Having lost not one but 2 dvd players to this nonsense, I've concluded that dvd is a transport medium, not a playback medium. I never play a disc directly. I always pull the VIDEO_TS directory with software that can handle this junk and then play it over the network.
It makes the viewing experience so much better anyway. No forced ads, unpause-able areas or stupid little "ghost buster" symbol in an upper corner when I push the root menu button. It makes my remote give orders that are followed, not suggestions in some sort of debate.
I find it a lot better to use the ripped version of a DVD I own because you can't damage it accidentally, you can skip stuff that's otherwise unskippable, and because you can switch movies somewhat easily. It's infuriating how many unskippable ads are injected in movies today.
Is there a good jukebox application for playing ripped DVDs?
The whole reason I have the DP-600 in the first place is that in addition to playing DVDs it can play media files (such as rips) from a UPNP server on a PC.
Of course there are plenty of other streaming media players out there these days.
That was no doubt their goal. But software on computers is much more easily adapted to defeat these silly(1) methods than the DVD player under your TV.
The irony is not at all lost on me that in trying prevent piracy, they've made it attractive to me (someone who would not ordinarily pirate) to do something very much like piracy to protect my equipment and have a better consumer experience. Thus I support the ecosystem of tools that they try hardest to eradicate. A classic tale of unintended consequences.
(1) What they do is not DRM per-se (the battle for CSS was lost to them long ago), but simply breaking the content structure of the DVD so that software has a hard time following the program chains. If done wrong this can crash the dvd players software, or worse, cause a kind of loop that can quickly damage the physical hardware.
Isn't a DVD no longer meeting the standards of being a DVD if it doesn't play on DVD players? I remember with CD's there was the Redbook standard which was pretty exacting about how the CD was pressed. Is there no such thing for DVDs?
There is, it's available from the DVD FLLC. A Japanese firm where Sony is one of about 10 shareholders.
But beyond perhaps some logo usage rules or guidelines, the existence of the format spec isn't necessarily the word of god, so to speak.
Sony has been implementing intentional errors in their DVDs for many years. On the one hand it likely has increased the annoyance factor in ripping those DVDs and therefore somewhat decreased the prevalence of ripping, but on the other hand you have cases like the OP where the standard use case is also hindered to the level of annoyance.
"On the one hand it likely has increased the annoyance factor in ripping those DVDs and therefore somewhat decreased the prevalence of ripping"
Hahahaha...
oh wait, you were serious. let me laugh harder.
hahahahahahahahaha
Seriously though, every single movie released in recent years you can possibly imagine has been ripped and uploaded. What exactly has decreased in prevalence?
You're not really putting much thought into this are you?
Firstly, there's a difference between ripping a DVD and downloading a pirated movie.
More importantly, DVD ripping is far, far from a mainstream activity as evidenced by the tens of millions of DVDs that are still sold every quarter. The reason it is not mainstream, like CD ripping is mainstream, is because of DRM. Anti-DRM measures are not built into operating systems or the most prevalent player applications. The studios regularly mount legal challenges, many of which are successful, against application developers that do build in anti-DRM measures. The result of all of this is that the vast majority of users do not have the tools necessary to rip DVDs. For some portion of those users who become inclined to try it, they can find a tool that does - and then they can encounter Sonys ever evolving intentional error DRM strategy whereby the tool the user has no longer functions and either needs to be updated (assuming the often fly-by-night developer is still around) or replaced. Effectively, the annoyance factor is increased enough to dissuade the casual DVD ripping user from continuing with the activity.
Hence, intentional errors has increased the annoyance factor in ripping DVDs and therefore somewhat decreased the prevalence of ripping.
1) takes forever, and a powerful computer (particularly a handful of years ago)
2) takes a lot of space
3) until recently has provided little of the value ripping CDs does (no "mp3 players" for movies)
4) is a nontrivial task for reasons that have absolutely nothing to do with DRM (which codec do you use? which container? what size to you transcode it to?, etc)
Intentional errors don't cause even a hiccup in any of the ripping programs I've seen or used, the end user doesn't have to worry about it in the slightest.
Oh, and they press CDs with intentional errors these days too, so your theory really is bogus.
The main difference between ripping DVDs and CDs is that music gets repeated use, whereas the DVD typically doesn't - and hence require a much higher incentive to overcome the DRM annoyance.
1) Nonsense.
2) Nonsense.
3) Which came first, the MP3 or the MP3 player?
4) Nonsense, all software DVD players I've worked with support straight decrypted VOB playback.
New variations on intentional errors regularly disrupt previously released DVD ripping applications. This is a known fact as evidenced by the assortment of results you'll find if you search for "dvd update arccos". It's also why a few of the more popular rippers in the past are no longer popular since they haven't been updated.
