French ban DRM on DVDs

[Pete]

Just read on Neowin that the French have bannedcopy protection muck from DVDs. I do hope this sets a president as I think it on CDs and DVDs is infuriating.

I would never share my DVDs on P2P networks as I'm too selfish

http://www.neowin.net/comments.php?id=2 ... egory=main

[cdd]

Just read on Neowin that the French have bannedcopy protection muck from DVDs. I do hope this sets a president as I think it on CDs and DVDs is infuriating.

I'm not entirely sure that it'll alter the outcome of an election but it certainly is a step forward!

HOWEVER I think it's only a matter of time before the French courts come up against "the biggies" who have endless supplies of money and appeal to the courts (sliding money under the table all the while) until they get their way.

If people want to copy DVDs they will copy DVDs, simple as that; no amount of copy protection stops that. Programs to "crack" such protection are but a google click away.

[Orry Verducci]

I heard of a mate, (we've never tried it) if you want to copy a DVD, you just hook a player to a Media Center PC, record it and burn to disk. The piraters just do this and it overcomes all copy-protection problems (such as macrovision). As well as that, google is full of systems to overcome it. At the end of the day, if someone wants to copy a disk, they will find a way and there is nothing we can do about it.

(Quick note to mods: If you feel the info is unsuitable and want to delete it, feel free)

[WW Update]

Now, if they just banned DVD regional encoding -- the ultimate example of greed-driven, narrow-minded, parochial backwardness of the big studios -- they would have my eternal gratitude.

[DJGM]

Now, if they just banned DVD regional encoding -- the ultimate example of greed-driven, narrow
minded, parochial backwardness of the big studios -- they would have my eternal gratitude.

Quite right too! This is the one major aspect that has so far put me off buying a DVD player, despite the fact
that DVD players can be bought from just under £30, and DVD recorders from around £100 or a little more.

[cdd]

Now, if they just banned DVD regional encoding -- the ultimate example of greed-driven, narrow
minded, parochial backwardness of the big studios -- they would have my eternal gratitude.

Quite right too! This is the one major aspect that has so far put me off buying a DVD player, despite the fact
that DVD players can be bought from just under £30, and DVD recorders from around £100 or a little more.

DJGM, almost all DVD players have a sequence of buttons you can push to either set the player to a different region or to set it to region 0 thus not worrying about encoding at all. On mine, e.g., I had to turn it on, open the tray, push SETUP, enter 1-3-6-9, push left 3 times, push right once, and then a dialog popped up with options.

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