View Full Version : Affordable DVD copy protection?


Brian Farris
October 6th, 2005, 02:41 PM
I work for a small video production place in town and we want to be able to protect the DVD's we make in DVD Studio Pro. I've read that it is impossible to copy protect DVD-R's, so the next step seems to be to send it to a DVD duplication company that supports copy protection. This seems expensive, and unnessesary, considering that occasionally, we would only need to produce 3 or less copies of the DVD.

By affordable, I mean a permanent solution less than $10,000 or to be able to produce a DVD for less than $5-$6 each.

Thanks.

Christopher Lefchik
October 6th, 2005, 03:32 PM
In this day and age of software easily obtainable for free on the Internet that will crack DVD copy protection without breaking a sweat, I don't know if it would really be worth the money to invest in such a solution, if there is even one available in your price range. If your viewers want to copy your DVDs, they will be able to do it, even with copy protection.

John DeLuca
October 6th, 2005, 03:41 PM
You can't copy a double layer disk if you have a single layer burner. Most people dont have them, and since HD DVD/blueray burners are around the corner it's likely people wont invest in outdated double layer dvd technology.

John

Kyle Ringin
October 6th, 2005, 04:50 PM
People have been using the above mentioned free software to copy commercial dual layer dvds to single layer dvd-r's for ages. All dvd drives will read dual layer discs.

Copy protection does make it harder for people to copy your work - they have to know what they are doing and have the right software. If there is no copy protection at all you can just copy the disc like any data dvd you've burnt, ie open Nero->disc copy->burn.

This kind of copy protection is extremely expensive and frankly I don't think there is a solution to your problem, let alone a cost effective one. I don't think there is much you can do to protect yourself from this - the major studios spend millions on it and they still can't stop it.

Cheers,
Kyle

Christopher Lefchik
October 6th, 2005, 05:08 PM
You can't copy a double layer disk if you have a single layer burner. Most people dont have them
Actually, you can copy a double layer disk with a single layer burner, you just can't write the image back if it is larger than 4.7 GB. Even then, there is free software that can recompress the video to make it fit a single layer DVD.

I don't know what percentage of computer uses have double layer DVD burners, but they are certainly dirt cheap now days. You can get one on NewEgg for $37. At that price I imagine most DVD burners included on new computers are double layer capable.

The sad fact is, people who want to copy our DVDs can do it fairly easily, so long as they are willing to invest a little time and effort in locating the software and learning how to use it. Copy protection just means that commercial CD/DVD software (Nero, Easy Media Creator) won't copy it, but it has no effect on the other free software easily obtainable on the Internet.

Matt Howell
October 7th, 2005, 07:59 AM
Copy protecting DVD's is a complete waste of time and lots of money. You can accomplish the same thing with your money by making a "donation" to the copy protection company, setting it on fire, or flushing it down a toilet.

Anyone who wants to copy a DVD can do so easily with a tiny 1mb free program and normal burning software. Commercial DVD's sometimes deviate from the DVD standard with intentional DVD authoring errors, unreadable sectors, etc. Even these tactics are not working against currently maintained copy programs. I expect the High Definition DVD formats to come will be locked down tighter than an NSA blackops server personnel list. "No more fair use for you".

Giroud Francois
October 7th, 2005, 12:00 PM
microsoft has done a nice job with DRM (digital rights management), so you can produce a CD or DVD containing a .wmv ou .avi file that you can freely copy. The problem is when you try to play it, you are asked for the license and if you do not get it it stops
This is not really a protection against copy, but it can defeat the proliferation of a video, since playing it becomes a lot more difficult.
DRM tools are free and almost easy to implement.