The ongoing battle to be the next standard in blue laser DVD technology has shifted to the copy protection front.
HD DVD had declared its technology was already suited to the security needs of conotent providers: “The content protection system of HD DVD provides an equivalent level of security as the system advocated by Fox for Blu-ray. We also believe the Blu-ray disc format and proposed copy protection system may result in playability and reliability issues for the consumer.”
Now Blu-ray backers say their three-layer copy protection will take care of those concerns. According to a statement from the Blu-ray Disc Association, a three-layer approach will help secure their discs.
By embedding a security mark called a ROM Mark within a Blu-ray disc, only Blu-ray players will be able to playback the content. That feature will help keep pirates from mass producing a disc, as hardware capable of mastering that mark will only be available to licensed Blu-ray disc makers.
Like HD DVD, Blu-ray has adopted Advanced Access Content System (AACS) for content management. The system should enable consumers with home entertainment networks to use Blu-ray discs without encountering problems. And the discs will incorporate BD+, a technology that can be updated on new discs to thwart disc players that have been reported as hacked.
Of course, the major concern for consumers isn’t security, since the overwhelming majority only want to use a disc as it was intended in the first place. It’s the prospect of two competing standards in the marketplace.
Until either a compromise can be reached to unify on one standard, or a hybrid player that supports both formats is introduced, there may be a lot of consumers willing to sit on the sidelines and not adopt either technology.
David Utter is a staff writer for Murdok covering technology and business. Email him here.
