At this point it doesn't look like Managed copy will ever get here

Oh Managed Copy, the feature that made such a big stink so early on in the Format War still can't seem to become a reality. It was bad enough that it took until the very last version of the AACS to even be defined. Now here we are six months later and although last month all the studios have signed the new AACS license, Managed Copy doesn't seem any closer. It doesn't matter that all the discs being shipped today support it, because evidently the license servers aren't anywhere near being operational. In fact the only thing that has seemed to have happened in the last six months -- other than discs shipping today that support it -- is that we caught a demo of it from Pioneer in September at CEDIA and Cyberlink was telling people at CES that PowerDVD will support it this year. Don't get us wrong, we still think it's coming, but it just need to go ahead and get here already.

[zachavm Posted Feb 26th 2010 8:38PM]

when this is the respect the studios show for the desire of consumers to view their content on various devices, why the hell should we not simply break the encryption and make our own copies? If I want to watch one of MY movies the I BOUGHT, I'm damn well gonna.

[SonicGA Posted Feb 26th 2010 10:46PM]

@zachavm Honestly, they should just offer copies of new movies right when they hit the box office (digital and on disc). To Hell with judging a film's success on tickets alone. Some movies do way better on DVD and BR, but get lost in the sea of big budget flicks when shown in theaters. This way film distributors don't have to worry about losing profits to piracy and resorting to complex methods like the one above.

[LazarusDark Posted Feb 27th 2010 10:59AM]

@SonicGA
I agree. It's actually cheaper to buy an unproven bluray I haven't seen than to go see an unproven movie in the theater. And my home system is better than the theater anyway. If more movies were straight to bluray, I'd probably buy them more. Instead, I wait until it comes to bluray months later... but then I've forgotten about it then and I never get it, or worse I rent it and they don't get the money. If it was straight to bluray and say, they couldn't rent the movie for 3 months, I'd likely buy it just to see it once.

[EatingPie Posted Feb 26th 2010 11:12PM]

Okay, I just have one question...

Headline: "At this point *it doesn't look like Managed copy will ever get here*."

Concluding Sentence: "Don't get us wrong, *we still think it's coming*, but it just need to go ahead and get here already."

So. Uh. My. Question... How could we possibly get you wrong???

:-D

-Pie

[EatingPie Posted Feb 26th 2010 11:16PM]

Okay, now a little more *ahem* serious question...

AnyDVD-HD allows freely copying of Blu-rays (frees you from DRM). So if you own it, why would you need managed copy support, which is a DRM format?

-Pie

[Brian Posted Feb 27th 2010 7:36PM]

@EatingPie Because this has nothing to do with copying discs, which breaking the encryption is considered illegal and has been rules several times it is illegal. It is nice to be able to rip your discs to a server to playback on your TV with just the remote. AnyDVD just allows you to copy, it doesn't allow you to do anything else. And the idea is to expand this to other devices, such as iTunes, without having to convert. The average Joe should be able to pop the disc in, copy it over, take it out and watch the movie without anything else needed. Manage copy allows that, but the devices and whatnot aren't really here for the average Joe. Or I should say that they are here, but the average Joe isn't going to buy/set it up.

[Starcade Posted Feb 26th 2010 11:31PM]

Does anyone really care about Managed Copy? It's one of those features so over engineered, that I'm not sure consumers are beating down the door for it to happen.

Seems to me, companies should be concentrating on how to increase Blu-Ray market share. It's at what... 8% of the disc market right now (granted slow month), but then again, wasn't it at 8% two years ago?
DVD has been enjoying a resurgance, more that likely due to cost. And interesting thing about DVD, no managed copy.

[kcmurphy88 Posted Feb 27th 2010 1:43AM]

Sigh. Copy protection and AACS in particular was the thing that made a lot of folks prefer HD DVD which was a lot lighter on DRM. But don't worry they said, we'll have "managed copy."

I know a lot of folks who have gone back to DVD or to streaming services due to the incredible delays before you can watch a Blu-ray disc. And see Boing Boing (http://www.boingboing.net/2010/02/18/infographic-buying-d.html) for a fine rant about the joys of being legal.

[Brian Posted Feb 27th 2010 7:31PM]

I don't see this ever taking off, or if it does, it will be something like how Microsoft had DRM for music that was supposed to work on many devices, I think it was called PlayReady but was different the today's PlayReady. The DRM is going to kill this, or hobble it greatly that it will never take off. The average joe isn't going to be able to benifit from it. Even the 'digital copies' today is too much for users. I mean think about it, you buy a Blu-ray, what applicatoin are you going to copy it to? Ya people have iTunes, Media Center, etc...but how many peopple actually have these setups? And with so many devices, it is going to hamper it just ike PlayReady was with music. It didn't work on all devices, or some devices just didn't work that well, etc...I really don't see something like this take off for another 10, even 20 years. I think it will take that long before this could become more common in homes and also have the devices that really can support this without running into issues with playback.

[mitchelljd Posted Mar 1st 2010 2:44PM]

is this any surprise?
The electronics manufacturers have balked at offering BD Recorders so consumers can even backup programs from their cable/Sat DVR's. so why would they try to offer up BD recorders to let those of us with kids burn a copy to keep our originals safe?