Club CDFreaks - Knowledge is Power - View Single Post - Blu-ray vs. HD-DVD

heroineworshipper · 05-02-2006

The object of encryption isn't to make it impossible to copy the media for all time. The point is to make it so difficult to copy the media that the users decide it's not worth it. Based on the last few years, we seem to have reached the point with encryption that it's not worth it to break it.

Currently there are HDCP to SVGA converters for $400. Assuming the SVGA signal doesn't have ghosting and is good enough to justify copying it, you'll need a $1500 A/D converter, a $1500 PCI-X card, and at least $5000 in storage to have enough bandwidth to record it. Even if spatz-tech unlocked the digital output of the converter chip, you still need $6500 to do anything useful with it.

Unlike DVD, Blu-Ray disks will not be decodable in software. You'll need to buy graphics cards and laptops that decrypt and decompress the Blu-Ray transport streams in hardware and output an HDCP signal. Forget about screenshots. Video will be overlayed in the last step from a protected region of video RAM.

The actual AACS keys are kept under the tightest security even from the people working on the project. There are about 1 million people employed on the Blu-Ray project in some form. Software management and high level architecture is being done in USA. Software implementation, testing and hardware design is being done in India and Japan. JAVA interactivity is being done in England. Networking and convergence is being done by thousands more in Europe, Australia, Korea.

Of a million people, only a handful of people working on the AACS core in India actually have access to the AACS keys. You virtually have to get blown up by terrorists to get near that team.

Virtually no-one has access to an encrypted Blu-Ray disk. The Blu-Ray engineers have to work with a black box and with specially made test disks, vaguely worded documents, and nothing which demonstrates the encryption. Hardly anyone developing Blu-Ray even knows how the encryption works.

If there's a bug involving the video subsystem, they have to wait a month for the team with access to the AACS core to get to it. Blu-Ray is being developed in places straight out of Mission Impossible. Motion sensors, temperature sensors, shattering glass microphones, alarms that go off if the doors are open 20 seconds, guys with guns, everything wired but the toilet seats. It's all real.

Once burned into the ROM, the AACS keys will be blocked from downloading by features in the core that didn't exist in the DVD years. Even if everything went right, a kid somehow downloaded the keys from the ASIC, and we could decode the transport streams without HDCP and AACS, the Blu-Ray team has one ace in the hole.

Holographic storage is going to replace Blu-Ray in about 3 years. With 1 terabyte on a 5.25" disk, total incompatability with existing players, it's going to be a whole new world of encryption goodness. Holographic storage is going to have a lot of would-be Blu-Ray crackers saying "it's not worth it."

For 5 years now, we've been paying for encrypted WMA files, encrypted WMV movies, encrypted cable and satellite TV. There has never been a breach of these codecs like there was for DVD. There are no DVDShrink programs for WMV 9. No decryption utilities for Comcast or DirectTV. The #1 reason given by DRM haters is "It's not worth it."

Maybe it's because there isn't enough content in any single format to justify breaking it. Maybe it's because as soon as it's broken, a new format comes out. Maybe it's because programming computers isn't the path to riches it was in 1999. Whatever the reason, DRM has clearly come of age. It isn't being cracked the way it was.

05-02-2006	#65 (permalink)
heroineworshipper New on Forum Join Date: Feb 2006 Posts: 1	Why Blu-Ray won't be cracked the way DVD was The object of encryption isn't to make it impossible to copy the media for all time. The point is to make it so difficult to copy the media that the users decide it's not worth it. Based on the last few years, we seem to have reached the point with encryption that it's not worth it to break it. Currently there are HDCP to SVGA converters for $400. Assuming the SVGA signal doesn't have ghosting and is good enough to justify copying it, you'll need a $1500 A/D converter, a $1500 PCI-X card, and at least $5000 in storage to have enough bandwidth to record it. Even if spatz-tech unlocked the digital output of the converter chip, you still need $6500 to do anything useful with it. Unlike DVD, Blu-Ray disks will not be decodable in software. You'll need to buy graphics cards and laptops that decrypt and decompress the Blu-Ray transport streams in hardware and output an HDCP signal. Forget about screenshots. Video will be overlayed in the last step from a protected region of video RAM. The actual AACS keys are kept under the tightest security even from the people working on the project. There are about 1 million people employed on the Blu-Ray project in some form. Software management and high level architecture is being done in USA. Software implementation, testing and hardware design is being done in India and Japan. JAVA interactivity is being done in England. Networking and convergence is being done by thousands more in Europe, Australia, Korea. Of a million people, only a handful of people working on the AACS core in India actually have access to the AACS keys. You virtually have to get blown up by terrorists to get near that team. Virtually no-one has access to an encrypted Blu-Ray disk. The Blu-Ray engineers have to work with a black box and with specially made test disks, vaguely worded documents, and nothing which demonstrates the encryption. Hardly anyone developing Blu-Ray even knows how the encryption works. If there's a bug involving the video subsystem, they have to wait a month for the team with access to the AACS core to get to it. Blu-Ray is being developed in places straight out of Mission Impossible. Motion sensors, temperature sensors, shattering glass microphones, alarms that go off if the doors are open 20 seconds, guys with guns, everything wired but the toilet seats. It's all real. Once burned into the ROM, the AACS keys will be blocked from downloading by features in the core that didn't exist in the DVD years. Even if everything went right, a kid somehow downloaded the keys from the ASIC, and we could decode the transport streams without HDCP and AACS, the Blu-Ray team has one ace in the hole. Holographic storage is going to replace Blu-Ray in about 3 years. With 1 terabyte on a 5.25" disk, total incompatability with existing players, it's going to be a whole new world of encryption goodness. Holographic storage is going to have a lot of would-be Blu-Ray crackers saying "it's not worth it." For 5 years now, we've been paying for encrypted WMA files, encrypted WMV movies, encrypted cable and satellite TV. There has never been a breach of these codecs like there was for DVD. There are no DVDShrink programs for WMV 9. No decryption utilities for Comcast or DirectTV. The #1 reason given by DRM haters is "It's not worth it." Maybe it's because there isn't enough content in any single format to justify breaking it. Maybe it's because as soon as it's broken, a new format comes out. Maybe it's because programming computers isn't the path to riches it was in 1999. Whatever the reason, DRM has clearly come of age. It isn't being cracked the way it was. Last edited by heroineworshipper; 05-02-2006 at 12:30.