Shaun

No delays on the one example I saw.

No seek delays that I saw either. I am not sure if there is any consumer DVD authoring software that can handle this process at the moment, it probably requires something that digs deeper into the DVD architecture, but it's certainly the cleverest anti-piracy tech out.

I'd certainly like to know how they actually do it. Brilliant idea.

Doesn't surprise me that there isn't any gliches from seek times. Given how the drive mechanisms for computer DVD drives are well beyond the 1x spec, it would go without saying that this tech improvement would easily be back-ported to DVD player mechanisms.

I'd expect that decent DVD players would have a buffer internally so that any minor interruptions to reading the disc don't manifest to the viewing experience.

Andrew

My solution is simple: I don't take projects where my income depends on a per-disc charge. I get a flat fee for the production, then charge a fair price for DVD duplication (typically $2.25 per copy in paper sleeves, a little more in cases.)

If the client wants to make sharpie copies of the DVD, that's fine by me, but I'm sure they'd rather pay me for a professionally made copy.

If a client calls and wants me to shoot an event and they try to tell me how much I can make on DVD sales, I'll tell them $xxxx for the production and I'll provide xxx DVDs for them to sell.

Probably something like DVDLab will do the job. DVDlab DVD authoring tool

Aside from eliminating all the screwing around, that's also much kinder to people buying the DVD, to whom the video represents a priceless memory and may have a genuinely legitimate interest in backing up for the long term.

Anyone tried or heard of this?
Patronus - DVD Anti Rip Copy Protection

The logic is that if you can't rip it, you can't make a copy. It works with dvd burners.

It sounds promising, but if it is software based then it will eventually be defeated by the people out there with a content protection breaking hobby. It's only a matter of time until they notice it, especially if major labels are going to be using it.

So it might do the job for now, but I doubt that it will work for the rest of time.

Andrew

While it is true that software can be defeated, if they continue development to keep up with hackers, then it might be good. But I do see the point that if I can lock the dvd now, it can be unlocked later by a hacker next year. This is from their website:

"Keeping ahead of the mass ripping technologies out there is an ongoing 'arms race'. Patronus is being continually developed to keep ahead in this race with typically 2 new versions being developed at any one time. Vigorous testing based on rip ability and playability is the key criteria in the release of any new version to ensure that a high level of customer satisfaction is maintained."

The issue for already released DVDs is that you can't physically replace them with newer anti-rip versions.

On the other hand, if it can get you through the peak sales period for a commercial title, then it may be good enough to get the job done as far as the business case for it is concerned.

Andrew

Here is a quote from their FAQ:

Translation: Anybody can copy the DVD by using the readily available DVDFab software in its "pathplayer" mode. In that mode the software reads the disc the same way a DVD player does, completely bypassing the "Patronus" (what a name, did they rip it off Harry Potter?) and copying only the video to a new disc. The new disc can then be copied without any special software. And of course it will play everything that is on the original disc.

You'd think they'd at least come up with something original. In reality, Disney has been using the same type of copy protection on all of their DVDs for years. And they have been ripped successfully by DVDFab for just as many years. And the same type of protection was used back in the days of 5.25" diskettes! And soon the program CopyIIPC was able to bypass that protection. In the 1980s!

Save your money! If someone wants to rip your DVD, he will. No amount of copy protection will stop them. Most people do not know how to do it. But those people do not know how to defeat the standard CSS protection either. So, use the standard protection and do not worry about hackers. After all, chances are they would not buy your DVD anyway, so it makes no difference to you financially.

Thanks Taky, I tried this and it works. My sales for an annual event doubled over last year.

I have one possible reservation. By making the small "cut" in the black video on the surface of the DVD, I wonder if , over months or years, that cut could "expose the sublayers" and then that exposure could spread into the program and ruin the disc for playback. Possibly causing oxidation or something like that ???

I wouldn't think so. The polycarbonate disc wouldn't go through too much flexing in its lifetime, and with DVD writeable discs, the data layer is literally on top of the opposite side of the disc platter.

Andrew

Hi from Pushpa
 

Hi Andrew

Ur name sounds very familiar to me...R u working for OPTUS in Brisbane??

Thx
Pushpa de Silva

Nope, that's not me. Plenty of other Andrew Smiths around ... lotsa fun when it comes to voting at election time. :-)

Andrew