From declan@well.com Fri, 03 Dec 1999 10:53:23 -0500
Date: Fri, 03 Dec 1999 10:53:23 -0500
From: Declan McCullagh declan@well.com
Subject: [Livid-dev] Hacker delays launch of new DVD machines

Thought you guys would like this...


http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/19991203/tc/japan_dvd_5.html

Friday December 3 6:38 AM ET 

 Hacker Delays Launch of New DVD
 Machines in Japan

 By Yuzo Saeki

 TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese digital video disc (DVDs)
 manufacturers were forced to postpone the launch of
 long-awaited new audio equipment after a European hacker
 broke open the copyright protection of DVDs and raised new
 piracy fears.

 Matsushita Electric Industrial Co postponed the launch of
 DVD audio/video players by about six months to next May or
 June, while Victor Co of Japan plans to withhold the release of
 its new equipment for an unspecified period.

 Pioneer Corp is also considering postponing the release of new
 equipment scheduled to debut for later this month.

 The incident jolted the DVD industry which has just started to
 see sales of DVD players pick up after a slow start and was
 preparing for a major push to begin marketing DVDs as a
 better alternative to conventional music compact disks (CDs).

 DVDs can hold more information than CDs and were launched
 in late 1996 as the successor to video tape players, boasting
 superior sound and video quality.

 Norwegian Hacker Finds Weak Point

 A Matsushita spokesman said the setback emerged after a
 Norwegian hacker posted instructions on a Web site last
 month detailing how to override the copy-protection function
 installed in software for connecting computers with
 DVD-ROM drives.

[snip]

From jean@kcco.com Fri, 3 Dec 1999 10:25:30 -0600 (CST)
Date: Fri, 3 Dec 1999 10:25:30 -0600 (CST)
From: Jean Liddle jean@kcco.com
Subject: [Livid-dev] Hacker delays launch of new DVD machines

This misinformation was in the news two days ago and on slashdot
yesterday.  It is not unexpected for the industry to put this kind of a
spin on things and manipulate the release of their products in an
effort to deceive consumers into taking the industry's side in this
ongoing conflict.

What is left unsaid is that there is zero market for audio DVDs, and
their actions are far more likely to kill the new format as dead as
DIVX rather than stirr up the ire of the masses.  Most of us are
perfectly happy with the audio CDs we buy today -- from which we have
no trouble ripping mp3's for personal listening convenience, or copying
to tape to listen in our cars.

From andreas@andreas.org 03 Dec 1999 17:57:04 +0100
Date: 03 Dec 1999 17:57:04 +0100
From: Andreas Bogk andreas@andreas.org
Subject: [Livid-dev] Hacker delays launch of new DVD machines

Declan McCullagh < declan@well.com> writes:

>  TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese digital video disc (DVDs)
>  manufacturers were forced to postpone the launch of
>  long-awaited new audio equipment after a European hacker
>  broke open the copyright protection of DVDs and raised new
>  piracy fears.

Sigh, will they never learn. But who need 96kHz audio anyways? I'm
glad if I can afford a high-quality amplifier where I actually hear
MP3 artifacts.

>  A Matsushita spokesman said the setback emerged after a
>  Norwegian hacker posted instructions on a Web site last
>  month detailing how to override the copy-protection function
>  installed in software for connecting computers with
>  DVD-ROM drives.

Say, I didn't notice before, but that whole CSS scheme smells
funny. Did you notice that in order to *copy* a DVD, all you need is
the title key and the disk key? And we've had the ability to read them
for *months*? Did you notice that the player key isn't required for
copying *at* *all*?

CSS is about controlling who is allowed to build a DVD player. The
threat is to revoke your player key if you don't play by the rules. It
is that we are now able to build our own player what really pissed
them off.

But they can't tell that in public, of course.

Andreas

-- 
"We should be willing to look at the source code we produce not as the
end product of a more interesting process, but as an artifact in its
own right. It should look good stuck up on the wall."
 -- http://www.ftech.net/~honeyg/progstone/progstone.html

From ml@226-129.adsl2.avtel.net Fri, 3 Dec 1999 15:16:50 -0800 (PST)
Date: Fri, 3 Dec 1999 15:16:50 -0800 (PST)
From: Chad Page ml@226-129.adsl2.avtel.net
Subject: [Livid-dev] Hacker delays launch of new DVD machines

	Yup... IMO they ought to just put uncompressed 32-bit 88khz PCM 
on the disks... there's more than enuff space at that speed for 40 minutes
of music.

	- Chad,
	who _still_ wouldn't pay $15 for a new DVD-audio disk.

On Fri, 3 Dec 1999, Jean Liddle wrote:

> This misinformation was in the news two days ago and on slashdot
> yesterday.  It is not unexpected for the industry to put this kind of a
> spin on things and manipulate the release of their products in an
> effort to deceive consumers into taking the industry's side in this
> ongoing conflict.
> 
> What is left unsaid is that there is zero market for audio DVDs, and
> their actions are far more likely to kill the new format as dead as
> DIVX rather than stirr up the ire of the masses.  Most of us are
> perfectly happy with the audio CDs we buy today -- from which we have
> no trouble ripping mp3's for personal listening convenience, or copying
> to tape to listen in our cars.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Livid-dev maillist  -  Livid-dev@livid.on.openprojects.net
> http://livid.on.openprojects.net/mailman/listinfo/livid-dev
> 

From derek@spider.com Fri, 3 Dec 1999 17:34:23 +0000
Date: Fri, 3 Dec 1999 17:34:23 +0000
From: Derek Fawcus derek@spider.com
Subject: [Livid-dev] Hacker delays launch of new DVD machines

On Fri, Dec 03, 1999 at 03:16:50PM -0800, Chad Page wrote:
> 
> 	Yup... IMO they ought to just put uncompressed 32-bit 88khz PCM 
> on the disks... 

  Well 88.2 kHz.

DF
-- 
Derek Fawcus                                                    derek@spider.com
Spider Software Ltd.                                        +44 (0) 131 475 7034
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