Rich Fiscus
21 Sep 2007 8:23
The DVD Copy Control Association (DVD CCA) has finally given approval for technology to add CSS encryption to recordable DVDs. It was approved by the DVD Forum earlier this year, but DVD CCA approval was slowed by content owners who wanted additional DRM. Since additional anti-piracy measures would likely cause playback problems on existing players, they were eventually rejected.
There are two potential markets for the technology right now. The more lucrative is retail burning kiosks, which some chains already have plans to deploy. Such on-demand kiosks would reduce both inventory overhead and shelf space requirements for carrying a large selection of DVDs.
Depending on the cost of hardware required to write CSS to a recordable disc, another potential market would be downloads which could be burned with CSS on a home burner and then played on a standard DVD player.
With the plans for network and internet video delivery to set-top boxes, more user friendly possibilities also present themselves. A viewer could potentially download and burn an encrypted DVD from the same player they use to play regular DVDs.
Source: Variety