Sony Fixes Problems With New DVDs 210
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."
So few complaints? (Score:5, Interesting)
*crosses fingers and hopes my maths is right*
Re:So few complaints? (Score:5, Insightful)
If a DVD was not working, I would just bring it back to the shop, the second time I would exchange it for another DVD (not the same movie).
My 2 cents on what probably happened is that they did not count all the returns for these titles, they just counted the people who sent emails complaints or called their hot-line and who told specifically about the DRM problem so they could minimize the problem, which is alot better for them from a marketing point of view.
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There's another thing too. They seem to be talking about a large number of dvd's. Have they all actually been sold yet? I doubt it. I reckon there's some large scale behind the scenes recalls going on.
This is yet another PR blow for sony involving DRM, that makes how many? Well I don't know, if you include mp3 players its barking huge is it not.
So who was i
Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)
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There's nothing like buying an expensive disc that HAS to be cracked/ripped to run on your system to make you swear to god you'll just pirate it outright next time and spare yourself the grief of having to
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True. It was the geek recourse from us on slashdot and digg that got this thing known.
An interesting true story. Some company sold a relatively inexpensive paint sprayer or something like that, and a friend of mine got one as a gift for fathers day or something like that.
After storing this thing for some time, he then wanted to use it and found out it was a piece of crap. He called the manufacturer and after some poking around he found out that all of
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Hey...maybe they're doing consumers a favor by not letting them watch said movie.
Re:So few complaints? (Score:5, Insightful)
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I know that with CDs, crippled discs (with deliberate data errors to defeat computer copying) cannot carry the official CD digital audio logo.
Re:So few complaints? (Score:5, Insightful)
DVD standards seem to be set in jello
Re:So few complaints? (Score:5, Informative)
CD standards are defined and policed by one organisation.
DVD standards are the product of a large collaboration between double-figures of large businesses originally, one of them being Sony themselves. There are now hundreds involved, and AFAICS there is no single group with the authority to take enforcement action is someone is abusing the "DVD" description.
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You're clearly an optimist.
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Analysis? (Score:2)
It would be good to know what the enemy is up to.
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Does anybody believe that Sony sold 10 million copies of Casino Royale? Personally, I have a hard time believing they even pressed 10 million copies of that.
This is like their inflated Blue-Ray numbers as well.
You can't trust what Sony says. They are a bunch of
learn to count (Score:5, Insightful)
Or one out of a hundred thousand. Your argument still stands, though.
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Unko no neyoi kagu hito
oh yeah and they also are..
manuke
I knew learning insults in Japanese was going to be useful someday!
Re:So few complaints? (Score:4, Insightful)
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Re:So few complaints? (Score:5, Insightful)
A lot of companies wouldn't do? Just off the top of my head, I can think of two examples: When Back to the Future was released on DVD, the panning for the full screen version was messed up. The discs were recalled and re-released. People who purchased copies of it got a replacement. The Twilight Princess for the Wii had a bug in it that could cause a player to get stuck. Nintendo's now offering free replacements of the game. I'd bet that if I hopped on Google, I'd find more examples of that. But is that really the issue? I don't think so. They twiddled with copy restriction, which in reality has a harder effect on legit users than pirates, and some of their own players couldn't even handle it. Then they went on to claim there were dizzyingly few complaints about it. Bit the bullet? They're still using the scheme and claiming virtually nobody was really affected.
"Is everybody just so firmly strapped to the Anti-Sony bandwagon that it's impossible for anything sony does to be met with anything but derision and petty insults?"
*Sigh* Anti-Sony bandwagon. I love it. Sony racks up numerous complaints over the course of a year, but really it's just a fad. Right? You would think with all the bad PR, especially surrounding copy restriction, they'd pull back a bit. Instead they just keep getting into mischief. Yet there's always somebody who says "I don't understand, so you must be some group of crazy people." Whatever. The next time you stay up late one night pondering Sony's predicament, at least try to give everybody a little credit and assume they weren't born with S0N3 SUXX0Rs tattooed to their forehead.
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But who complains to the publishers? I tried to find a number or email address ro anything to complain about the stupid anti-piracy ad at the start of DVDs but the contact details are pretty hard to find (Which is strange. I'd have thought they'd like to know when they're irrritating their customers). It's a lot easier to just take it back to the shop.
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They might have shipped 100gazillian disks but if they are sat in a distribution warehouse in each respective country then that could explain the difference.
