Blu-ray and HD DVD copy protection defeated by print screen

[Dan]

German mag C't has discovered you can record protected high-def flicks in full resolution via automating the print screen function of the provided Intervideo WinDVD software. Both Sony's Vaio and Toshiba's Qosmio laptops with Blu-ray and HD DVD drives respectively come bundled with the software, and are vulnerable to the hack. Quite simply, it can be used to capture the movies frame-by-frame, and then reassembled to create the entire movie. Not the most elegant solution, but they claim it works.


http://www.hdbeat.com/2006/07/07/blu-ray-and-hd-dvd-copy-protection-defeated-by-print-screen/

I can't believe how fuuny this is. :lol:

[kiran_mk2]

It doesn't matter how much money the studios plough into this. Someone will crack it and at that point, all the money spent will have been worthless.

[Grandmaster]

There are HDMI to component converters out now that work with encrypted signals, effectively stripping out the copy protection. Not that the component output is encrypted any way right now.

A decent PC combined with something like this (http://www.aja.com/html/products_windows_xena_LHe.html) would have you recording visually lossless copies in AVI format in real-time. A bitstream copy of the digital output would sort out the sound.

It's all beyond the reach of the home user, but the people who do the real damage - the commercial pirates - will be able to make near-enough perfect copies as soon as it's profitable for them to do so.

[GarethH]

I believe Blu-ray has an hidden frequency in the sound signal (like some DVD-Audio discs) that the player detects and then stops playing after 30 seconds if it can't find the decryption keys on the disc.

On DVD-Audio some studios did not want to include the method of protection because they believed it affected sound quality and some could distinguish the hidden frequency. I believe HD-DVD also opted out of this for the same reason. Obviously it only stops the players themselves and not PC use and it would also be possible to chip your player so it did not stop after 30 seconds of play.

[Grandmaster]

A simple analogue capture, then remix would sort that out if it became an issue. I have a feeling that the 'next gen' pirate disks will be 720p/24fps with Dolby Digital 5.1, encoded into AVC and pressed onto normal dual layer DVD. That would also be a more internet-friendly way of doing things.

I love the print-screen hack though, simply because the whole studio ethos of locking away content from the people buying it has been so easily circumvented. This could really easily automated. Print-screen, add to AVI, print-screen, add to AVI etc. The scary thing is that this *could* be turned into a home-user friendly ripping solution with minimal effort.

[neeek]

I'd love to see Sony and Toshiba revoke the AACS keys for their own laptops!

[nwgarratt]

It doesn't sound like it has been cracked to me. All the laptop has done is decrypted the HDCP to display the picture in a special version of WinDVD. The print screen will work just like it does with DVD's and DVD player software. The actual copy protection on the disc hasn't been cracked yet.

I can't see how anyone would try to capture a whole film frame by frame at HD resolutions. That would take too much hardware to do it.

[tomos]

why? this is how dvds were ripped early on. i remember a program that did this for powerdvd. you had to add the audio seperately.

seems the HD formats are following the same path

[greath]

The sad thing about all this is that consumers are being hounded by AACS and denied their rights ( in some countries where they have them, and not the UK ) to make backup copies of media that they buy and yet they are the only ones that it will hurt. The Mafia gangs around the world will be still chruning out their pirate copies and the copy protection will only be hurting the little-guy.

[allan]

This won't be copying the disc as is either, it will be copying the decompressed version, so will surely eat up a hard drive quite quickly.

[greath]

I'd love to see Sony and Toshiba revoke the AACS keys for their own laptops!

The keys are in the WinDVD player, so I read, and it would be the software that would have the keys revoked. This would then require you to download a new version of the software. I think that the keys for the software players are going to be continually revoked as a matter of course as I read that there will be a requirement for people to download a new version of their player software every couple of months.

[tomos]

The sad thing about all this is that consumers are being hounded by AACS and denied their rights ( in some countries where they have them, and not the UK ) to make backup copies of media that they buy and yet they are the only ones that it will hurt. The Mafia gangs around the world will be still chruning out their pirate copies and the copy protection will only be hurting the little-guy.

but theres no diff in any kind of copy protection surely. if its pirates - no copy protection, if its legit - copy protection.

take microsofts WGA and activation. if its not legit - you got around it and no probs. if its legit - warnings about activating if you change hardware etc.

[Grandmaster]

This won't be copying the disc as is either, it will be copying the decompressed version, so will surely eat up a hard drive quite quickly.

There are already AVC encoders out there that will take the raw file and compress it into something much smaller and viewable in Media Player. As it is, nothing will stop the commercial pirates any way.

The human eye can't tell the difference between a well-displayed analogue and digital signal, HDCP-stripping D to A converters are out already, and essentially it will be child's play for a properly equipped pirate to produce counterfeit copies - most likely at 720p with 5.1, which will easily fit onto a dual layer DVD... which both Blu-Ray and HD-DVD support, thanks to pressure from Warner Bros for a cheap HD delivery system.