriate than music without DRM which people tend to listen over and over again.

[Tertius @ Apr 12th 2007 12:33PM]

Excellent point. In fact it reminds me something I've never understood about the buy/download media marketers: If I buy the song, album, movie, etc. and I (legally and sometimes technologically) cannot make a backup, why must I be forced to buy it again if I can no longer use my copy? The order history is plainly available in my account, so they obviously can see it too. Yet if cheaply made, poorly installed batteries in my overpriced laptop destroy my hard drive, I have no choice but to repurchase the item? I would much rather pay someone to hack DRM than buy another download of the same item, which won't even be of the same quality of the disc version.