Managing Rights Management

What Is Blu-ray Anyway?

Now that Blu-ray has won the HiDef optical disc format war, what is Blu-ray anyway?  Over on CoolGadgets there is a longish posting that provides a good overview, including a quick review of Blu-ray security technologies AACS, BD+, and ROM mark. ROM mark is an antipriracy feature that is a watermark on the physical disc so that players can check on the authenticity of the disc inserted in the drive and then refuse to play titles that lack the proper mark.

What's Next for Blu-ray, BD+?

So now that Toshiba has given up on HD-DVD, what's next for Blu-ray, the winning HiDef optical format? This is the question posed by Kelly Rush and posted on HiDefDigest. Rush's prognostications include the suggestion that "BD+ starts getting aggressive:"

Until now, studios haven't been overly-aggressive with pushing this; they haven't even really needed to yet, since BD+ has not been properly cracked. Expect the studios and the Blu-Ray alliance to monitor what happens in the piracy community extremely closely now, and start making aggressive changes, should the need arise. Also, don't be surprised if new updates are added to the specs if it looks like crackers are getting too close to a proper solution for the BD+ protection, that allow the studios to have even tighter control over the DRM (Sony and Blu-Ray have made it clear that they don't mind breaking certain capabilities on older-standard Blu-Ray players as they move forward).

Agreed.

Samsung Sued Over Defective Blu-ray Players

CNET and Wired (and other sources) are reporting that a class action law suit has been filed against Samsung that  allegedly refused to provide firmware updates to some Blu-ray players that do not play certain titles correctly. The Wired article speculates that the problem(s) may have something to do with firmware that cannot handle correctly the BD+ copy protection technologies.

Blu-ray vs. HD-DVD Followup

Earlier I suggested that it was too soon to call a winner in the Blu-ray vs. HD-DVD SuperBowl of next gen optical formats. Last week, several outlets, including the Hollywood Reporter and ComputerWorld, have noted that HD-DVD player sales have plummeted following Warner's announcement that they would exclusively support the Blu-ray format.

Apparently in response to the Warner, Toshiba announced earlier this month major price cuts for HD-DVD players:

"While price is one of the consideration elements for the early adopter, it is a deal-breaker for the mainstream consumer," said Yoshi Uchiyama, Group Vice President Digital A/V Group. "Consumer sales this holiday season have proven that the consumer awareness of the HD DVD format has been elevated and pricing is the most critical determinant in consumers' purchase decision of the next generation HD DVD technology. The value HD DVD provides to the consumer simply cannot be ignored."

Although it appears that the Warner announcement has given Sony and the Blu-ray camp substantial momentum, the format wars may not be settled until next January when the 2008 results are known.

 

Warner Goes Blu-ray - Are the HD Format Wars Over?

Eh, what's up, Doc? Warner Bros announced last week that it will eventually release only on Blu-ray rather than on HD-DVD optical discs.  Their press release in part says:

“A two-format landscape has led to consumer confusion and indifference toward high definition, which has kept the technology from reaching mass adoption and becoming the important revenue stream that it can be for the industry,” said [Kevin] Tsujihara [President, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group]. “Consumers have clearly chosen Blu-ray, and we believe that recognizing this preference is the right step in making this great home entertainment experience accessible to the widest possible audience.

CH-DVD, DRM, and The Blu-ray HD-DVD Battle

BetaNews has a couple of related articles of interest. Jacqueline Emigh's article begins with old news that DRM for music is dying, if not dead. More interesting is the discussing of the Chinese DVD standard, CH-DVD:

For high-def video to really start reaching greater numbers of people, high-def vendors need to give up their current grip on DRM and other manifestations of Blu-ray and HD DVD proprietary formats, and start selling discs that will work interchangeably on any vendor's HD equipment. But what will happen if these two warring camps continue to stay locked in their current stalemate?

What's Going On In The Living Room? DRM.

Investor's Business Daily has an overview article on the digital living room. The article rightly views the Macrovision / Gemstar TV deal as a natural outcome of convergence between copy protection technologies and Internet on-demand TV distribution. It concludes with a discussion of Marlin-based DRM interoperability and quotes Scott Smyers, who is president of the Digital Living Network Alliance and is a senior Sony technical guy.