Corel Mandates WinDVD Update

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Rich Tate

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In order to curtail HD content piracy, Corel has mandated an update to their WinDVD player to rectify the issue. This also means that you need to download an additional update for your device as well.

The move is in response to recent cracks in the AACC content protection system used to protect HD DVD and Blu-ray titles from non-permitted copying; attackers were apparently able to extract title and processing keys by analyzing memory utilization in WinDVD; with those keys, programmers were able to make copies of "protected" HD DVD and Blu-ray titles.
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How are they going to force it unless their old key was revoked? :D Not a very bright thing to do in the early days if you want to increase the adoption rate if they are already revoking keys.
 
This isnt going to make a blind bit of difference. All the pirates need to do is NOT update their copy. Anyway what sort of pirate uses a legit copy of windvd in the first place? Simply impossible to enforce.
 
Yes I'm totally confused here. It's not like they can put the genie back in the bottle. And who was foolish enough to think the scheme would hold up more than a few months anyway? It's time for the formats to stand on their own or die on their own. Movie collectors are either going to start buying these movies or not. How about they focus on making the technology accessible and AFFORDABLE to the masses first before worrying about piracy among the tiny number of people who actually have players now. I'm not talking about condoning piracy, I'm talking about market penetration with $500 players and $30 movies. Not happening no matter how bad they wish it would.

Talk about putting the cart before the horse. They're fighting over the tiny profit involved with the people who pirate because its easy but would actually buy it if they couldn't copy it. That is a meaningless market right now considering the small number of HD player owners. Ask me again when there's 100 million HD players out there.
 
Its funny how this HiDef protection was cracked quicker then dvd protection.
 
Skirrow said:
This isnt going to make a blind bit of difference. All the pirates need to do is NOT update their copy. Anyway what sort of pirate uses a legit copy of windvd in the first place? Simply impossible to enforce.
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I think some of you missed the point. If they don't update their players and software, new discs won't play. All their old ones will work fine, but next time they buy a new release, ha ha! This is going to screw many customers who don't understand and pay attention to tech news.
 
BladeVenom said:
I think some of you missed the point. If they don't update their players and software, new discs won't play. All their old ones will work fine, but next time they buy a new release, ha ha! This is going to screw many customers who don't understand and pay attention to tech news.
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so, all hardware players are now out of date? that'll really help with piracy
 
Just another "oh, we're being hacked" "I know, lets assrape the ones with legitimate content" "Yeah that makes sense!"

While the pirates just laugh thier asses off and get to cracking the patch.

When will the Entertainment Content Nazis understand that fucking over paying customers isn't how to stop piracy?

Hell, I don't even know why I complain about this.. Considering I am too poor to even build a new machine from the ground up with the required Content Nazi Chips in them. And even if I did have the money.. Why would I want to give up a great looking 2304x1440 CRT to purchase a $1000 monitor that doesn't even look half as good just to get compatability?? :rolleyes:

Bah.
 
BladeVenom said:
I think some of you missed the point. If they don't update their players and software, new discs won't play. All their old ones will work fine, but next time they buy a new release, ha ha! This is going to screw many customers who don't understand and pay attention to tech news.
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'The update is required for customers to be able to view AACS-protected Blu-ray or HD DVD content—and that doesn't apply just to newly-released titles customers may buy in the future, but also to existing discs. Corel's mandatory update notice comes with an ominous warning: "Please be aware that failure to apply the update will result in AACS-protected HD DVD and BD playback being disabled."'

According to them, if somebody doesn't update, they won't be able to watch ANY HD content.. I don't know how they would do that, unless the application calls home everytime an HD disc is inserted to ask permission to play... And wouldn't that mean, if somebody's internet went out, they suddenly wouldn't be able to watch high definition content on thier PC using that application??

That's kinda scary, imo.
 
UrielDagda said:
'The update is required for customers to be able to view AACS-protected Blu-ray or HD DVD content—and that doesn't apply just to newly-released titles customers may buy in the future, but also to existing discs. Corel's mandatory update notice comes with an ominous warning: "Please be aware that failure to apply the update will result in AACS-protected HD DVD and BD playback being disabled."'

According to them, if somebody doesn't update, they won't be able to watch ANY HD content.. I don't know how they would do that, unless the application calls home everytime an HD disc is inserted to ask permission to play... And wouldn't that mean, if somebody's internet went out, they suddenly wouldn't be able to watch high definition content on thier PC using that application??

