GIjon213

This doesn't sound like I will like it.

Link

dpz301

i understand the right for one's IP, but all this sounds like it is is a money making venture.

DVDFreaker

This is stupid, what if my DVD Player can't examine the chip and it won't play because of it? Do I have to buy another DVD player because of it? It is a retarded idea and a bad move

Cameron

deets?

Squirrel God

Details.

RyoHazuki

How will a non-bootleg dvd be able to tell my dvd player when I am playing a bootleg dvd? I'm confused.

Cameron

yah i got it...but whats the point of doing an abbreviation of a 7 letter word with a 6 letter word...I have never heard anyone say Deets before this....almost like they didn't know how to spell details, so they just made a word up.

Dan Average

There's the rub -- the player would have to be designed to recognize the RFID chip, which means either a) all current DVD, HD DVD and Blu-ray players would be incompatible with the new discs or b) old players will just ignore the RFID, which would provide a trivially easy way to get around the protection. It's way too late to be making major revisions to the DVD spec like this and it's probably late to be making major revisions to the Blu-ray and HD DVD specs. I have a sneaking suspicion that U-Tech and/or Engadget is full of shit.

freshticles

It could be worse. They might not be able to count properly....Deets (5 letters)

Squirrel God

He seems to like doing it a lot. If you look 5 lines further up in the article, he's used "sez" instead of "says". Really professional huh?

TomOpus

I'm not going to worry about this until they start rolling off the assembly lines. IF this ever happens....

mzupeman2

If any of this is true, they'll probably make it so newer players will recognize these chips, while letting older players slide. You can't alienate all the consumers, and that's exactly what this would be doing. If you need a chip in a DVD for it to play, you'd render peoples collections obsolete. And the non-ability to play chip discs in old DVD players would not be feasible as well. Nobody should grow concerned or worry about this.

Bandit03

No way this is gonna happen. Studios are already confusing customers with the HD discs and players. If they release a whole new set of DVD's that require a new player they will totally confuse and alienate the customers.

bis22

Does this mean that if I want to make a DVD of my home movies, I'll have to get a studio to release it so I can actually play it?

nemein

I'm not entirely sure of the tech used but it seems to me to be theoretically possible that if they changed the "encryption" method (you know that whole DCSS thing or whatever it was) and embedded that in the RFID then they could make it where chipped DVDs won't play in old players. It'll come up as an unrecognized disc. Now it probably won't be long before someone hacks that and writes a decoder but that's where the DMCA will kick in.

nemein

This I agree w/. They'll be shooting themselves in the foot if they really push this IMHO. If they move quickly and do it in conjunction w/ HD though then they might be able to pull it off. I hope they don't since as the OP said "This doesn't sound like I will like it."

nemein

More likely what it means is the hardware people will gladly sell you a DVD burner that includes the RFID imprint capability as well. Isn't that nice of them

Cameron

well you got me on that one

Cameron

I guess this is the double edged sword of the internet...you can get all the info, with slanted views...but in trade you have to take horrible writing and grammar.


i sez weez gets wuz we payz 4

mrhan

Here's a properly worded version without the slang.

http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/news/21...-fights-piracy

DVD chips 'to kill illegal copying'
Embedded radio transmitter chips to track movie, music and software discs

Simon Burns in Taipei, vnunet.com 15 Sep 2006


DVDs will soon be tracked with embedded radio transmitter chips to prevent copying and piracy, according to the company which makes movie discs for Warner, Disney, Fox and other major studios.

The technology, which can also be used for Blu-Ray and HD-DVD discs, will allow movie studios to remotely track individual discs as they travel from factories to retail shelves to consumers' homes.

Home DVD players will eventually be able to check on the chip embedded in a disc, and refuse to play discs which are copied or played in the 'wrong' geographical region, the companies behind the technology expect.

"This technology holds the potential to protect the intellectual property of music companies, film studios, gaming and software developers worldwide," said Gordon Yeh, chief executive of Ritek Corporation.

Ritek is the world's largest DVD maker, and its U-Tech subsidiary will make the discs.

U-Tech and IPICO, the company behind the RFID chips used in the discs, announced today that production of the 'chipped' DVDs will begin at U-Tech's main plant in Taiwan.

U-Tech's global network of factories stamps out some 500 million pre-recorded DVDs and CDs a month for major movie studios, recording studios and video games companies.

After ironing out bugs in the manufacturing process, U-Tech will work with major movie studios on a large-scale test of an RFID-based supply chain management process at its manufacturing plant and distribution centre in Australia.

RFID readers will then be built-in to home DVD players to extend the anti-copying technology into homes as part of a digital rights management system.

U-Tech described this as the "real end game" for the chip-on-disc technology, which would "eliminate optical disc piracy in the entertainment and IT sectors" .

IPICO claims that its RFID tags can be read from at least six metres away, and at a rate of thousands of tags per minute. The passive chips require no battery, as they are powered by the energy in radio waves from the RFID reader.

"I have envisioned using RFID to improve product visibility and enhance security in the optical disc industry for some time," said Yeh.

"Launching the chip-on-disc system has made this dream a reality and holds the potential to protect the intellectual property of music companies, film studios, gaming and software developers worldwide."

Gordon Westwater, president of IPICO, added: "[This is the] first step towards new international standards to safeguard optical media, and the subsequent adoption of the chip-on-disc concept as a global standard."

U-Tech Australia, where the project will undergo a large scale trial, did not reply today to vnunet.com's request for comment on the new embedded RFID chip process and the precise schedule for its rollout.

Press relations staff at U-Tech's office in Taiwan refused to provide more information about the technology.

nemein

On the plus side this will make DVD cataloging/inventory a lot easier... still not worth the trade off IMHO though.

starman9000

Exactly

milo bloom

Yeah, this is a brilliant use of technology. I mean, why use a tiny, barely able to detect microchip to slip on the clothes of a top bin Laden lieutenant and use it to find out where the bastard is hiding and put a bullet through his head, when we can make sure those filthy Britainer's aren't playing our American DVDs?!

paulringodaman

EXACTLY what I was thinking!!

darkside

So the upshot is I just need to stick with my current non RFID players or just get a nice hacked player down the road. This will not do anything to stop people that really want to steal movies.

It also won't effect the true movie pirates that mass produce the stolen movies. They never actually tackle those guys. Probably because many of the overseas plants they use to make their discs are also producing many of the bootlegs.