Re:So few complaints? (Score:5, Interesting)
This will make them see light of day.
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And here I thought the important message here was that they (a) admitted there was a problem, (b) fixed that problem and (c) offered to provide replacement disks, complete with an 800 number to process those requests.
Gee, maybe they should just close down the company and provide torrent links of all the
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Your maths are right, but your grammar isn't.
Usless statistic (Score:2, Insightful)
0.001%? Did they even ship enough disks in the first place to get such a small number of complaints as one in 100,000?
I think it should be instantly apparent that Sony's numbers mean nothing. I am surprised that Sony could get any reported complaints.
Think about it. You go out to the store and buy a DVD and have this problem. Say that you have the persistence to play with the problem and somehow figure out that it is the formatting of the disk that causes the problem.
How are you going to "contact Sony"? This company has a billion contact points and none of them are labeled "call here when your DVD disk has a problem".
I got a more reliable fix for such problems... (Score:2, Insightful)
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I have the solution! (Score:5, Insightful)
Have a great day Sony.
Re:I have the solution! (Score:5, Funny)
Don't download the ISO though, otherwise you'll be straight back to square one...
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You are not buying a license to view the film. You are buying a physical media containing the film. You are granted a license to view the film each time you insert it into a properly licensed DVD player.
Sony... (Score:4, Funny)
Contradiction? (Score:2, Interesting)
So, the update consisted of removing the DRM? Not even Sony can deny that the soul point of DRM is to create playability problems...
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Re:Contradiction? (Score:4, Insightful)
Comment removed (Score:5, Interesting)
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I have the entire Farscape series on DVD.. and I love watching them. If they had that message I would be sickened before getting through series one. I have one (1) DVD that I know of that has this message. After seeing it on a disc I purchase I stopped buying DVDs.
As a footnote, after going to the movies 3 times and sitting through the useless mpaa ad about 'stealing is a crime' I don't go to the cinema any more. (yes, I know what stealing is, and what a crime
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The fact that this text obviously doesn't work makes it all the more bizarre that DVDs punish customers by making them sit through often not one but two legal screens -- one about piracy, the other about how any interviews do not reflect the views of the corporation. Couldn't they at least put these
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Don't worry, I'm sure you're on their watchlist now.
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If I bought DVDs, that's what I'd do.
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I find tons of box sets (or even regular DVDs) to simply not be worth their price because of "features" like this. Non-skipable commercials for other products, propaganda, threats that I will be fined, jailed, or worse if I don't watch the thing correctly, and all that.
Personally, I find that "pirated" TV shows and DVDs are simply better than the ones you can buy
PGCEDIT (Score:3, Informative)
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Is there a DVD-Decrypter/DVDShrink equivalent for Linux? While those are nice tools, they seem to be Win only :-(
I wouldn't be too sure... (Score:5, Informative)
Look at the way their DRM [wikipedia.org] currently works:
Which really, really makes me wonder exactly what players it was intended to kill...
I think I've seen these before, incidentally. But it seems that the whole point is to fuck up their disks exactly enough that they won't play on certain players (God knows which ones, if mplayer can play it), but not enough that they won't play on real players. Thus, it's based not at all on actual standards (like CSS), and entirely on existing DVD players.
They could be calling it an "update" meaning an actual removal, as a marketspeak word. Or it could really be an update, basically figuring out exactly how the cheap DVD players play discs, and making these DVDs playable in that, but still a PITA for something like dd.
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IOW, a variation on the copy-protection used on some CDs. And about as useful, purely because (as we've seen before), it is not physically possible to b
Cynical? (Score:2, Insightful)
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If the disc plays... (Score:4, Interesting)
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I'm not quite sure what the improved DRM does to protect them. Maybe it means that if someone does a bit-for-bit copy it isn't going to work or something but cracking these is so easy I'd be surprised if anyone does that. Most of the pirate DVDs I've seen are either cheap DVD-R copies, or are so well presented that the extra work of decrypting them would be trivial.
Re:If the disc plays... (Score:4, Insightful)
Casual copying (Score:2)
Presumably the point is that it's a disincentive to casual copying. Of course pretty much any current DRM scheme can be broken fairly easily by geeks with the right kit... but most people who buy those DVDs aren't geeks with the right kit.
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People speak as if running some Windows program isn't a casual activity.
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Also, dvdfab seems to work even better; I haven't found a dvd it can't read...
