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New Sony DVDs Not Working In Some Players
Posted by
kdawson
on Sun Apr 15, 2007 04:33 PM
from the DRMed-out dept.
from the DRMed-out dept.
An anonymous reader writes "It seems that the most recent DVDs released by Sony — specifically Stranger Than Fiction, Casino Royale, and The Pursuit of Happyness — have some kind of 'feature' that makes them unplayable on many DVD players. This doesn't appear to be covered by the major media yet, but this link to a discussion over at Amazon gives a flavor of the problems people are experiencing. A blogger called Sony and was told the problem is with the new copy protection scheme, and they do not intend to fix it. Sony says it's up to the manufacturers to update their hardware."
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Sony Fixes Problems With New DVDs 210 comments
An anonymous reader writes "Following up on reports that DVDs for some Sony titles were causing problems, Video Business is reporting that Sony has fixed the copy-protection problem on recent DVD releases, and will provide replacement discs to customers. The problem was with the ARccOS DRM system. The company issued the following statement: 'Recently, an update that was installed on approximately 20 titles was found to cause an incompatibility issue with a very small number of DVD players (Sony has received complaints on less than one thousandth of one percent of affected discs shipped)... Since then, the ARccOS system has once again been updated, and there are no longer any playability problems.' Customers can call 800-860-2878 to inquire about replacement discs."
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Gee. (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Gee. (Score:5, Funny)
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Re:Gee. (Score:5, Informative)
—Tickletaint [slashdot.org] (forced to post logged-out due to modbombing)
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Re:Gee. (Score:5, Funny)
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Re:Gee. (Score:5, Insightful)
(2) Swap at store, still no joy. Try to return, get hit with restocking fee - take DVD home irate.
(3) Call Sony to complain, get told to update player.
(4) Call player manufacturer to complain, get told "sorry, we've no idea, your player is out of warranty, go away". Now you're broiling angry.
(5) Discover software that rips the CD, despite whatever security measure on it, and burns it to a DVD-R.
(6) Realize you can do the same thing with DVD-R images on the net, and start downloading.
Congratulations, Sony, for having turned a customer over to the Dark Side with your wonderful customer relations program!
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Re:Gee. (Score:5, Insightful)
-having to get dressed according to weather
-burn some expensive fossil fuels and put wear on an expensive car
-wasting a half hour in city traffic getting cut all the time -- both ways
-hunting for parking spots
-walk around a store full of unhelpful minimum-wage/comission employees looking for what you want (hopefully you won't impulse buy anything you don't need in the process)
-standing in line for a half hour to pay for it
-find out it doesn't play on your computer either (unless you shell out money for something like AnyDVD)
And possibly things like buying a new DVD player (more $) only to find out (if it even works at all) that there's unskippable previews and such crap (FBI warnings) on the disc too.
Whereas using P2P I can download the thing in mere minutes. No DRM, no protection that prevents playing, no rootkits, no unskippable previews, no FBI warnings -- none of the usual crap. No need to waste time ripping/re-encoding it in mpeg4 to put it on my video server either.
I would rather pay for a un-DRM'ed mpeg4 rip direct download then buy the DVD, but studios won't let us, much less for decent prices. Pirating is easy, fast (~30 seconds to start the transfer then downloads overnight), convenient and often provides you with a better product (at least an un-crippled one) -- and much cheaper too. As a bonus, you're not being treated like a thief by the pirated copy (oh the irony). So people pirate instead.
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Re:Gee. (Score:5, Funny)
Sony CRAP, for short
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Re:Gee. (Score:5, Insightful)
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Re:Gee. (Score:5, Insightful)
Making Grandma update the firmware on a DVD player just to make it take two minutes longer for a pirate to copy a DVD is stupid.
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Re:Gee. (Score:5, Funny)
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Re:Gee. (Score:5, Insightful)
When one branch of that multinational corporation is making discs specifically designed to play in another branch's hardware, then no, I don't think that's a little bit naive whatsoever. I don't expect the computer division to hit up the TV stand division about every little thing, but it seems like "we're making a new type of DVD, so let's call up the guys who make the DVD players and make sure nothing broke" is a thought that should have occured to someone.
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That's the problem (Score:5, Insightful)
Maybe I'm wrong, but like some "CDs" in the past that incorporated some copy protection and couldn't carry the CD logo/seal any longer on the cover, wouldn't the same thing apply here? Can Sony legimitately still call this thing a DVD anymore without being sued for fraud?
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Re:That's the problem (Score:5, Informative)
Perhaps the DVD-Video logo, but it's still a DVD. You can get software on DVDs. You can't play them in your video player, but they are still DVDs.
Actually, it's the same thing with CDs. CDs with copy protection are still CDs; they just can't carry the CDDA (CD Digital Audio) logo.
