UHD Blu-ray Disc Authentication Poll

[Vandal Savage]

I voted no.

To be honest, UHD BR is going to be a tough sell for me anyway, and authentication would be a deal breaker for me. I was an early adopter of DVD and a sort of early adopter of blu-ray (right after HD-DVD went kaput), and I don't see myself doing this a third time.

[HarcourtMudd]

Originally Posted by bruceames.

Doesn't make sense that one day most purchases will be digital and that the studios will periodically pull the plug on collections and consumers will just shrug and continue to purchase.

You are forgetting that those here are the exception, not the rule. In general, the vast majority of J6P public have shown themselves to be little more than two-legged lemmings (show them something shiny...)

[Anthony P]

Originally Posted by bruceames.

Well I hope authentication won't be implemented, but we'll just have to disagree regarding this "certainty" that you imply, that we'll lose access to the movies one day if it is. Digital purchases are expanding as well and will dwarf whatever UHD BD will produce in terms of revenue, so according to your line of thinking all those collections are headed to the toilet too.

Doesn't make sense that one day most purchases will be digital and that the studios will periodically pull the plug on collections and consumers will just shrug and continue to purchase.

because you are not looking at it correctly. Think of what you are imagining. A CEO that goes to the BOD and says:


a) " Hey I know we are spending millions maintaining the infrastructure, it is extremely hard to find new machines to replace the old ones when they brake, but we will continue to support that old format that is dead and impossible to bring in any revenue because it might but we might have some good will from the consumer that bought a copy last year ".

Does that really make sense but


b) " Hey X is dead, we are moving to Y there is no (or little) revenue from X and we would save millions if we pull the plug, also that would force the consumer to re-buy the film which would mean additional revenue and profits in our pocket.


for me B makes sense A is justy insane and it is the reason you have stuff like


http://www.networkworld.com/article/...ce-pack-1.html

Originally Posted by in2011

Microsoft dropped support for Windows Vista Service Pack 1 this week, and recommended that Vista users buy Windows 7 or upgrade to the most recent version of Vista.

[tronotized22]

Originally Posted by Anthony P

exactly

the only reason to need to DL the title key is so that if someone gets the disk early it is useless until release day.

This online authentication issue reminds me of what Microsoft did with always online with Xbox One. Microsoft wanted the console to have to be always online in order to play video games on it. you also could not rent or trade back games because the game would know that it had been accessed by one console already, and would prevent the user from playing said game on another console. Microsoft tried to show their consumers the benefits of always online, but the consumers weren't biting. So Microsoft decided to take out the always online requirement.

[HeavyHitter]

Any new info on this?

[raygendreau]

Originally Posted by HeavyHitter

Any new info on this?

Nothing new since May/June.

“Digital Rights Management: A new generation of digital rights management will be used for Ultra HD Blu-ray discs with the introduction of AACS 2.0, replacing AACS 1.x used on current Blu-ray discs. AACS 2.0 comes in a basic and an enhanced version where the enhanced version allows the movie studio to require the Ultra HD Blu-ray player to obtain a security key via the internet the first time a given disc title is played on that player. The player will then store this security key such that internet access will not be required for any future playing of that disc title on that player. At this point there is no indication if any of the movie studios actually intend to use this feature on their future Ultra HD Blu-ray disc releases, but it they do, then that would mean the user’s Ultra=HD Blu-ray player would need to be connected to internet the first time the disc is played, and that would be certain to raise an issue with some potential home theater owners.”

http://www.projectorreviews.com/home...-now-complete/


While not about UHD BR it could portend future requirements. This was the 4.70 firmware update Feb 24, 2015

“Renewing the AACS encryption key
You may have to renew the AACS encryption key to play content such as movies on commercially available BD video software (BD-ROM). If a message indicating that the encryption key needs to be renewed is displayed, update the system software to the latest version. The encryption key will then be automatically renewed.
AACS (Advanced Access Content System) is a copyright-protection technology that is used on Blu-ray movies.
The copyrighted content is protected by setting an encryption key on both the disc and the device used to play the disc.
An AACS encryption key expires in 12 to 18 months and must be renewed. There may also be other times when the key has to be renewed.”

http://manuals.playstation.net/docum...ideo/aacs.html

[CharlieBarkin]

I don't think so. Big Brother doesn't need to be watching what I'm watching. They should just be happy to know that I felt it worth purchasing in UHD when I probably already bought it in VHS, DVD, Blu-ray three times earlier. You got your money's worth by then for sure.

[Ray_Rogers]

Look what happened with DIVX. It was the competing optical disc format against DVD which was launched by Circuit City and look what happened to them.
I'm glad UHD Blu-ray doesn't have a competing optical disc format.