It must suck to be a DRM engineer (Score:5, Insightful)
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Most DRM technology providers so far were clueless idiots capitalizing on the greed of the media companies.
Granted AACS is actually well designed (but due to implementation flaws and nature of DRM, not perfect), but everything else I've inspected is just hack upon hack creating the illusion of
I have a simpler fix..... (Score:5, Insightful)
One lesson here: Vote with your Wallet and don't give your money to prick companies.
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Re:I have a simpler fix..... (Score:5, Insightful)
And what else should I be keeping myself informed about? The latest proposed abuses of drivers to extort more money, and the latest stupid "pro-cycling" legislation that makes cycling more dangerous? The relative morality of the food sourcing policies of the four major supermarket brands with stores near my home? The levels of customer service of my ISP and telephone company? The details of the different extortionate charges levied by all the banks with branches in my city?
There are two big problems with your argument. Firstly, no consumer has the time and experience to know about everything. Secondly, even if they did, since it's common for most or all of the big name businesses to cut the same corners in the name of increasing profits while keeping competitive prices, while the smaller or more ethical businesses can't compete on price and are essentially a niche market for dedicated "ethical consumers".
This is why a completely free market is often not a good idea, and government should intervene with regulation/legislation where markets fail to act appropriately without such incentives. No-one else has the time and resources to monitor diverse consumer markets and keep the big boys in line.
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So don't try to know about everything. Just know about the organisations and businesses that piss you off, and never ever deal with them again!
Neither of the 2 big supermarket chains around here will see another cent from me. Ditto Belkin and D-Link. There is one single real estate agent in my local area who hasn't cold-called me - guess who's getting my business when it comes tim
Re:I have a simpler fix..... (Score:5, Insightful)
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If I were them I'd probably blame the "necessity" of the copy-restriction schemes on the "pirates" in the first place, and thus account any "lost sales" due to copy-restriction issues as part of the "loss" due to
Why not reward good behaviour (Score:2)
That's not going to help anything.
Instead, why not reward a company when they do soemthing right? How are positive actions going to be repeated without positive feedback? When your only tool for behavior modification is the cudgel, your target grows mean and angry and only transparently obedient.
Write Sony a letter thanking them for resolving the issue early, then continue to buy what you normally would. Eventually the bean counters at Sony are going to wake up as to t
You can say a lot about Sony (Score:4, Insightful)
On the other hand, this fix would not have been necessary, had they not used DRM in the first place.
And it doesn't leave the fact, that I'm still not buying anything that Sony makes.
Re:You can say a lot about Sony (Score:5, Insightful)
Therein is the reasoning that still eludes Sony, even after this event and the rootkit. When the security feature is designed to guard against the customers, and the real security threat can get around the security feature anyway, then we're all wasting time and money. Sony is probably still looking at this as a PR issue, rather than as a bad security and technology decision.
Awaiting arrival of clue ... error: clue still absent.
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Commercials in general seem to be like that these days. Ad men have forgotten about the art of persuassion and think instead that it's their jobs to annoy us by any means necessary.
ARCcOS DRM? (Score:5, Insightful)
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BTW, I wouldn't worry too much about the PS3. I think it's not unethical to buy them (and their games) second hand.
Secondary Market still affects Primary (Score:2)
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Think about this (Score:2, Informative)
Vote with your
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"defective by design" certainly is a catchy saying too
Tom
Sorry seems to be the hardest word (Score:3, Insightful)
Sony's PR department really don't seem to understand that they have a monumental image problem. A bit of humility in their press releases could have won back some respect for free, but instead they sent out something that reeks of arrogance.
Re:Sorry seems to be the hardest word (Score:4, Insightful)
Many Slashdot posters really don't seem to understand that most consumers don't care about DRM and company image. They just want to watch Casino Royale or whatever, and as long as it works, they'll be happy.
Sony, however, do understand this, which is why they keep trying this sort of crap without much fear of the consequences. Until DRM becomes a high-profile issue with the general public (which basically means until the majority have been directly and adversely affected by it) Sony's PR department probably don't much care.
Of course, when DRM does become socially unacceptable, which may finally start to happen as a result of the major changes in the on-line music market over the past few days, Sony's history of abuse may well become a PR headache for them. But it's rare for any corporate PR group to think that far ahead, because often consumers just forget or don't care enough by the time the issue comes up.
Are Sony people morons ? (Score:2)
At this rate, sony is going to be the first mega corp to bite the dust out of arrogance.
