Macrovision is expected to release a new DVD copy-protection technology Tuesday in hopes of aiding Hollywood’s antipiracy effort. The old copy protection methods have all been cracked and even though many commercial software packages that did this were forced to close, the code to crack them is still around. Macrovision executives said that even if it’s not perfect, the new RipGuard DVD technology can prevent much of the copying done with such tools and can help bolster studios’ DVD sales.
In a News.com article, I learned that “ The company is using a new version of that analog guard to create copy protection for video-on-demand services. That new guard will be included in TiVo devices and other set-top boxes beginning later this year.
Macrovision’s new product takes a different approach to antipiracy than it has taken for analog or audio CDs. Gervin said Macrovision engineers have spent several years looking at how various DVD-copying software packages work and have devised ways to tweak the encoding of a DVD to block most of them.”