Intentional errors on CDs would actually demonstrate my "theory".
And in terms of it being a theory, I have anecdotal evidence that multiple people I know were annoyed at the inability of a ripping program they used/purchased to handle a new release and therefore gave up on ripping. Since my "theory" only required a small decrease in ripping, my theory has been demonstrated to be correct.
There are no DVD ripping apps distributed with Windows (or Mac, or any commercial packages distributed from the US due to the DMCA which makes CSS circumvention tools illegal).
I recognize you want to argue this topic, but seriously man.
The legality (or lack thereof in the US) of DeCSS has absolutely nothing to do with publishers making deliberate errors in their pressings.
In fact, it's nothing more than yet another reason why comparing the frequency of DVD ripping to CD ripping and drawing conclusions about the effectiveness of deliberately introducing errors in pressings is flawed.
Furthermore, I said "cross platform", not "ships from the factory with standard installations". If you don't understand the difference between these...
I recognize that you enjoy digging your own grave, but seriously man.
Furthermore, I said "cross platform", not "ships from the factory with standard installations". If you don't understand the difference between these...
For your edification, the conversation went like this:
Me: DVD ripping is not mainstream in part because tools are not mainstream.
No, I've been arguing from the beginning against your assertion that 'DVD ripping isn't mainstream because publishers deliberately introduce errors into DVD pressings'.
Furthermore, your definition of "mainstream" excludes software like: firefox, steam, WoW, itunes on windows, photoshop, etc. Give me a freaking break.
My assertion from the beginning has been: intentional errors have somewhat decreased the prevalence of ripping. That is a far cry from your hyperbolic straw man.
Furthermore, Linux not being mainstream is patently obvious. Yet you again need more hyperbolic straw men by claiming some more nonsense about Firefox, WoW, etc.
I've often wondered how bog standard DVD players can ignore these intentional errors and get on with things, whilst ripping software like AnyDVD seems to be in a constant arms race against ever evolving DRM.
Of course the problems start when you have a player that isn't bog standard (like some Sony players), or if you want to do something far out like watch a DVD on a PC (even a Sony PC).
CDs lose the CDDA label if they don't comply to the Red Book standard. This was done in the dark years ~2002-2004 a lot when the media right exploitation industry tried to "protect their market". In Germany (only?) people started calling them Un-CDs.
Recently bought my dad a Blu-ray player and some of the disks have a firmware upgrade warning at the start of the disk. WTF is my dad supposed to do when he eventually gets one of these disks?
How do you know there isn't a manufacturing error with the disc, or that your dvd player hasn't gone bad? If you're really talking about a DVD and not a bluray I'm surprised there is actually a way to add "new drm" to a disc. Googling salt+drm only finds your blog discussing that movie - are you sure this passes occam's razor?
It's common for some of the major studios to implement intentional errors - DVD format spec errors that are designed to make copying disc data difficult while not hindering playback. The efficacy of their plan is pretty questionable, but they've been doing it for years, so at minimum it makes them feel better.
It definitely happens that one dvd player will be better at playing scratched or defective content than another - just like happens with CD players. And I'm certainly aware of the sony "rootkit" computer drm they put on a few audio discs some time ago... But that was on a cd data track and had nothing to do with an audio cd player pushing audio out.
I'm not asking if they would be willing to add new DRM to a DVD - obviously the answer to that question is yes. I'm just asking how you know that is what's going on, or if it's even possible to do. Can play in player A but not in player B so it must be new DRM is pretty thin.
Sony use an additional DRM system called ARccOS on their DVDs. ARccOS keeps changing, so my assessment is that this latest version is another stinker - it's happened before.
I tend to just buy a copy (that I keep unopened usually) and download a copy from torrents if it´s DRM´d. That makes it much simpler for me, but I still know I didn´t just steal it.
Good luck with the AP2P thugs like ACS Law. When they send you a letter demanding that you pay or be sued I'm sure it's fine to write back and tell them that you bought the disc.
IANAL. Though you may have some legal standing in purchasing a legally distributed version of a movie and then downloading the same movie at the same quality/resolution or lower, you probably have a legal issue with sharing that movie at least as long as you are downloading it (as I believe most P2P apps implement).
What do they expect to do with this type of DRM? Prevent pirated copies? I downloaded it in 720p two or three weeks ago. This DRM horse shit is going to be bothering customers who paid for the disc for months or longer.
It makes the viewing experience so much better anyway. No forced ads, unpause-able areas or stupid little "ghost buster" symbol in an upper corner when I push the root menu button. It makes my remote give orders that are followed, not suggestions in some sort of debate.