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Ultraviolet DRM protections

Well as it's for downloadable content why would it bother them. AnyDVD doesn't touch downloadable content
 
Green Lantern and Horrible Bosses are going to have UV.
A vice president of 20th Century Fox, speaking to Pocket-lint, has confirmed that UltraViolet, the cloud-based Blu ray-and-DVD video streaming service, will launch “very soon.” The same Fox executive also says that every major movie studio has signed onto the program, except Disney, and that the only big consumer electronics holdout — Apple — will soon toe the purple line.

But what is UltraViolet exactly? You’d be forgiven for having never heard of it — but once I tell you what it is, you’re either going to dribble with anticipation, or curse like a hippie libertarian who’s just had a bunch of human rights sucked out from underneath him. Basically, UltraViolet is a cloud-based library of your digital possessions. When you buy your first UltraViolet Blu-ray disc and slot it into your Blu-ray player at home, it will connect to the internet and ask you to make an account. This Blu-ray disc will then be forever connected to your UltraViolet account.

Now, there are a slew of seriously useful benefits associated with such a system. If you lose the original disc, don’t worry: just log into UltraViolet and download a copy — or simply stream it from the web. You can also pair multiple devices with your UV account — register the Blu-ray disc at home, and then stream it to your office computer, or your smartphone. This will also be the first ever fully-legal way to download TV shows and movies, too: log into the UV online store, purchase a license, and start watching right away. You’ll even be able to download your online purchase and burn it to DVD or Blu-ray — but of course, for many people, UltraViolet will be a way of finally getting rid of discs and their unsightly plastic cases.

Yes, UltraViolet is awesome — but now take a long, hard look at the caveats. For a start, UltraViolet isn’t just a cloud-based digital library — it’s DRM. To play UV Blu-ray and DVD discs, you need to access your digital library to download your license key — and if you’re not connected to the internet, the TV show or movie simply won’t start. Next, think about this for a second: your entire library of movies and TV shows will be stored in the cloud. There isn’t a single mention on the UltraViolet website that your library will be private — and with almost every major studio, broadcaster, ISP, and tech company on board, you can be guaranteed that they’ll be very interested in the contents of your digital library.

Because UltraViolet media cannot be played without internet access, Big Brother will see exactly what you watch and when you watch it. The powers that be will know exactly what kind of advertisements to show you, both on TV and on the web — and they’ll even be able to turn to companies like Coca-Cola or Verizon and tell them exactly which shows and movies they should buy product placement in.

The truly terrifying thing, though, is that there’s no guarantee that UltraViolet will be around for ever — and like Assassin’s Creed 2 and its infamous, web-based DRM system, what happens if your internet connection goes down when you want to watch a movie? Worse yet, what if UltraViolet is the target of a DDoS attack?

http://www.extremetech.com/computin...g-cloud-based-blu-ray-and-dvd-video-is-coming
 
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I would have to assume that the discs also work with non ultraviolet enabled players otherwise no one will be able to get them to work as most people don't have their players connected to the net.
 
It looks like these Ultraviolet discs won't play without BD-Live. In other words, if your player isn't connected to the net, the disc won't play.

If that is the case, I wonder if SlySoft will be able to handle it.

Also, I noticed that the OP is now banned for some reason?
 
It looks like these Ultraviolet discs won't play without BD-Live. In other words, if your player isn't connected to the net, the disc won't play.

If that is the case, I wonder if SlySoft will be able to handle it.

Also, I noticed that the OP is now banned for some reason?

Meh, i don't doubt slysoft will find a way arround that to make em playable
 
It looks like these Ultraviolet discs won't play without BD-Live. In other words, if your player isn't connected to the net, the disc won't play.

If that is the case, I wonder if SlySoft will be able to handle it.

Also, I noticed that the OP is now banned for some reason?
Well the original post was a year ago

I can't believe that at this stage the discs wouldn't play if you don't have an internet connection. Many people will buy these discs and then return them because they don't work. Not everyone wants to be forced into having to connect to the internet to play their films. Also not everyone who has a Blu-ray player even has internet. Many of our older customers have Blu-ray but no internet
 
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My guess would be that Ultraviolet is an excuse to implement a new DRM, that may or may not be more secure than AACS, since AACS has been effectively beaten into submission.

I don't think the consumers will go for this unless the studios make it irresistable. If the studios force uptake by removing Bluray, I think the public will abandon the format.
 
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I think the question is whether Ultraviolet logins will be necessary for disc (BD/DVD) playback (as the article says), or just for downloads (as I suspect is the case). I don't think requiring it for disc playback is viable; very few DVD players are connected to the Net (and many BD players aren't either), so consumer backlash would be enormous. (I doubt it can even be implemented within the current DVD specs except as add-on DVD-ROM content, like the old InterActual PC-Friendly players. Requiring new DVD players for Ultraviolet DVDs simply won't happen.)

