Forbes reports that Disney film studios has been using Macrovision's RipGuard technology for preventing DVD copying on a number of its DVD releases, while the other four major studios (Sony, 20th Century Fox, Universal, and Warner Bros.) are waiting to see how effective it is. Meanwhile, it appears that Sony has discontinued the ARccOS DVD copy protection technology provided by its DADC optical media replication division..
This is another installment in the ongoing saga of Hollywood studios trying to figure out how to protect DVDs from piracy, given that the standard CSS encryption was so easily hacked (Macrovision estimates that over 6 million people use the DeCSS decryption algorithm worldwide).
Both RipGuard and ARccOS technologies attempt to do the same thing: foil DVD copying software based on DeCSS and other hacks while spoiling neither picture quality nor compatibility with any DVD playback equipment. Both vendors are secretive about their technologies, but it is likely that the technologies work by introducing "errors" into the data stored on the DVD that throw off DeCSS while affecting the video quality minimally. Concern over picture quality led Macrovision to seek, and obtain, certification for RipGuard from George Lucas's THX labs.
This less-than-precise technique has also been used in various audio CD copy protection solutions to no great success, making it little wonder that four out of five major studios are waiting to see how Disney fares. Unfortunately, video content providers are stuck with weak CSS encryption in DVDs until the next-generation optical disc formats (HD DVD and Blu-ray) -- both of which include stronger DRM -- take over.
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