From: Alan Olsen <alano@teleport.com>
Date: Sat, 14 Sep 1996 08:17:55 +0800
To: Gary Howland <gary@systemics.com>
Subject: Re: What is this nonsense? (Anti DVD piracy chip)
Message-ID: <3.0b15.32.19960913112614.00b0da58@mail.teleport.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


At 02:16 PM 9/13/96 +0200, Gary Howland wrote:
>Taken from a recent Edupage:
>
>> SGS-THOMSON TAKES AIM AT DVD PIRACY
>> SGS-Thomson Microelectronics has developed a computer chip that prevents
>> would-be DVD pirates from making unlawful copies of movies from digital
>> video disc players.  The chip scrambles the disk's coding if it's
duplicated
>> on a VCR.  (Investor's Business Daily 11 Sep 96 A6)
>
>Anyone know anything about this?  Sounds like nonsense to me ...

Probibly a variation on the Macrovision copy protection scheme.  Of course
they do not care that such copyprotection methods usually cause a loss in
signal quality.  (Which is why people buy laser discs in the first place.)

Hopefully it will be something that never succeeds in the marketplace.
(Although i expect it to be imposed whether the consumer wants it or not or
how bad it screws up the signal.)

---
Alan Olsen -- alano@teleport.com -- Contract Web Design & Instruction
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  "We had to destroy the Internet in order to save it." - Sen. Exon
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