I've not seen this before.

Frank Browne

Frank Browne

Final Approach
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I had to go to Tayjay this afternoon for some things and ended up buying a copy of The Dark Knight on DVD. I just opened it up and inside was a piece of paper with instructions on burning a copy of the movie onto a blank disc. It has an authorization code that you're supposed to use to get a copy.

It's rare that I buy a new release (I normally browse the bargain bin) so is this legit? Are manufacturers doing this now to help thwart unauthorized copying? :confused:
 
I got a couple of DVDs which included info on burning a copy for the PC. I guess the intent is to provide a convenient PC viewable copy for traveling. Since I can view using the original DVD, why bother.
Of course, if these instructions are written on a dirty bar napkin, you might be justified being worried.
 
silver-eagle said:
I got a couple of DVDs which included info on burning a copy for the PC. I guess the intent is to provide a convenient PC viewable copy for traveling. Since I can view using the original DVD, why bother.
Of course, if these instructions are written on a dirty bar napkin, you might be justified being worried.
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I think that the intent was probably to provide a backup in case the original got destroyed, but that's just a guess. It does have the effect of providing a copy for travel, as well. For travel, though, I'd just as soon have the DVD loaded onto the hard drive.
 
Frank Browne said:
It's rare that I buy a new release (I normally browse the bargain bin) so is this legit? Are manufacturers doing this now to help thwart unauthorized copying? :confused:
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Is it legit as in is it legal to make a backup copy of an in-copyright work, such as a movie, audio recording, etc.? Yes, it has always been legal to make that copy under the copyright act.

-Felix
 
Frank Browne said:
I had to go to Tayjay this afternoon for some things and ended up buying a copy of The Dark Knight on DVD. I just opened it up and inside was a piece of paper with instructions on burning a copy of the movie onto a blank disc. It has an authorization code that you're supposed to use to get a copy.

It's rare that I buy a new release (I normally browse the bargain bin) so is this legit? Are manufacturers doing this now to help thwart unauthorized copying? :confused:
Click to expand...

Most of the digital copies that I've seen are for use on an iPod or other portable player. Considering that most commercial DVDs are dual layered (8 GB) versus most personal DVD-R discs (4 GB), the movie file is more than likely compressed, perhaps upwards of 50%. For instance, Juno offered a digital copy of the movie which is 1.7 GB in size. The movie on the DVD is 4 GB, so you can see that the digital copy is heavily compressed. Not terribly noticeable on an iPod screen, but definitely on a computer monitor or a TV screen.
 
PittsDriver said:
I'm just curious - what were the instructions?
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Basically, it said to load a blank dvd into the computer and then go to a web address and type in the code they provided and then just follow the prompts. Last night when I played it on my computer, the first thing up was a short featuring Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman and it was about not pirating dvd's. I reckon they are making it easy to make one copy to hopefully avoid having people make multiple copies.
 
I think this is a smart move- addresses the commonly-cited reason for wanting to make a legitimate copy, without opening the door to unlimited copying.

In addition, waddya bet that the copy so made includes a digital sig which identifies the purchaser, so that if the copy is later circulated it can be easily traced to a particular person...
 
Frank Browne said:
It has an authorization code that you're supposed to use to get a copy.

It's rare that I buy a new release (I normally browse the bargain bin) so is this legit?
Click to expand...

Yes. I've bought a couple titles (like "The Incredible Hulk") which had a digital copy available.

SCCutler said:
In addition, waddya bet that the copy so made includes a digital sig which identifies the purchaser, so that if the copy is later circulated it can be easily traced to a particular person...
Click to expand...

Good conspiracy theory, but I'd bet "extremely unlikely" and legally worthless even if it did.
 
TknoFlyer said:
Good conspiracy theory, but I'd bet "extremely unlikely" and legally worthless even if it did.
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I don't know about that. Pretty easy to do (basically a form of steganography). As far as the legal aspects of it, I'll let Spike handle that! :)
 
gprellwitz said:
I don't know about that. Pretty easy to do (basically a form of steganography). As far as the legal aspects of it, I'll let Spike handle that! :)
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Yes, it's technically easy to stamp the DVD with a unique identifier and even link it to a "known" person if registration may be required. However, there's nothing to prove the personal identification is accurate. Even if the second player (perhaps not even a PC) had a 'Net connection and the vendor detected it wasn't the original equipment, what would that prove?

Like I said, it's good grist for conspiracy buffs - but nothing more.
 
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