How do you copy protect your finished product?

[Mike Burgess]

I am really a small time video producer; I mean less than a "mom and pop" outfit. I use both Pinnacle and Nero to edit and produce my products. I have two HD camcorders and the documentaries I do turn out pretty darn good. My customers seemed very pleased with my results.

OK, enough of my self back patting. Now to my question: How can I copy protect my DVDs, inexpensively?

Thanks.
Mike

[Chris Davis]

I've searched high and low and have come to one simple conclusion: you can't.

Your best and most effective option is to appeal to the moral sensitivities of a person. The standard FBI warning is ineffective, but something more personal may work, like "What you are watching is not only my passion, but my livelihood. Please do no make illegal copies of this DVD."

There are a few available solutions to protect DVD-R, but they're expensive and in my personal experience with one of those methods, still very easy to copy.

If you want true "Hollywood style" DVD copy protection, you need to have replicated DVDs created, which typically means a minimum order of 1,000. However, there are a bajillion software packages (both freely downloadable, or available for purchase at Best Buy, Wal-Mart, et al) that will quickly copy any commercial DVD.

You can search here and find a ghetto copy protection method that involves intentionally defacing your disk, but I could not sell a disk like that in good conscience.

[Kevin Lewis]

You actual can copy protect your project. I cant recall the name of the technology, but there is a manufacurer that sells a specific DVD burner that comes equipment with some sort of dongle which is required to make the tecnology work. The manufacturer prodides you with a key / license which allows you to make a certain number of protected copies. From what I recall the whole system was somewhere around 1,200.00 dollars. I ended getting my project replicated which is why I did not purchase the program. Non replicated DVD's do not always play in all players which is why I went with replication. Although I cant remener the name of the technology or manufactuer, I can tell you that there was an authorized distributer in Exton, PA.

[Kevin Lewis]

This is not the same one I was talking about but this tower also appears to offer copy protection. I think this is the same company in Exton I was refering to.

Find Spartan Fortress DVD Tower with DiscLock Technology at MediaSupply.com

[Paul R Johnson]

Spartan Fortress Tower Duplicator is the only standalone DVD duplicator on the market featuring hardware-based copy protection that discourages unauthorized duplication. You do not need a computer and proprietary software to create copy-protected discs so there is no per-copy royalty to pay and no one to call for software licenses. Our exclusive DiscLock Technology embeds copy protection within each target disc making them almost impossible to copy using a computer or another duplicator.

'discourages' and 'almost impossible' - doesn't sound that positive to me?

[Don Bloom]

there is nothing that I know of that will 100% insure that no one can dupe the DVD. As mentioned even when having discs replicated with encyption it can still be duped in about 99.9% of the cases. I know of software that can break encryption in almost every case. I won't go into details.
So to answer your question directly, you ca not do it.

[Kevin Lewis]

I think that we have to be realistic here. You can indeed copy protect your disc. Weather or not that encryption can be broken is a different story. I think the goal has to be based on detering the
"non professional" casual copier.

[Chris Davis]

Software is available at Wal-Mart, Best Buy, OfficeMax, et al to copy those DVDs. This is exactly what a "non professional" casual copier would do - buy some software at Wal-Mart.

It's not a matter of "whether or not the encryption can be broken". Every copy protection method devised *has* been broken.

Before you spend your money on any copy protection scheme, ask the company to send you a sample DVD so you can find out for yourself how hard it is to copy.

[Don Bloom]

I don't think it has to do with whether or not it can be broken as much as how much would it cost you to make 90% sure it can't be. It can ALL be broken it's a matter of how much do you want to spend to protect it and how much is someone willing to spend to break it. As Chris said there are programs available all over that are relativley inexpensive that can be purchased easily that will break the encryption of 90% of even commerically replicated DVDs.
How do I know? Well.....<wink wink>

[Wacharapong Chiowanich]

I totally agree with Chris that moral persuasion would be your best option. Incentives such as giving the buyer option to buy additional copies of the DVD at marginal costs (after obligatory production fee payments irrespective of the number of the DVDs to be produced) would likely be more effective than any of the encryption methods. As long as a DVD can play in a regular player, there is no effective method in preventing the violators from extracting the contents out of the DVD, either perfectly in a cloned digital copy or capturing the contents, almost perfectly, via the analog outputs and re-digitizing them into a chosen format, including the DVD, for viewing on other platforms.

[Mike Burgess]

Thanks to all who responded. I am disappointed, but not surprised at the responses. Yes, most any technology can be compromised, but I was hoping that something inexpensive (relatively speaking) was available to dissuade the casual user from making extra copies for all his/her friends and relatives.

Thanks again.
Mike

[Sareesh Sudhakaran]

the question is, how critical is it for your business? You need to compare costs with your revenue stream. Hollywood giants go for copy protection because of 1. PR and 2. The costs are negligible. They, too, know that their copy protection can be hacked easily.

[Bruce Phung]

If someone want to your DVD bad enough, they'll find a way to get it. Now aday everybody knows how to use a computer and they are a craps load of softwares out there can rip your DVD at will, including hollywood DVD moives. Do what you can to protect it but NO guarrentêe you can protect it.

[Robert M Wright]

Any 10 year old, with even half an ounce of desire to do so, can easily download software from the internet that will rip any DVD out there - no need to go out to Walmart, or even spend a nickel.

I advocate not wasting time trying to copy protect digital content (futile by nature), but rather focus on taking as much advantage as possible, of the potential promotional opportunities presented by folks making copies. For goodness sake, turn those folks into unwitting promoters for your business!

Make sure the DVDs you produce serve double duty as good advertising. Make sure your name (or company name), along with full contact information (website address, phone number, email address, etc.) is nicely displayed in menus, and at the beginning and end of videos. A nice logo watermark (done tastefully) can be effective also. If you can pull it off gracefully, put a full blown commercial for your services at the end of feature presentations. Make sure the viewer knows right where to go, to get the kind of quality video production he/she is viewing!