The pirates of the world have fired another salvo in their ongoing war with copy protection schemes with the first release of the first full-resolution rip of an HD DVD movie on BitTorrent. The movie, Serenity, was made available as a .EVO file and is playable on most DVD playback software packages such as PowerDVD. The file was encoded in MPEG-4 VC-1 and the resulting file size was a hefty 19.6 GB.
This release follows the announcement, less than a month ago, that the copy protection on HD DVD had been bypassed by an anonymous programmer known only as Muslix64. The open-source program to implement this was called BackupHDDVD and was released in a manner designed to put the onus of cracking on the user, not the software. To extract an unencrypted copy of the HD DVD source material required obtaining that disc’s volume or title key separately, which the software did not do. However, a key was later released on the Internet, and a method for extracting further keys is allegedly available as well.
Now that the genie is out of the lamp, so to speak, what will the reaction be from the content industry?
Until I get fiber to the home, a multi-terabyte RAID appliance and a HDTV downloading 20GB movies won’t make much sense.
Not only is this the wave of what’s to come, but I’d predicted as much in previous threads.
I remember 20 years ago hearing on Q-Link that we’d never do better than MIDI files for downloaded music, and 10 years ago on AOL that we’d never be abe to download a movie or a video game. Today’s song and dance about downloading 20 GB files is no different… except now we’re on an open system (the Internet) as opposed to closed systems.
Realistically, until our internet connections average 100 Mbps as opposed to 1 Mbps, large movie downloads need to be taken out of the ‘instant gradification’ context of downloading music, and put in to the context of using that ‘always on’ internet connection when you’re not home. The technology exists today to allow for computers to manage a ‘to be downloaded’ list, and to download the items on that list in a given order over time (days).
While this isn’t a great solution, it does allow for online distribution of very large media files to fit in the same space as NetFlix… their main competition.
“what will the reaction be from the content industry?”
Cripes!
I have to agree with Improbus. Downloading 20 gigabytes via Bittorrent today isn’t really practical even with cable modem speeds. Give me 100Mb synchronous access (because otherwise, just reaching a .500 share average is going to be a real problem), a 1 or 2 TB hard drive, then I might think about it.
Good point #1 & #4.
You have to remember though that some countries offer high speed access at the XXmp range. In this case it would take you to download a HD-DVD (even a rip) at the same amount a time it takes to download a full size dvd in North-America. In fact, I know of some cases were new games that came on two or more dvd’s were downloaded in reasonable time. Just because we are stifled by the giant telecoms in North America, does mean that the rest of the world should not advance. Maybe this will actually create consumer demand for higher DSL speeds. T1’s are already at the $200-500 in some areas.
Correction, should be XXMb
Cheers.
2. …large movie downloads need to be taken out of the ‘instant gradification’ context of downloading music, and put in to the context of using that ‘always on’ internet connection when you’re not home.
Agreed.
Like Skype…
Off Topic: I fondly remember the ~1-year-ago comment on a Mac forum – when most people were happy that Skype had finally got around to releasing a Mac version – and a guy is bitching about how Skype installed itself in his Start folder, so it was running in the background every time he turned his computer on. He only wanted Skype running when he was actually making a call….
Back on topic:
As a recent addition to the ranks of Warcrack addicts, I am interested in how Blizzard is leveraging bittorrent mechanisms to spread the download of updates and patches among us “users”.
All those people online – worldwide – at any given time of the day, should be able to move a lot of data around. All of it in the background, while they are otherwise occupied with the game.
When somebody hacks into Blizzard’s system of 8-million users – if they haven’t already – who knows what will be flying around the internet disguised as “game data”. 🙂
looks like there are 3 so far:
http://thepiratebay.org/search.php?q=1080p+HD-DVD&video=on
kneejerk reaction
#7 – I’m glad someone on here realized this isn’t a bandwidth-only issue.
I also agree that Blizzard’s system shows how large amounts of data can be moved around. I’m suprised that the ISPs haven’t started to gripe about this (yet), since a system like Blizzard’s means that home PCs (with home PC service plans) send out much more data than usual.
#7,11 – I strongly suspect that only a very small percentage of Warcrack users are sending OUT much data through the patch mechanism. Most home users are stuck behind a NAT or firewall and have no idea how to open a port through it (or simply don’t care to make the effort).
BitToorent – A useless technology that doesn’t work now, didn’t work then, and won’t work in the future.
I gave up completely and will not reinstall a BitTorrent client.
Assuming you can even find what you want, it takes 10 times as long to download it as it would if you just downloaded it.
Plus, only the new and popular are typically easy to find… and if I had pedestrian tastes, I’d wear my Tommy Hilfigger jacket to Best Buy and buy the CD…
Bring back back Napster where you could see a list, pick from it, and download it… Now that worked.
#1
20 GB files is not a problem. Just have to wait a couple of days if you’ve got cable.
#13
BitTorrent works mighty fine for millions of users. I downloaded Ubuntu yesterday… it took me less than an hour with my 3 Mbps connection.
#13, #14 – Ubuntu is about 700 MB.
If there is a way to play protected content, there is a way to crack protected content. Simple as that. Which leads to the best definition of DRM I’ve heard so far: Doesn’t Really Matter.
Doesn’t mean I want to pirate the material, just view or listen to it on whatever device I choose, without wondering if it will work. The sites that sell DRM free music are a huge step in the right direction.
Bandwidth is today’s problem. In 5 years it will be history.
Without trying to brag or anything, I think I am the kind of person John was referring to.
I have a 100mbit full duplex connection in my home and I could (if I wanted to) download a movie in HD format in maybe 2 hours or so.
But the question should really be, do we want the newest fad in Medialand?
I for one do not plan to buy a new TV (my current 52″ TFT is big enough and HD ready), but getting a Bluray or HDDVD recorder is going to be VERY expensive.
Why not just stick with DVD’s, cheap, easy and affordable. (I buy mine on sale for a max of 7.50 Euro a piece, and 30 Euro’s for complete seasons of series).
Well, just my 2 cents.