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(Mis)Uses of Technology

by Mike Masnick

Tue, Jul 6th 2004 2:06am





DVD Screeners This Year Come With Special DVD Player

from the what-an-expensive-waste dept

The MPAA (complete with their new boss) need to get a little perspective. After last year's screener debacle, this year, the MPAA has come up with a plan they believe is "fool proof." Each Academy member won't just be sent screener DVDs or tapes for viewing, but will be sent a complete special DVD player and all of the screener DVDs that will only play on that particular player. That same player will imprint a mark on the disc to track how many times it's viewed, because apparently the MPAA is afraid that Academy members are holding every-two-hours, all-day-long screenings in their homes or something. Even worse, just in case some weird Academy member decides to try to videotape the movie off his or her TV using a video camera, the resulting video will include a watermark indicating whose screener it was. As you might imagine, this is going to cost a ridiculous amount of money -- but is unlikely to actually stop the movies from getting online. In other words, for all that money, it's not going to stop a single download. Of course, some of the money is being put up by Cinea, the company that apparently makes this technology (which they -- stop laughing -- claim is unhackable), is spending their own money on much of this year's technology in an effort to make the industry use their technology in other parts of the movie making process. No matter how much they do this, however, it's still not likely to stop movies from getting out there -- though it will make movies more expensive.

4 Comments | Leave a Comment

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  1.  
    identicon
    Techie, Jul 6th, 2004 @ 5:21am

    The real crook

    The people who get the good quality stuff on the net usually work in the post production side of the movie biz. They usually have access to all the footage and once a final cut is made they just make a copy of the file and take it home, then upload away. This usually get movies out days before release. This is just making things difficult for academey members. The guys who invented this concept WONT win an award this year.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  2.  
    identicon
    Chris Wuestefeld, Jul 6th, 2004 @ 7:16am

    A chain is only as strong as the weakest link

    So the viewer gets a $20 Macrovision-stripper box, and re-rips from the video output.

    These people keep missing the forest for the trees.

    (and can I fit any more aphorisms into this post?)

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  3.  
    identicon
    Anonymous Coward, Jul 6th, 2004 @ 8:39am

    Re: The real crook

    Let's see how many hollywood types can even install a new DVD player without calling out for tech support. Should make the LA county geeks a few entra bucks.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  4.  
    identicon
    mickey mouse, Sep 23rd, 2004 @ 3:46pm

    Re: A chain is only as strong as the weakest link

    go ahead dumbass. I think the people who came up with this probably thought of that, YA THINK!!

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]


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