One of the big advantages of Blu-ray over HD DVD for the studios is the added layer of copy protection known as BD+, which was designed to allow for updates in the event of an existing version becoming circumvented. However, despite the group behind BD+ predicting it would remain secure for 10 years, SlySoft broke it just eight months after this announcement and added support for it in its AnyDVD HD product, reaching version 6.4.0.0 at the time.
Since then, there has been an on-going battle between the studios issuing BD+ updates and SlySoft breaking them. However, it looks like the studios have gone one step ahead again with their latest BD+ update in November remaining secure at this time of writing. With previous updates, SlySoft broke them in days with the longest period being 7 days to break through the BD+ update on the movie Jumper, released in June. This time there is a growing list of movies that AnyDVD HD cannot handle properly since the latest BD+ update.
SlySoft reckons it will take around three months to break this latest BD+. However, even though SlySoft will likely break through each BD+ update, it shows just how much time and effort the studios are putting into strengthening their DRM. It would be interesting to find out just how much cost is involved, since the studios have to recoup the cost in some way, while is likely by inserting it into the retail prices of Blu-ray movies.