That's kinda scary, imo.
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I believe new titles have a list of revoked keys on them and the players check to see if their key is on that list. If it is then it disables itself from playing any protected contest new or old. The workaround in this case is to reinstall the software, but on a standalone player this would permanently disable any playback.
 
ryan_975 said:
I believe new titles have a list of revoked keys on them and the players check to see if their key is on that list. If it is then it disables itself from playing any protected contest new or old. The workaround in this case is to reinstall the software, but on a standalone player this would permanently disable any playback.
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That makes no sense. If they products that disabled old hardware the government would be all over their asses in no time flat...

...

Ok, the EU would be all over the asses, the US government would up the required bribe.

Regardless, theres no way they could possibly carry out their threat. It's nothing more then an attempt to scare legit people into updating.
 
ryan_975 said:
I believe new titles have a list of revoked keys on them and the players check to see if their key is on that list. If it is then it disables itself from playing any protected contest new or old. The workaround in this case is to reinstall the software, but on a standalone player this would permanently disable any playback.
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That still means that, to stop alleged pirating, they just kill the systems of people who PAID.

I think they need to change the law so that when they do these boneheaded things, people are given the option to return all of thier hardware and titles (which are now rendered nonfunctional) for full refunds if they so choose, everytime they do one of these revokations.
 
Nemesis999 said:
That makes no sense. If they products that disabled old hardware the government would be all over their asses in no time flat...

...

Ok, the EU would be all over the asses, the US government would up the required bribe.

Regardless, theres no way they could possibly carry out their threat. It's nothing more then an attempt to scare legit people into updating.
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Need proof I see. Well, here you go: http://www.eetasia.com/ART_8800405816_499486_4bcc2bd4.HTM
Issue Two: Transforming HD Discs Into Coasters And HD Disc Players Into Boat Anchors
What's the problem?
There are two related problems: one for the discs and the other for the players.

Both HD DVD and Blu-ray disc have declared support for the Advanced Access Content System (AACS). Blu-ray disc has layered two additional components, BD+ and ROM Mark on top of AACS. AACS has within its feature set the ability to revoke a title—rendering it unplayable—that has been compromised and has become vulnerable to illegal reproduction or duplication. Simply put, this is accomplished by revoking the disc's encryption key. The most current list of revoked keys is transmitted to players on newly released HD discs. Once a HD player reads the latest list of revoked keys, the player will simply refuse to play those titles. So after you spend your hard-earned cash on a film on HD disc, the studio can disable it at any time, voiding your purchase. You bought the disc expecting it to play indefinitely, but it suddenly turns into an expensive rental. So if a title is compromised by a pirate—professional or otherwise—the studios can render millions of $30 HD discs useless. Once again, this has the potential for punishing the innocent for the sins of the guilty.

The hardware problem is very similar to the disc revocation issue, except it affects players instead of discs. Also within the AACS feature set is the ability to revoke a player. The mechanism is essentially identical to revoking a title; the player's encryption key is placed on a revoked list and transmitted to players on newly released discs. So if a player's firmware is changed to make it do something it's not supposed to do, like disabling HDCP, every single player of that manufacture and model number could find itself on the revoked list. That player would then be unable to play all HD discs.
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That was only one source, I've found many many more that say pretty much the same thing.
 
UrielDagda said:
That still means that, to stop alleged pirating, they just kill the systems of people who PAID.

I think they need to change the law so that when they do these boneheaded things, people are given the option to return all of thier hardware and titles (which are now rendered nonfunctional) for full refunds if they so choose, everytime they do one of these revokations.
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I didn't say it would work, just that that's what their plan was.
 
Wow... that's....
I don't know why anyone would ever purchase an HD-DVD or BRD knowing what you just posted ryan. I would not.
 
Silentbob343 said:
wow you guys just now realized what AACS is congrats.
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Ass Assault Content System? :D That's what I am calling AACS now, because I have seen the light on this issue, and I am not going to buy a HD-DVD or Blu-Ray player (excepting an XBox360 or Playstation 3) until they stop this bullshit.
 
ryan_975 said:
Need proof I see. Well, here you go: http://www.eetasia.com/ART_8800405816_499486_4bcc2bd4.HTM


That was only one source, I've found many many more that say pretty much the same thing.
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Nice! That's even "better" than I thought it was. I knew they could revoke keys over the internet, but how many stand alone players are going to be connected the internet. On the bright side, all pirated content will work fine, only their paying customers will have problems.
 
This is just going to go back and forth over and over again. As they piss people off that are buying the disks that have to update every so often they will loose business. Simple as that.

Besides you will just have pirate groups start messing with the standalone players before long. While they could revoke the players codes all they would do is piss off paying customers like crazy. It will be interesting to see how they hangle this.
 
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