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Re:That's the problem (Score:5, Informative)
And that's what they want you to think. And it's understandable if people don't know all the guidelines that go into those logos. However, the bottom line is that if you buy a DVD and it doesn't play in your player, you should return it and demand your money back. Let the stores deal with the manufacturers.
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Re:That's the problem (Score:5, Interesting)
"Some?" A pseudorandom sample of CDs inspected at some local big-name stores that sell CDs have produced no CD audio logos that I could find. These newfangled "FBI warnings" seem to have taken their place.
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Re:Gee. (Score:5, Insightful)
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Class action lawsuit anyone? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Class action lawsuit anyone? (Score:5, Interesting)
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Bait and Switch (Score:5, Insightful)
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Re:Bait and Switch (Score:5, Funny)
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Re:Bait and Switch (Score:5, Funny)
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Re:Class action lawsuit anyone? (Score:5, Interesting)
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Re:Class action lawsuit anyone? (Score:5, Informative)
Just thinking about it, if they're selling them using the DVD label identifying it as a dvd, doesn't it legally have to be playable in dvd compatible players?
This will depend very much on the local laws. In Australia a DVD that fails to play in a significant number of DVD players meets the statutory definition of unmerchantability, which requires goods to be suitable for every purpose for which they are normally bought (unlike other places where they have to be suitable for just one of the purposes for which they are normally bought). This will give the consumer the right to a refund, but won't lead to any penalty. There is also an argument that applying the label "DVD" to the product (or even selling it in a manner that makes it seem like it is a DVD) is misleading conduct for which anybody could apply to the Federal Court to get an injunction to prevent the product from being sold in that way.
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Works For Me (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Works For Me (Score:5, Interesting)
Reading the comments at Amazon and the blog, it sounds like it's just certain NEW models of players that aren't working. So instead of saying "It's our new copy protection and we won't fix it, but you can update your machine,' they should have said, "There's a bug in these models of players and they need a PATCH, which we are working on."
I guess they need to tell the truth (hah hah hah) but it seems unlikely that it could be the players and not the disks.
However, I guess if it's a relatively SMALL set of disks that have problems on these players....
I don't know. I still vote that there's nothing changed about the DISKs, and it's just a flaw with the devices.
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Re:Works For Me (Score:5, Informative)
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Re:Works For Me (Score:5, Insightful)
If I'm Not Mistaken... How hard was that? huh?
BRB/TYT/LOL/etc. were useful at a time when we had to "pay" for being online by the hour (or the minute for some) and had 10 private chat windows open, 5 IRC channels, etc.
Did typing IINM save you anything? A couple of keystrokes? Is it that widely used?
No, it doesn't make you look/sound smarter, because there are a LOT of acronyms that are just plain dumb.
Sorry for going off, I didn't mean to shoot directly at you, just the whole acronym thing is driving me up a wall.
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Dammit... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Dammit... (Score:5, Funny)
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they've solved the piracy problem (Score:5, Funny)
Yeah, that's the copy protection feature. Hollywood finally figured out that if you can view it, you can copy it. If they simply make the content unplayable, nobody can pirate the movie!
Alternatives (Score:5, Informative)
2 options: Ripit4me (in conjunction with dvddecrypter) or dvdfab decrypter....
*ahem*verified on Stranger Than Fiction*ahem*
Happened to me (Score:5, Insightful)
So I ripped it and returned it.
Re:Happened to me (Score:5, Insightful)
I don't know how it works in the US and elsewhere in the world but in the UK we have consumer protection legislation which says if a product is not 'fit for purpose' then we have a legal right to a full refund.
Occasionally a shop assistant will call over the manager and the manager will try to get 'cute'. In this situation you would be amazed how effective it is to kick up a little (and slightly noisy) fuss. Most managers are not too happy to see such things in their shops, it tends to put the browsing customers off. I dislike this behaviour when the customer is in the wrong, such as demanding a refund for a product that is an incorrect size or they just don't like (there is no legal provision for this, some shops offer a courtesy exchange, an offer to be accepted with gratitude), however, I don't like being screwed out of my rights and am happy to protest loudly when required and entitled.
Should I be unfortunate enough to purchase one of these DVDs... pray you are not managing the shop when I come to return it
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Re:Happened to me (Score:5, Informative)
Yeah, we used to have that in the U.S. We also used to have fair use rights.
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The sad thing is - (Score:5, Insightful)
It is things like this that make me cautious about buying media from Sony these days. I have no problem with buying DVDs however one of the reasons I buy a DVD is that I know it will work perfectly in any DVD I wish to buy (unlike XviD rips from BitTorrent or Usenet) however apparently this isn't true anymore so DVD is now no better than a rip downloaded from the internet.
It is a shame that the companies are worsening their products with these copy protection systems to help fight piracy when all they end up doing is ruining it for the people who want to buy DVDs.
