Cracking the Blu-ray/HD-DVD code
Cracking the Blu-ray/HD-DVD code
Dan Ackerman Editorial Director / Computers and Gaming
Dan Ackerman leads CNET's coverage of computers and gaming hardware. A New York native and former radio DJ, he's also a regular TV talking head and the author of "The Tetris Effect" (Hachette/PublicAffairs), a non-fiction gaming and business history book that has earned rave reviews from the New York Times, Fortune, LA Review of Books, and many other publications.
"Upends the standard Silicon Valley, Steve Jobs/Mark Zuckerberg technology-creation myth... the story shines." -- The New York Times
Expertise I've been testing and reviewing computer and gaming hardware for over 20 years, covering every console launch since the Dreamcast and every MacBook...ever. Credentials
- Author of the award-winning, NY Times-reviewed nonfiction book The Tetris Effect; Longtime consumer technology expert for CBS Mornings
It's a widely accepted axiom that any new media format or copy-protection scheme will be cracked sooner or later (usually sooner). So it comes as no surprise that the copy protection on the new high-definition Blu-ray and HD-DVD formats is one step closer to being opened up, mere weeks after Blu-ray's debut.
HD Beat reports that when a Blu-ray or HD-DVD disc is being played on a PC (such as the Sony VAIO RC310G) using the HD version of Intervideo's WinDVD software, individual frames can be captured in full resolution by hitting the Print Screen key. This by itself doesn't do anyone much good, but hypothetically, you could automate the process of capturing each frame and reassembling it into a high-definition copy.
This particular software hole should be patched soon, but it's clearly the first step in what will be a long dance between hackers and hardware vendors.
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