[sukraj]

I voted yes

[DGilberts]

So guys, sorry if this is already covered or discussed. But if this was implemented on say a US copy of Chappie, I wouldn't be able to play it on a UK purchased player?

[FilmFreakosaurus]

Originally Posted by DGilberts

So guys, sorry if this is already covered or discussed. But if this was implemented on say a US copy of Chappie, I wouldn't be able to play it on a UK purchased player?

That's more than likely what would happen. The server would look at your IP address. Even worse than region locking.

[DGilberts]

Originally Posted by FilmFreakosaurus

That's more than likely what would happen. The server would look at your IP address. Even worse than region locking.

Well I can only hope that there is no requirement to have the machine online then. I have seen an artical online which suggested there would be no region coding on the discs, but perhaps this will simply take its place.

[Tns49]

I would prefer not to buy any that require online authentication, but it won't stop me from buying a title I want.

Is that still an option in the specs?

[KRW1]

Originally Posted by DGilberts

Well I can only hope that there is no requirement to have the machine online then. I have seen an artical online which suggested there would be no region coding on the discs, but perhaps this will simply take its place.

That's my sneaky assumption as well. It's too good to be true, this lack of regional coding.

[cinema sickness]

If UHD is to be DIVX 2.0 then I'll treat the format just as I currently treat DIVX discs. I'll pick them up when I come across them second hand for $1 solely as an addition to my format collection. But I certainly won't take the format seriously and will continue to buy non-authentication formats.

[spectre08]

Originally Posted by FilmFreakosaurus

That's more than likely what would happen. The server would look at your IP address. Even worse than region locking.

depends on how tech savy you are.

It's a heck of a lot easier, and cheaper, to fake a foreign proxy than to buy a region free player.

my personal preference would definitely be to have region locking to be online rather than hardcoded into the disks and players, but I definitely recognize not everybody will find it as convenient as I will.

[Adrian Wright]

My preference would be to leave the Region Coding as it is. I fully intend to pick up a US Player and Import the discs anyhow.

[Anthony P]

Originally Posted by spectre08

depends on how tech savy you are.

It's a heck of a lot easier, and cheaper, to fake a foreign proxy than to buy a region free player.

my personal preference would definitely be to have region locking to be online rather than hardcoded into the disks and players, but I definitely recognize not everybody will find it as convenient as I will.

depends. Because you are missing the obvious (I am guessing you are a new age tech savvy person- i.e. knows nothing about tech but because you use I you think you understand it.)

Let me start with an anecdote. Many years ago just across the US border there were many "proxy" sat-mail centers and people here in Canada used them to get US sat. Thus creating a "grey market" (people in Canada paying and watching illegal US sat). At the time the US sat companies did not care, they send the bill to the mail center, the mail center forwarded the bill to the guys home in Canada and the guy paid the bill and the sat company got paid and it was assumed to be more or less legal because the sat company did deal with a US address. Eventually Canadian cable and sat companies decided to react and the US sat companies were forced to abide y the spirit of the law and not just by the letter of the law and block people that gave such proxy mail center addresses.


what was the point of the story?

simple, right now, media companies getting $ don't care. If Joe does not use a proxy and they know he is from XXXX they block him because they have to abide by the letter of the law and they can't allow him. But at this point they can still use the loophole and turn a blind eye to the guy that uses a proxy because "he is saying he is from YYYY and that is allowed". The issue is (like with sat back then) that it is child play for any of those companies (turning a blind eye right now) to know if it is a legitimate address and block fake addresses from proxy connections by people that want to access content that should not be allowed. And in my opinion that means it is just a matter of time before someone realizes it and that "loop hole" is blocked.

[kashif]

NO, I will not buy UHD Blu-ray disc that requires online authentication.

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by Pieter V

Samsung's product page. Where you can also read the manual, if you want.

http://www.samsung.com/us/video/home-audio/UBD-K8500/ZA

Came across this in the back of the Samsung UHD BD player manual (available at the link above):

• What is a valid certificate?

When the product uses BD-LIVE to send the disc data and a request to the server to certify the disc, the server uses the transmitted data to check if the disc is valid and sends the certificate back to the product.

So, while the status of the online authentication component has been kept reeeaaaaaaal quiet it looks like it's still been implemented on the hardware. Question is, will any discs use it? Not the catalogue stuff, but what about new releases down the line? Hmmm.

With something like Creed yet to open in UK cinemas some movies are still staggered when it comes to their release schedules, so even though UHD Blu apparently has no region coding they could still use a timed lockout to prevent foreigners from buying a US disc and watching it 'early'. (Not Creed specifically, just staggered releases in general).