If it's not required for disc playback, AnyDVD will work as it always has, assuming BD-Live and DVD autorun are disabled (as they should be). However, if it is required for disc playback, it'll be much like Sony BD-Java protection: As long as SlySoft can replace the right BD-Java files and work around any structural protections, it'll still work. ;)
 
I can't believe that at this stage the discs wouldn't play if you don't have an internet connection. Many people will buy these discs and then return them because they don't work. Not everyone wants to be forced into having to connect to the internet to play their films. Also not everyone who has a Blu-ray player even has internet. Many of our older customers have Blu-ray but no internet

Yes, exactly, I am one of those customers, I have 4 Blu-ray players and only 1 of them is able to connect to the internet. Can't get high speed internet except for satellite dish and not at a reasonable price.

When the day comes that forces me to have high speed internet to watch a rented movie or forces me to stream movies is the day I get out of the DVD hobby playtime.
 
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This text was posted as a reply to the source article on UltraViolet:
I know quite a bit about UltraViolet and your caveats are simply wrong. UltraViolet is not a DRM. It uses existing DRMs that we use today, like Playready, Adobe, OMA, Widevine and Marlin. Those DRMs are used today in almost all content we collect. To play Blu-ray and DVDs that come with UltraViolet rights, you simply play them just like today. They are the same discs, exactly, except instead of a bonus digital copy that plays in only one platform, UltraViolet allows you to play on almost any device. No worries there. Its just a Blu-ray or DVD and will always play so long as there are DVD and Blu-ray players. Also, there is no requirement that requires a connection. That's only if you want to stream your movies from your favorite UltraViolet streaming service. You can always download to your movies to an UltraViolet device or application and watch your movies wherever you want. No connection is necessary. Also, the nice thing about your UltraViolet rights lpocker or cloud is that you control who gets to view it. Its very private. So now you have freedom to play your movies on any Ultraviolet device or application. Choice of Ultraviolet retailers. Its your movies, you now have full control.
Of course, someone correctly replied to him that DRM isn't really "full control". :doh: However, if without web access it still plays as an ordinary BD or DVD (as this commenter says), it's of no concern to AnyDVD users as long as DVD-ROM autorun (PC-Friendly) and BD-Live are disabled. (I think they're both disabled by default; if not, they should be.) As long as SlySoft is around, we will STILL have full control. :rock:
 
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More specifically, this AnyDVD (regular or HD) setting should disable the only possible means (AFAIK) of launching UltraViolet on DVDs:
UltraViolet DVD.jpg

And this AnyDVD HD setting should disable the expected means of launching UltraViolet on BDs:
UltraViolet BD.jpg
(I believe it is possible to put executable autoruns on BDs; if they do it that way, the fix should be trivial. Of course, I don't work for SlySoft or anyone involved with UltraViolet, so don't throw tomatoes at me if I'm wrong. :eek:)
 
It was only a matter of time, i'm sure slysoft will find a way arround it if they have to :)
 
From what I gather it doesn't look to affect the main blu-ray and instead seems to be some new digital copy DRM. Maybe this will be the end of iTunes' lock on digital copies. I guess we'll find out.
 
From what I gather it doesn't look to affect the main blu-ray and instead seems to be some new digital copy DRM. Maybe this will be the end of iTunes' lock on digital copies. I guess we'll find out.
That's how I read it as well; it only kicks in for making DRMed DCs, not BD playback or ripping. Even if BD playback requires signing in to UV (previously speculated but unlikely), disabling BD-Live should make that go away.
 
That's how I read it as well; it only kicks in for making DRMed DCs, not BD playback or ripping. Even if BD playback requires signing in to UV (previously speculated but unlikely), disabling BD-Live should make that go away.

What I suspect might be happening here, is that playing a regular Blu-Ray disc in an unsecure environment (i.e., with PowerDVD, TMT, etc. on a computer) will no longer be possible; you will have to use the Ultraviolet digital copy and software. For secure environments (standalone players, PS3), the regular Blu-Ray disc will just play normally (even if the player isn't connected to the Internet).

What this could possibly mean, if these regular Blu-Ray discs will not play in the usual manner on computer software players, and in fact the content that does play using Ultraviolet is separate content (still the movie, but the Ultraviolet digital copy, not the standard Blu-Ray disc), is that the standard Blu-Ray discs packaged with Ultraviolet digital copies could have a version of AACS and/or BD+ that does not work in unsecure environments like a software Blu-Ray player on a computer. I would suspect that if this were true, the various computer software players would be updated to be able to play the Ultraviolet content using the Ultraviolet encryption, but, it will not be the same files (i.e., the standard Blu-Ray disc) that play on standalone players using AACS and BD+ as per usual.

And that could mean that AnyDVD will not be able to decrypt the standard Blu-Ray disc that is packaged with an Ultraviolet digital copy.

James has implied that SlySoft will still be able to handle a situation where a disc has BD+ and/or AACS that only works in secure standalone players. With discs that are packaged with Ultraviolet digital copies, this may end up being put to the test.

What worries me is there has been a situation where a disc has an unintentional mastering error in the version of BD+ that is used in unsecure computer software players, but not in the version that is used in secure standalone players (both versions are on the same disc, most people don't seem to be aware of this). Even though the disc plays in secure standalone players, Peer was unable to provide a fix since the version that is used in computer software players is (unintentionally) broken: http://forum.slysoft.com/showthread.php?t=30412

This is all of course my own speculation. Of course we will see what really happens when these Ultraviolet discs makes their way to end users and to SlySoft.
 
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