[mythtv-users] Many new dvd's not working

[Simon Hobson]

Brian Wood wrote:

>  > I wonder if this is something the EFF would get behind:
>>
>>  http://www.eff.org/work
>>
>>  Just a thought!
>
>And a good one at that.

I've dropped them an email.

>What we need is some sort of verification suite, 
>as others have pointed out, because unless we 
>can point to the specific
>problem it's not likely to get solved.

More importantly, if we were to try and use 
consumer protection laws to get a title taken off 
the shelves, then the relevant enforcement body 
would want to know exactly WHY the disk could not 
be called a "DVD". Just waving hands in air and 
saying "it won't play" isn't good enough if there 
is a reply available along the lines of "most 
players cope - why can't it be your player at 
fault".

I had a quick search yesterday. Phillips have a 
verification suite - it costs ¤500 for a licence 
(ouch) and I didn't go as far as looking into 
what that allows you to use it for or wether it 
includes any upgrades.

I also found this FAQ from Sonic :
http://delancie.net/PD_Samples/Sonic-Compliance+Compatibility_FAQ.pdf
It says :
>To avoid this uncertainty, professionally 
>produced, commercially released DVD titles 
>(feature films, music video, etc.) are generally 
>tested with the MEI Verifier, a software 
>application developed by Matsushita Electronic 
>Industries (the parent company of Panasonic and 
>other leading consumer electronics brands). The 
>Verifier has been in use since the specification 
>itself was finalized, and has long been regarded 
>as the benchmark for DVD compliancy.

The only hints I found suggest that it's only 
available to DVD licensees, and it costs a mind 
boggling amount. So I guess that unless someone 
knows someone with it that is prepared to use it 
(a bit like asking a turkey to vote for 
Christmas) then that's not available to us.



>The industry is still behaving as if CSS was a 
>viable "protection" system. Since you can't 
>observe the "problem" unless
>you first break CSS, we have a problem, unless 
>we can find a non-CSS DVD that exhibits the 
>problem, which is unlikely.
>
>The first thing I would do is move any work on 
>the "problem" out of a country infected by the 
>DMCA.

Indeed, and it's also rather borderline for discussion on this list.

-- 
Simon Hobson

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