SONY: Time to take your medication (Score:4, Informative)
Customers ordered to only watch movies in cinemas.
"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)..."
We've put this sentence to you in brackets as subtle acknowledgment that this a lie. Our public relations disaster recovery team wanted to use a
"Since then, the ARccOS system has once again been updated, and there are no longer any playability problems.'
'Or else!' sneered the SONY spokesliar, shaking his fist and the audience,
" Customers can call 800-860-2878 to inquire about replacement discs."
Customers can also call the same number for replacement rootkits.
War is peace. Ignorance is strength. Freedom is slavery. SONY are a respectable and much-loved corporate citizen.
Could SONY be any more unpopular? Why don't they branch out into genocide and sell ballistic missiles to North Korea?
I can honestly say it wouldn't hurt their stock price.
They should dig up Morita-san and prop him up at the boardroom table. He couldn't do a worse job that Howard "Eat your damn Rootkit and love it" Stringer
No no, it's OK (Score:2)
And God help them if I find it on any Windows system I'm working with - if there is as much as a hairline crack in the legal statements made on the DVD they'll be in court again soon. That is, of course, if any of the systems I work with gets near a Sony produced DVD because there will now be an absolute ban of them.
I can't believe that a company that on one hand can make such excellent equipment can on the other h
Already Fixed It (Score:2)
Squeezing blood from a stone (Score:2)
These corporations are so stupid. They think that piracy == lost revenue. Sure, there is SOME lost revenue, but a lot less than they probably think.
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Fundamentally the problem is the execs are [or have been] absolutely convinced that DRM is not only the solution to the problem, but that the customers actually don't mind the problems it creates. I don't know how in this day and age people still propose and want to develop DRM "solutions," as it seems like more and more laypersons are becoming aware of just how detrimental and annoying it can be.
A
Warning Label (Score:5, Funny)
No, Sony has the math right (Score:4, Insightful)
They sold 200,000 discs. Complaint #1 was from Wal-Mart, and #2 was from Best Buy.
You didn't really think they include what consumers think in any of their decisions, do you?
Passive Weasels (Score:2)
Every verb in their acceptance of responsibility is in the "passive voice" [wikipedia.org]. Sony
Active Sorry (Score:2)
There, that wasn't so hard.
On Apology (Score:2)
Great attitude... (Score:3, Interesting)
Sony global boycott (Score:2, Insightful)
After the PS2 class action, the rootkit DRM fiasco, and now this DVD DRM fiasco, how many more times will it take for the public to wake up and realize they have ALL of the power in this situation?
Check out http://defectivebydesign.org/ [defectivebydesign.org] for details on how DRM hurts consumers.
If you don't buy ANY of their stuff, including movies, you can't get hurt. The last Sony product I purchased was a movie ticket to a showing of Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby.
As for Microsoft avoidance, that's what G
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No, I don't have a convenient link to a bunch of abused statistics. I just have the
personal experience of myself, my friends and the companies I have worked for.
Unix is what you run when Windows falls over.
Linux is just a cheaper version of Unix.
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Sorry folks, I really want that Bravia 46" LCD. At least that'll support their legitimitely good hardware business, not horribly evil Sony Entertainment...
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Do you mean the way Photoshop, Photoshop Elements, DXO, Bibble Pro, Breeze Browser, ThumbsPlus, Capture One, RawShooter, Silverfast, Silkypix etc do? No idea if they've just used an off the shelf Canon API or written their own based on specs supplied but given how all the RAW convertors each have their own unique look with finished results, I doubt they'
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For one, raw files don't contain RGB pixels. They contain pixels that consist of a single color. The entire image is a mosaic of red,green, and blue...sort of light looking at a TV screen up close ( http://farm1.static.flickr.com/9/68984572_93b0b72f 71.jpg?v=0 [flickr.com] ). It's up to the program to demosaic it, and for that, there is no official way. There isn't even a
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A developer will either have the RAW format documented in which case they will be doing the decoding you describe or they'll be using some sort of Canon supplied toolkit where they'll be calling a function that returns the data from the RAW file for further processing.
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Ah - but what do you THINK? (Score:2)
But seriously, I agree with the underlying tone (at least, that's what I sense), being rude and obnoxious may offer a bit of short term relief but is hardly going to help change the situation. Staying cool and examining the facts for loopholes is far more effective
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See, its already spreading