WholeHome

LOTS of recent news relating to the copying of DVDs.

If you havn’t been watching, lets go through a brief history and some of the semantics:

Nearly as quickly as DVDs were released, there were countless software packages that would allow you to make a copy of your DVD for “archival purposes”. I remember seeing the shelves full of at least 30 different packages. The industry (specifically led by the MPAA – more on that in a minute) responded with a specific copy protection involving “CSS encryption” and even mroe importantly, they pioneered through the courts a bill that made breaking that encryption illegal. The laws have actually been a bit vague and subject to interpretation, but while making a personal backup copy is not explicitly illegal, breaking the precious CSS is.

MPAA – the motion picture association of america is an organization set up for the studios to “collaborate” – originally the primary use was for ratings (self regulation and governmental compliance) but over the last 10 years it has become an organization primarily focused with content protection. The major studios all contribute and the big expendature now is on lawyers. They made some HUGE advances in copy protection and more importantly in influencing legislation.

They are, in fact, the source of all the hype about copy protection. Are movies stolen? yes, absolutely they are. From pirated physical DVDs sold usually out of developing countries and New York Street corners to digital downloads via peer-to-peer networking, literally thousands of copies of media change hands regularly. I’ve been in countless Chinese malls with stores specializing in pirated movies, music, and software. But should it be the number one international issue? The last few WTO and international head of state visits particularly between the US and China/India/Indonesia have focused on “digital rights infringement”. It seems it has become the biggest topic, ousting even human rights, poverty, and cooperative medical issues. If there were ever a clearer picture of politicians in the pocket of an industry it woul dbe this one. When the large releases approach $100M of revenue on the opening weekend alone, it is hypocritical to whine about the thousand copies of a film that leaked out  and are causing irreprable harm to the industry – huh?

Should people copy and share movies? No, of course not, but this issue stands directly in the way of what people “really want” in a digital home… That is instant access to their entire movie collection. Without the ability to rip a movie and store it on a content server  for instantaneous access, we are all still stuck with running to another room, sorting through DVD/BluRay boxes, and putting it in a player. Crazy. What happened was that the studios realized (late because their normal position is to be behind a trend trying to slow it down) that people wanted instant access to their collection, they immediately decided they needed to find a way to make money EVERY time you pull up a movie to watch it. Buy a DVD and be willing to physically put it in a tray and you have unlimited access but want instant access? They want you to pay every time you push the play button – a new revenue model.

So companies like Kaleidescape and even RealDVD are being put out of business by a combination of progressive court rulings and payoffs to politicians. Your ability to store your collection inside your home and have instant access is definitely on the wane.

What do the studios really want? An air tight copy protection and digital delivery mechanism where all media is centrally stored and it costs YOU real money every time you pick up your remote control.

People understand DVD copy protection and the motivation but the other one slipping into mainstream driven by the MPAA is HDMI. That great cable that allows a single wire to take HD from your source to your nice new HDTV is most definitely a trojan horse. The lie has been spread over and over that it alone produces the best HD video – why? Because it carries a special brand of digital copy protection – it makes sure that both ends – source and TV – are certified and liensed before it puts out any video. And yes both vendors have to pay exhorbitant fees and buy specific licensed chips for use in their systems – huge moneymaker. Will HDMI carry better video? No – Component video is just as good and for whole home video better by leaps and bounds but pressure by the MPAA has forced most BluRay players to reject putting out 1080p video unless it is via an HDMI connection.

Forget about anything else that irritates you, taxes, healthcare, international relations, this has become the biggest example of outright corruption on the part of the government influenced by a company/industry around. Why is it not reported? Who do you think owns the media – see MPAA member list.

I’ll be posting relevant links to news stories – but the one that got me riled up was the conviction of a guy recently for filming a movie – he got a huge fine and 2 years in prison. It was for a movie that made almost $50M on opening weekend. Clearly be brought that studio to its knees. Yep – he was wrong, he did something bad and illegal, but he just got his entire life ruined – yeah and his family too by the big studio mob using the puppet of their bought off courts.