Three Steps to Protect your DVD Content from Pirates
Elmhurst, IL (October 20, 2009) – Protecting copyrighted material has been the bane of creative industry for years. Particularly vulnerable are the videographers and others involved in creating original DVDs for purchase. The nature of digital media makes it particularly vulnerable to piracy.
The Internet has also contributed to the spread of DVD piracy. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of online forums dedicated to ripping DVDs, including active discussions on which software is needed to cut through current means of copy protection. It takes only minutes to rip a DVD of its contents and make copies for distribution or upload it to a bit torrent site.
This free and easy access to your content cannibalizes your profit. It also creates an entire generation of would be consumers who expect your content to be free, which devalues the creative professions.
There are basically three types of people who are ripping your content:
60% Amateur Rippers: They probably have software that removes the most basic of DVD protections. They can copy the majority of DVD titles (but have no active desire to do so), and are likely to skip the titles that would require a lot of effort.
35% Midlevel Rippers: They have more than one piece of ripping software at their disposal and belong to a ripping forum or two. If their software balks at the prospect of ripping a particular title, they know where to look for hacks to get around it. The amount of effort they put into ripping a title is proportional to how much they want a copy of that title.
5% Committed Rippers: This group aren't just members of ripping forums, they are answering questions from newbies. They have an arsenal of ripping software (primarily freeware) at their disposal and are beta testing new software as it becomes available (and writing reviews of those tools).
There is no way to provide 100% protection for you DVD content. Your best option is to discourage as many of the amateur and midlevel rippers from stealing your content as you can. Try using a multi-layered approach to protecting your content:
- Make some sharable content.
- Use copy protection software.
- Watermark your content.
Sharing Your Content
Event videographers seem particularly vulnerable to social incentives for stealing content. Rogue brides purchase a single copy of their wedding DVD and then burn copies for all their family and friends. A PTA will hire you to record the school's spring musical, then create their own copies and sell them to parents for a fraction of what you would have charged.
Could you educate them; tell them how their actions affect you, the creator of the video? Sure, but it would probably fall on deaf ears.
Many event videographers have accepted that their clients will make copies of their DVD and have adjusted the rate for filming and editing accordingly. They are simply charging more for their services and providing their client with the edited masters.
Another option would be to make a portion of your video free and accessible online via YouTube or your business' Web site. This provides two benefits. The first is it removes some of the social incentives to copying your content illegally. A bride doesn't have to tell her mother or members of her bridal party that a DVD of the wedding can be purchased for $30. Instead, she can provide a link to the shared content you provided. Then, if someone is interested in purchasing the DVD, all the information they need to make the purchase is right there, online. It removes the client from the middle.
Making a portion of your content available online is also a strong marketing tool. Friends and family pass the link around so more people can see your work. Some of those people receiving links are going to be potential clients.
This is a solution that would work well for other content producers as well: the professional trainer/coach, independent producers, marketing professionals. The key is to provide valuable content that will satisfy those just looking for free stuff, but will pique the interest of potential clients who are actually looking to purchase a video title.
Copy Protection Software
Content Scramble System (CSS) is dead. OK, maybe not completely dead, more like a zombie. CSS will discourage the handful of people who only know how to drag and drop files from their DVD to their hard drive. Most ripping software sees right through the CSS protection and renders it useless.
With content protection, you want something that will effectively stop a large number of people from copying your DVD title, but will still allow maximum compatibility with a large number of players.
Currently three large manufacturers who create DVD publishing equipment are offering DVD-R protection software. MicroBoards is employing the HexaLock system and Rimage and Primera are using that encapsulates data files on a DVD disc causing access to the content by common ripping programs to be controlled..
According to the literature on the Microboards Web site, "HexDVDR-Video is a preferred choice because of its very fast protection detection and 100% compatibility. Each signature check is performed in a fraction of a second and is 100% transparent, meaning the user won't even realize protection detection is taking place. The burning of the protected DVD can be done on any duplication system, including Rimage."
HexaLock DVD-R protects against the duplication of a DVD-R by direct copying or filed-based copying. The copy program will either stop immediately or take many hours to complete, and even then the copied DVD cannot be viewed in a consumer player or any consumer software. When viewing the copied DVD on PC, the viewer will see an error message that asks the user to insert the original DVD.
HexaLock creates an autostart file called starthere.exe on your DVD. This file restricts programs that directly open the files from saving to drives, printing, or copying to clipboard. Because of this, ripping programs that have successfully worked around the Hexalock system have a two-part program. The first half tricks HexaLock into decrypting the files to be read, then the second half of the program copies the data to another location.
There have been several upgrades to HexaLock since that fateful post, causing consternation among amateur and midlevel rippers as they wait for upgrades to their favorite ripping programs. And, if it's any consolation, there are still forum posts across the Internet from people looking for hacks to the HexLock system.
The Rimage Video Protect (RVP) System and Primera PTProtect System are essentially the same solution. Each claim extremely high compatibility based on a player test of 103 systems and the only failure from this test was the Xbox 360.
The RVP and PT-Protect systems are "play-per-burn" technology. These systems are licensed on a per disc basis, consuming one protection credit for every disc burned with RVP or PTProtect.
Rimage Video Protect is a feature in Producer Software Suite version 7.5 and later. PTProtect is built into Primera's PTPublisher duplication software.
The license credits are through a security device called a "dongle." A dongle is a USB flash drive that connects to the publisher to authenticate and decrement the credits as they are consumed.
Because of the Dongle method, this is not a mass-production option but is one designed for the small user: the event videographers, training companies, any distributing pre-releases of a video. Because this is designed for small scale use, this may fly under the radar of the midlevel and committed rippers – the effort required to create a ripping process may not be worth the rewards (in terms of quantity).
Watermarks
An interesting method of deterring illegal copying is to watermark the DVD with the name or customer # of the individual receiving the DVD. The concept with watermarking is not to prevent people from making copies but to track down the source of the copies. Put an image with the customer's name, account number or other unique identifier on one of the video frames before encoding the DVD. (Don't forget to save the frame number so you can find it later.) Re-encoding the DVD won't remove the watermark and it can only be found when searching the DVD frame-by-frame (or dumb luck).
Conclusion
No content protection method is 100% foolproof. The best you can do is try to reduce the number of people who are willing and able to copy your content for "personal" use or profit. By adding three layers of protection, you're making it harder for the casual ripper to steal your content and making it easier to track illegal copies.
- Create Sharable Content. It creates an atmosphere of good will, removes your client from the role of salesman and is an invaluable marketing tool.
- Use copy protection software. Rimage Video Protect is probably the best option, closely followed by Hexalock. These will not prevent everyone from copying the DVD, but it will make it difficult for people who aren't committed rippers.
- Finally, watermark your content. Watermarks don't prevent theft, but they help create a trail so you can identify the responsible party.
