Next Generation DVDs - Not So Great?

"Hi, I'm From the IRS & I'm Here to Help You."

Suddenly we can't wait for blue laser technology to arrive so we can get beyond the war of the words to real products!

Imagine - 5x the storage capacity, sharp, brilliant movies and a real choice - BD or HD DVD. Well, yes the two standards are totally incompatible - but don't worry, they will eventually work out their differences. When they do, you'll get to buy new burners, new players and new media all over again.

Oh we forgot to add that both sides have embraced some super digital rights management (DRM) technology that Hollywood would "like" included before they are going to knock out copies of their stellar masterpieces. The cool and super advanced DRM technologies include digital watermarking, programmable cryptography and self-destruct codes. Don't try and decide which is best for everyone involved - including the consumer - throw them all into the mix!

Don't the three sound like something you just have to buy and put in your home?

Both sides like Advanced Access Control System (AACS) which requires your player to maintain connections to the content provider thru the Internet. If your disc doesn't pass their security check it isn't a big thing. The provider will simply send your player a "self-destruct code" ROM update that will blow up your player. Ok so it won't physically blow up. You simply won't be able to use it until a repair technician reprograms the player. And your entire library of discs that may have been encoded with the broken security may be unplayable also.

That is so cool!!!

Just in case you get past these two hurdles, they've added a third. This is a renewability method that lets content providers implement dynamic updates of compromised code. This is advanced form of CSS (content scramble system) they used before which was defeated hours after it was released and is called SPDC. Simply stated, every time someone cracks the code the encryption algorithm will "learn from its mistakes" and improve the code. That's a challenge no DEFCON hacker can refuse!!!

Of course, if these fail, Hollywood has a fall-back plan when the 15-year-old kid cracks it all… their lobbyists will put the squeeze on congress to "protect us from ourselves." Don't worry, their lawyers will continue to earn paychecks by suing every Tom, Ricardo and Harriet who might have an illegal copy.

Both sides (who will continue down their separate revenue - oops, "technology" - paths) are determined to win and have lined up an almost equal number of hardware and content providers. They are quite similar technically but dramatically different in the important areas of media structure and write/read techniques.

Yep, I can't wait.

by The DVD Insider