With Sonic recently unveiling its DVD-on-demand software to become the first to allow Content Scramble System (CSS) copy protection to be used on CSS compatible recordable media, the DVD Copy Control Association expects to soon finalise the changes to allow this to take place. Once finalised, it would allow both online movie services and retail kiosks to allow the writing of DVDs using the same level of copy protection as commercially available DVDs protected by CSS. At present, the association only licenses the CSS technology to the makers of DVD players and those releasing movies on DVDs. They are also currently working with blank disc makers to allow the production of blank CSS-compatible recordable DVDs.
While CinemaNow already allows DVD writing with some of its movies, they use a non-standard 3rd party copy protection system, which
potentially results in compatibility and playback issues with some DVD
players. Even still, Hollywood has also been reluctant to allow online purchases for DVD writing, which is the main reason most online movies download services lack this feature. However, once the new CSS for recordable DVDs becomes available, as long as the DVD player can play recordable DVDs, it should be able to play CSS protected recordable discs also. So far, Sonic has already teamed with Movielink to allow its downloadable movie purchases to be written to CSS compatible blank DVD media.
|
Under rule changes expected to be finalized soon by the DVD Copy Control Association, retailers could create movie jukebox kiosks with which customers can select, say, an obscure title and burn it to a DVD on the spot. Online merchants, such as Apple Computer Inc.'s iTunes Music Store, could start to allow video downloads to be transferred onto DVDs. The impending technical and policy changes involve the copy group's proprietary technology known as the Content Scramble System, or CSS. The association, an arm of Hollywood studios, licenses the encryption technology to makers of DVD players and other electronics companies and applies it widely to movies on DVDs to restrict illegal copying. |
Despite CSS been broken many years ago, it looks like the movie industry still trusts it as an effective measure to curb casual DVD copying piracy even when it comes to movie download services. On the other hand, this is still better than CinemaNow's use of non-standard copy protection.
It will be interesting to see how much CSS compatible media will cost, especially since consumers will not be able to use existing recordable DVDs with the service using CSS copy protection. Even still, it is not clear if existing DVD writers will be able to use these discs, what format ('+' or '-') the discs will be or if one needs to get new firmware to add support for this media.
Source: LA Daily News
