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The HD-DVD code, the insanity of it, and the gaming connection...

Posted May 5, 2007 at 6:01AM EST by QJ Staff

Listed in: PS3, Xbox 360 Tags: Digg, gaming accessories, Microsoft, Nintendo, XNA

HD DVD - Image 1

If you're on the Internet, you've probably already encountered, in some strange fashion, the supposedly dreaded HD-DVD hexadecimal code that dooms the HD-DVD's security. Here's a little history on that, and we'll show how it's somehow connected (even in an infinitesimal manner) to the wonderful world of gaming.

We here at QJ.NET first came across the code, or at least, word that HD-DVD's security got breached, around early January this year. Back then people were speculating that it was just a hoax, and many doubted that it was a real breach. You know how things are in the "Interwebs"; people scream "Fake!" and often times for good reason.

Anyhow, it was mostly speculative until the AACS itself admitted later that same month that the encryption of the AACS system had been bypassed. But they were bold enough to show confidence in their system. They said, "It does not represent an attack on the AACS system itself." They defended themselves by saying that the widespread copying of movies is impractical given the large file sized in high-definition discs.

Of course, the mouth says one thing, but the hand that gives out cease and desist orders does something else.

The Digg Riot - Image 1

You've all probably heard of the recently-ended Digg "riots" by now. Well it all started because Digg decided to moderate posts that contained the now popular HD DVD code that allowed for the decryption of HD-DVDs. Digg members didn't like this.

Digg owner Kevin Rose eventually gave in to public demand. On the official Digg blog, he wrote,

... you'd rather see Digg go down fighting than bow down to a bigger company. We hear you, and effective immediately we won't delete stories or comments containing the code and will deal with whatever the consequences might be.

If we lose, then what the hell, at least we died trying.

The guy even posted the code himself.

Meanwhile, the code spread across the Internet and became a meme. There were T-shirts, mugs, image macros, obfuscations in base ten, and other creative means of spreading the much-maligned set of hexadecimal numbers.

Now here's where the ones-in-power seem to say one thing but seem to confirm something else by their actions: (1) as QJ.NET writer Ryan A. has previously reported, AACS Chairman Michael Ayers said, "There has been a lot of misunderstanding. The key that has been leaked has now been revoked," but (2) at the same time, the AACS says that they are going to confront those who published the exploit with "legal and technical tools."

If the copy-protection on HD-DVD was "absolutely not broken," then why pursue bloggers who pass around something that essentially is just a set of numbers?

Xbox 360 HD-DVD - Image 1

Here's where the sort-of-gaming connection comes in. GamePro reports that one of the means that was used to break the AACS security was looking at how the Xbox 360's HD-DVD drive reads the volume ID of a disc - one piece of information needed to eventually decrypt and copy a disc.

Sigh. So what are the AACS folks going to do? Go after Microsoft?

Considering that the AACS is willing to chase after blog owners (even those that own relatively small blogs) for publishing a hexadecimal code that's practically useless if you don't know what to do with it, will they go after a company whose hardware made it possible for crackers to make this *gasp* evil assault into their security? (Of course, I'm not serious about them going after Microsoft - I'm just trying to emphasize the insanity of it all.)

Why do people always try to shut the Internet up?

DRM - Image 1

You know what? Some of us are actually hoping that this whole mess gets out of hand. Like beer-crazed fans at a monster truck rally, some of us are waiting for the big crash.

Because if this issue spreads, and if the folks who spread the code come out as the winners in this whole drama, then this could open a whole lot of doors when it comes to content distribution. This could be bigger than Steve Jobs and his open letter to the industry folk.

Wouldn't that kind of paradigm shift be nice? Maybe Sony will lighten up on homebrew on the PSP or even on the PS3. Maybe Microsoft will make XNA more open and free, and maybe Nintendo will find more ways to deliver open content. There, we said it, that's how this big mess affects you.

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# haha — Guest 2007-05-05 08:30

all i have to say to xbox is...lol

# why is this ps3 news? or gaming news? — Guest 2007-05-05 08:57

This isn't even gaming related. To my knowledge, there are no games on hd dvd.

# This has nothing to do with gaming. — AoxomamoxoA 2007-05-05 12:44

Ah, children children. Piracy is bad for the entire community. Sure, with piracy you can get things for free, but that means the people who make the content wont get paid for their work. Eventually if piracy spreads wide enough no one will want to make games anymore, especially not an AAA title. So piracy supporters are basically shooting themselves in the foot.

This also has nothing to do with Xbox or Xbox 360. All Xbox games are on DVD9, not HDDVD. Nor did MS create HDDVD, unlike Sonys BR format. If and when they break the BR security Sony itself will be in deep water. It will effect not only the movies, but the games as well. Where as this security break only effects the HD movies. And not only that, but the codes that stapuft so annoyingly spammed a thousand times over (like we cant see them the first time, idiot) are already too old to use.

# Almost. — WC 2007-05-05 13:26

You were good as far as this: " Ah, children children. Piracy is bad for the entire community. Sure, with piracy you can get things for free,"

But you went wrong from there. Did REAL piracy stop ships from trading port to port? No. It caused them to protect themselves and do business differently, without undue hassle to the customer.

The industry needs to change tactics. Subscription-based models are overcoming piracy quite handily, though that's not the only means of fighting piracy.