One thing that I have wondered about for a while is how many DVD rips online originate from retail DVDs? I would have thought the majority (if not all) came from pre-release copies as the DVD rips are normally several weeks (if not months) ahead of a retail DVD release.
Prevents casual "rent and burn" (Score:5, Insightful)
This copy protection prevents most people from renting/borrowing a DVD and making a copy of it. Until people download the latest software for cracking it. This is mostly targetting non-technical people who were given DVD Shrink by a friend.
There will be copies of the DVD available on the Internet, because someone will crack the protection. All it takes is one copy on the Internet to ensure that anyone on a peer to peer network can get a copy.
Sony is risking alienating a large number of people to stop a small number of pirates. Not just a small number of pirates, but the non-technical pirates. They are also annoying Walmart, Blockbuster, BestBuy and any other retailer who sells their DVDs. Who are the consumers going to complain to? The retailers.
Oddly, this could cost them money even if you ignore retail backlash. Companies which rent DVDs to the consumer, purchase DVDs based on rental demand. If someone rents and burns a DVD, the movie company is pissed, but it still increases rental demand. Higher rental demand, increases sales of the DVDs to the companies who rent them. If someone finds they can't rent and burn, they probably will just download the image from BitTorrent rather than buy the DVD. Not to mention the people who can't play the Sony DVDs, they'll want a free version which actually works.
Sony has the right to put any copy protection scheme they want on their DVDs, as long as it maintains compatibility. If you sell someone a product which is designed not to work properly on their DVD player, you better tell them first. Even if the consumer was willing to get firmware updates, do you think the manufacturers want to start sending out discs and supporting consumers through the update?
Re:Prevents casual "rent and burn" (Score:5, Informative)
There you go, now stop buying those darn DVD's and complaining that someone will crack the copy protection anyway. We KNOW, before it's even in stores you can get full DVD rips (yes, you can even get the full 4,7G download's if you look hard enough). And if I buy a DVD that doesn't play in my machine, without going through stuff like MacTheRipper or so (Johnny English for example) I return it to wherever I bought it and say it won't play (I take my PowerBook with me) and demand a refund.
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Just boicott Sony (Score:5, Insightful)
Now, Sony Electronics tries to deliver great products, and Sony Pictures strongarm the electronics division into delivering defective products.
Just stop buying Sony altogether (Movies and electronics) until they become a customer focussed company again.
In the end the blame goes to the stupid Sony customers that allows Sony to sell them this defective crap, and then comes back for more.
Sony electronics actually rather quite sucks (Score:5, Insightful)
The Sony laptops are light and attractive, but almost universally have mechanical problems (hinges and latches break). The MP3 players are a disaster. A relative bought one, and it wouldn't play MP3s -- he had to convert music into Sony's proprietary atrak format before it worked. He returned it and bought an iRiver. The headphones give reasonable (but not exceptional) audio quality for the price, but generally break after about 3 months of use. Cameras have nice imagers, mechanically filmy (but not horrible), but as with most Sony, try to force you into a proprietary, incompatible, overpriced technology stack with MemoryStick. PS3 was an unqualified disaster. Home audio equipment is okay, but suboptimal on the price/performance curve (e.g. Kenwood generally has better-sounding, better-quality equipment for the same price in my price range).
I also really, really, really hate the attempted "synergy." If you want the PS3, you need to pay for Blu-ray. Everything you buy will use MemoryStick, and where possible, use proprietary cables, plugs, and formats to try to lock you in to buy other Sony products, and not work well with non-Sony products.
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Sony arrogance to a new low (Score:5, Interesting)
Fair enough, we do not intend to support your arrogance. Welcome to our blacklist.
ARCCOS (Score:5, Informative)
Re:ARCCOS (Score:5, Insightful)
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Fancy a laugh (Score:5, Funny)
The best comment from the blog entry (Score:5, Interesting)
left hand: make decent hardware...Profit!
right hand: break hardware made by left hand...don't tell left hand about it....Profit?
Re:Again? (Score:5, Funny)
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Re:Again? (Score:5, Informative)
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Re:Stranger than Fiction (Score:5, Interesting)
I wonder, honestly, what the legal status of your download is. You paid for a copy of the movie, you now have a copy of the movie, but an unauthorized format was used when the authorized format failed.
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Re:Stranger than Fiction (Score:5, Funny)
You've got a girlfriend?
Stranger than fiction, indeed!
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Re:Xine (Score:5, Interesting)
Did you report the dvd's as defective? It should be plan that if they do not play in a stand alone dvd when all other dvds to that they are defective. When you rent/buy these disk and they do not work simply return them as defective. Once walmart gets a stack of these fucker a mile high they will smack down sony nice and good.
As evil as walmart is sometimes being the 10,000 pound gorilla does have it's uses.
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Re:Xine (Score:5, Insightful)
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