Blu-ray spec to drop "managed copy"

Posted on 23 Apr 2008 at 13:01

The final specification of Blu-ray's DRM technology may not include the "managed copy" technology which would have enabled the copying of BD movies to computers and media centres.

According to a report by US trade publication Consumer Electronics Daily, the Advanced Access Content System (AACS) will be completed this summer with all of the DRM but not the promised fair use capability.

The report says that several studios said that they did not have the necessary rights to permit copying. But other have taken matters into their own hands. Twentieth Century Fox and Lionsgate have included transferable, standard definition copies of the HD movies on Blu-ray discs.

But this is not the HD copies that AACS promised.

As things stand, it appears that the finalised AACS spec will allow for three levels of DRM. At a basic level each disc is encoded with an encryption key, which has proved easy for hackers to extract. As a result implementation of the second level, BD+, was accelerated, since this provides a significantly more sophisticated barrier to disc copying. A third level allows for audio watermarking designed to enable Blu-ray players to distinguish between genuine and counterfeit material.

[image courtesy of everyone's idle]

Author: Simon Aughton

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