Sep

21

This just in: Hollywood is dumb

Posted by Todd

September 21, 2007 |

Not the town, and not people that live there, well maybe some people, but more like the institution/company of Hollywood.  I stumbled upon this article about Hollywood deciding to allow customers to download movies and burn them to DVD.  Of course, they have to completely destroy it and make sure nobody will ever want to do it.The sheer stupidity of what I am about to post is staggering.  It’s mind blowing.  I will guarantee that after you read the process, you will sit back in your chair, stroke your handlebar mustache and say something along these lines “Oh Hollywood (deep laugh) you certainly know how to make an old man laugh like a child on a warm summer day.”

The DVD Copy Control Association hammered out an agreement with movie studios, electronics makers and computer makers and announced late Thursday that it will license software to allow content to be burned onto one disc but not copied to others.

Currently, consumers can only download movies to be played on their computers or portable devices. There is no legal method of burning them onto DVDs, and the files are not DVD quality.

The association won’t make the process easy, though. Films will have to be burned onto special DVDs, which will have preprinted codes in order to prevent copying.

In addition, these DVDs will cost more because of royalty payments to technology companies that created the codes.

Nor will users be able to watch the downloaded version on a computer or portable video player. As well, many DVD burners on older computers would have to be upgraded to use the process.

The studios still have to decide how much to charge for the DVD-burning option.

Umm, what?  I have read this article at least 20 times.  Each time I figure I am going to wake up.  Nobody can be this dumb.  But they are.  They really are.

Here is what is so funny about this.  It is garbage like this that makes people WANT to pirate material.  When you do everything possible to make sure that it’s not easy for people to enjoy content, they will steal it.  Period.

I am all for protecting content.  I really am.  But when an idea is this dumb, why bother exploring it.  It’s just flawed from the get go and it won’t work.  It reminds me of when Sony spent a huge amount of money to put copy protection on CD’s and it was defeated with a sharpie.

I have realized one thing working in this industry though.  If you can come up with a copy protection scheme, no matter how dumb it is, studios will invest money investigating it.  You will make some money.  That’s what is going on here.  Someone came up with this idea, pitched it, sold it, cashed in quick and you will NEVER see this in the market place.  Good for them.

I’m going back to working on my own scheme.  Want a preview?  It involves the customer coming to my house, sitting in my basement and paying me $400 to watch a movie.  If they try to leave my house with it I’ll break their kneecaps.  I am pitching it to Universal on Monday.  Wish me luck.

Read the idiocy here.


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