Home page » TVs

Search TVs:

In a perfect world a format's specification is locked down before it goes to market, but then again in a corporation's mind a perfect world doesn't have hackers...

As a result we have a new level of Blu-ray copyright protection finalised this week 'BD+' from BD+ Technologies. This is Virtual Machine based tomfoolery which – rather than stopping the discs themselves from being copied – actually checks the player to see if it has been hacked and then locks down the media. It has been introduced to augment AACS which has more holes than an Aero bar.

Understandably, BD+ Technologies is extremely chipper about the finalisation of this standard (ahead of schedule, remarkably) and while its website doesn't inspire great confidence major Hollywood studios are said to be thrilled. In particular Fox/MGM which has held back on major releases such as the Star Wars, Alien and Predator series specifically to wait for BD+ to become available.

All in all I'm guessing Fox/MGM will be the most disappointed then when this standard is cracked a few months down the line as every movie protection standard ever implemented has been...

Note: At this stage little is known about how compatible BD+ enabled discs will be with existing Blu-ray players. Reports suggest some will require firmware updates to support the updated medium but that would seemingly throw the market into chaos and produce something of a BD lottery prior to purchase. Best stand back and see how this one pans out, but I wouldn't put it past Sony...

Link:
BD+ Technologies a bastion of innovative website design

Add your comment

© 2003-2008 TrustedReviews | About Us | Contact Us | Legal | Privacy | RSS