Original URL: http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2007/01/18/hd-dvd_crack/
A high-definition format movie has made its way onto BitTorrent. A pirated copy of the hit science fiction movie Serenity has been ripped from a HD DVD disc and made available to users of the popular P2P file sharing protocol.
The availability of the movie, which weighs in at a chunky 19.6GB and comes as a .EVO file compressed using the MPEG-4 VC-1, follows news a month ago that hackers had succeeded in defeating the AACS copy-protection technology used in HD DVD format discs. A Java-based software package called BackupHDDVD, developed by a programmer known only as Muslix64, is designed to allow users to backup next generation discs.
To decrypt DVD source material would require obtaining a disc's disc's volume or title key separately, a non-trivial task not performed by BackupHDDVD itself. Hackers may have obtained the key separately before using BackupHDDVD, Ars Technica speculates (http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070115-8622.html).
But as the exact mechanism used to rip the HD-DVD remains unclear, content producers publishing to the next-generation format have inherited a serious problem that the rest of the movie and music industries have struggled to deal with for years. ®
Microsoft mugged over VC-1 codec patent terms (14 April 2007)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/04/14/microsoft_vc-1_codec_analysis/
Hack exposes AACS 'hole' (10 April 2007)
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2007/04/10/aacs_hold_exposed/
Hollywood hinders HD DVD, Blu-ray hack (10 April 2007)
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2007/04/10/aacs_la_hinders_hd_hack/
Cracked HD-DVD and Blu-Ray app keys revoked (10 April 2007)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/04/10/cracked_aacs_keys_revoked/
US Patent Office says P2P threatens national security (21 March 2007)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/03/21/uspto_p2p_malarkey/
BitTorrent Inc offers legal downloads (26 February 2007)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/02/26/bittorrent_legal_downloads/
HD DVD, Blu-ray copy protection cracked again (14 February 2007)
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2007/02/14/aacs_cracked_again/
Blu-ray DRM defeated (23 January 2007)
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2007/01/23/blu-ray_drm_cracked/
Porn industry finds hi-def too graphic (23 January 2007)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/01/23/high_def_porn/
Security, privacy and DRM: My wishes for 2007 (13 January 2007)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/01/13/security_wishes/
HD DVD, Blu-ray backers trumpet formats' victory (9 January 2007)
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2007/01/09/hdvdvd_vs_bluray/
HD DVD anti-rip encryption cracked (28 December 2006)
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/12/28/hddvd_crypto_cracked/
MS preps DRM hack fix (31 August 2006)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/08/31/wm_drm_crack/