And it may not even be necessary. Super Markets don't install billion dollar anti-theft systems because they'd be spending more money than they save. Instead, they let a certain amount of theft happen, and attempt to use cheap/free methods to constrain it.

The music/video/software industry has not learned this lesson yet. If they were to reduce their prices to what people were willing to pay, fewer people would be willing to steal instead of buy.

It's not that they can't do it. Market analysts have stated that the price of a CD should be 1/10th of what it currently is. (Yes, $1.70) Even allowing for the exaggeration of analysts, and their neglect to factor in advertising, CDs are WAY overpriced.

# It is gaming related — Guest 2007-05-05 14:30

Microsoft made a huge mistake when they picked a 12 years old media for a "Next-Gen" console. This will end up giving gamers two choices in 2 or 3 years. Replace the console, or buy the HD-DVD So I'm sure Microsoft will fix their mistake and bundle it with a game for cheap soon. The console is one year old, and Blue Dragon is already out on 3 dvds... Make room beside your 360 because the HD-DVD is coming with games for it, and pretty pretty soon! And it's also PS3 news, because even if Sony didn't use a 12 years old media in their Next-Gen console, the same thing could happen to the BluRay...

# MS didn't create HDDVD???? — Guest 2007-05-05 14:54

I think Toshiba got the ball rolling, but Microsoft jumped in right away to make sure they would not use a format that they would not like (control, control, control). They ARE one of the four (with NEC and Intel) who are responsible for what is HDDVD today.

# Decryption is about long-term continued usage — damonous 2007-05-05 15:01

Although decryption of AACS, etc. will eventually lead to piracy (as with DVD), we have always had paid media and those who duplicate it (going back to cassette tape, etc.). The media companies have certainly always made a tidy profit, even though a known portion falls to the wayside of piracy. That being said, there is no guarantee that any of those who pirated would EVER have bought the original material. Perhaps, somewhat like $30-40 HD-DVDs, they would never have AFFORDED to build an extensive library. How many people have ever bought an musician's other albums based on a 'shared' tape/disc? Piracy doesn't always cancel profit. Now, the areas where piracy is MOST rampant (China, Asia) are such a way because of the government (and one could even say Communism itself, with its concept of 'shared property'). That being said, I don't like to pirate, and have a fairly extensive collection of PURCHASED media across many formats over the years (including HD-DVD and Blu-Ray). The biggest problem with media encryption that would never be defeated is that it would eventually turn my PURCHASES into, effectively, backdoor limited-time contracts. In other words, when HD-DVD and Blu-Ray are no longer manufactured 15-20yrs out, and players eventually disappear, you are left with useless software that must be repurchased, due to lack of hardware to decrypt. On one more aspect of this, long-term rigid encrpytion also limits a person's fair use of the material. For example, if DVD encryption had been broken, would it ever have been possible to do neat things like putting a collection of videos or concerts from different DVDs onto one DVD? --I have a car DVD player which I sometimes use for audio DVD playback, as the sound is better than DVD. This is similar to the concept of CD collections on one disc. I think a fair right exists for the consumer who has PURCHASED various media to be able to assemble cuts of that media for personal use. Moreover, although media proponents often use the tactic to say that "well it's not a free speech right" to duplicate, they are correct. However, they are wrong to say that the Bill of Rights alone DEFINE a human being's rights. They are just an assemblage of the most important protections which (as it turns out, very appopriately) guarantee certain rights. And, one thing often forgotten is that the US Constitution designated was that Congress has the right to secure copyrights to author for a LIMITED time. This has gone way out of focus these days with perpetual corporations, trademarks (how old is Mickey?), and other innovation-stagnating controls. Our society has nearly forgotten the concept of "public domain" after 20 or so years (as it used to be).

# spam? — Guest 2007-05-05 18:25

no its not really spam (its trying to destroy the drm that is blocking our freedom! down with the dmca!!!!![digit al melinium copyright act]) and the codes still work on all the hd-dvd's that have already been released and have been shipped.

also i like spam......it tastes good fried with a little bit of cheese

# damonous — Guest 2007-05-05 22:30

this is the first comment i`ve read here for al long time that shows that there`s not only a fuc... bunch of fanboys around.

Hopefully there are more people out there with brains instead of of fascistic people telling others that their preferred System suxx.

# more non-sense — Guest 2007-05-06 06:15

Damn you still trolling. You are wrong GTA could take advantage of extra space. M$ missed the boat by thinking next -gen was only graphics. What people want in a next-gen game is the next-gen experience. Smarter AI, voice over for every thing, you know new ways to play games. By using dvd9 M$ assured themselves that they were going to make prettier versions of regular xbox games, and that's it. With the space on a blu-ray developers can program more crap in a game, that's just common sense. I guess I forgot who I was talking to. Is M$ lead because of a year head start or because they use dvd9's. How many people you know went "Good I'm glad M$ didn't put a built in hd-dvd drive in the 360, I think it's smart to use the same disc as the original xbox, that will make it a true next-gen system." I don't think so. It's ok the new xbox will be out in like 3 years, you can just buy that one.

# Overstated.. — Guest 2007-05-06 18:37

The impact of piracy is seriously overstated by the industry. When they state losses they assume that everyone who pirated the material would otherwise have paid for it, and that just isn't the case. Particularly in the case of kids a large portion of people will just do without, if the only alternative were to buy it. Secondly it acts to a degree like advertising building demand for other product from the same author. If they offer things in a convient way at a reasonable price, instead of an inflated one most people will buy.

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