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]

AACS has already been compromised in at least two widely known ways, after DRM hackers posted on the Doom9 forums methods to retrieve and utilize volume, and later, processing keys to copy every Blu-ray and HD DVD movie released so far. Today a third method has appeared, as poster ATARI Vampire reports they were able to find the "sub device key" of the WinDVD 8 playback software. That key identifies the player and allows it to decode AACS protected titles. You might remember the software was also the victim of a simple "print screen" attack several months ago that was quickly patched. The method used to find it was based on arnezami's previous approach of watching memory dumps and finding it through a "bottom up" approach. Coming on the heels of the cracks already widely available, this doesn't really affect the current state of easily copied high def movies, but could make disabling the vulnerable player from playing future releases, finding the hole and preventing it from being hacked again, that much more difficult.

[Via Slashdot]

It must have been a restless night for Microsoft's Steve Riley who mistakenly told a crowd in Australia yesterday that Windows Vista would not support commercial Blu-ray and HD DVD playback on machines sporting 32-bit processors -- the vast majority of PCs in homes today. Not true says a scrambling Microsoft, "playback is possible with Windows Vista in 32-bit" but support will be determined by independent software vendors like CyberLink and InterVideo, not Microsoft. This because Windows Media Player 11 won't be able to play commercial, high-def films when Vista ships. However, as Riley let slip said yesterday, "this is a decision that the media player folks made" (now read: the ISVs) since the studios don't want their high definition content to play in x32 due to the ability of unsigned code to compromise their content protection schemes. So while Microsoft has shifted the blame, the position of the studios certainly hasn't changed. Now who do you think is going to cave, the studios or the ISVs, once Vista is launched?

With all of the time and money that Hollywood and the consumer electronics industry have poured into copy-protecting high definition content, we were amused to learn that both formats can already be duplicated by the simplest of means: the trusty Print Screen button on your keyboard. UK-based Heise Security is reporting that the special OEM version of Intervideo's WinDVD software bundled with both Sony's first Blu-ray Vaio and Toshiba's first HD DVD Qosmio contains a security hole that allows users to capture video frames at their full resolution by simply triggering that Print Screen option -- which in and of itself is little more than a curiosity, but opens up the possibility of running a script that advances a given film one frame at a time and automates the whole screencap process, which would allow pirates to create high def copies by compiling the pictures and dubbing in the audio. Toshiba is already aware of the "problem" and claims that an impending software update will provide the fix, but as one HDBeat commenter astutely pointed out, as long as you can see a picture on your monitor or hear sound through your speakers, there will always be a way to capture that data.

[Via HDBeat]