LionsGate: Piracy a major deciding factor for Blu-ray support

CNET writes:

"...I did get a chance to speak with the President and CEO at LionsGate, Steve Beeks. And while Beeks seemed like he had solid command over the finer points of the movie industry, I was interested to see why his studio chose Blu-ray over the alternative. Expecting the canned answer like, "well we thought it was the superior format and I'm happy to say we were right," you could imagine my surprise when the very first reason he gave was Blu-ray's piracy controls.

For those of you who don't know, Blu-ray's piracy controls - largely based on AACS, BD+ and BD-ROM Mark - is easily the most stringent format to date and has only partially been circumvented to this point...

Of course, I had to find out more..."

[lynx1halo]

Sure its pretty tough to crack.........BUT it has already "partially been circumvented" NICE......YOU CANT STOP THE BUMRUSH!!!!

[Maddens Raiders]

it's about the MMMMOOOOONNNNNNEEEEEEYYYYYYY man. Later when BD is totally hacked in China for use in the next versions of the "Vii" and the "Winner", they'll be laughing this article up on their way to the coffers with large money filled steamer trunks.

[wageslave]

HA! Nonsense.

Blue Ray is about ONE THING: DRM.

For the life of me, I dont understand how so many can be so foolish, buying into the MPAA Blueray scheme.

Laughable.

[niall77]

only a matter of time

[Le-mo]

Lol I hate Lionsgate film. But more studios joining the Blu-ray camp can't hurt.

[Panthers]

I really like the first Saw, but other than that I hate horror movies and most Lionsgate movies. But like you said, another couldnt hurt. I just want this stupid format war to end.

[Bladestar]

come on.. don't even go there... it will be hacked... NOT even controlled environments like DRM could prevent people from copying stuff... talk all you want just don't bet your balls on it.

[rbanke]

The thing about this people fail to think about. Anti piracy features (in any format) are never expected to be bulletproof. The sole reason for them is the same reason people lock their cars or their houses. Locks keep honest people honest. If someone wants to get into your car or house, they will. If someone wants to crack a new anti piracy feature, eventually they will. The trick is, to keep it hard enough of a process where the majority wont bother. That is what makes a successful anti piracy feature.

[CadDad]

Pretty much what I was going to say, +bubbles to you.

-CadDad

[Kholinar]

"Locks keep honest people honest. If someone wants to get into your car or house, they will. If someone wants to crack a new anti piracy feature, eventually they will. The trick is, to keep it hard enough of a process where the majority wont bother. That is what makes a successful anti piracy feature."

I agree with your general gist, but I think the target's a little different. Media owners don't care much about pirates because, by now, they know that a copied song or movie doesn't mean a lost sale. They don't even care about piracy in general.

The protections aren't for piracy (as they never prevent that), they're to prevent fair use. Because if a mom can make a backup of their Disney bluray before their 5 year old destroys it, then THAT is a lost sale. If a family moves to Europe and they're still able to play their br's on the player they buy in Europe (non-region encoded, or ripped to be so), then THAT is a bunch of lost sales.

In other words, (if BR has won, like everyone says) the media companies' choice was for a renewed chance to bend over consumers for the foreseeable future.

[InYourMom]

Just like how the 360 eats the PS3 for breakfast when it comes to software sales, BR is the same thing to HD-DVD. They go where the money is and the reason why a platform/format wins a war.

[Maddens Raiders]

soon you'll be down to one whole bubble. Good work!

[InYourMom]

Please provide some type of proof to your argument.. oh wait, you have no arguement.

The same line you use to constitute a victory for Blu-ray movies can be applied to software on consoles as well.

That is why so many disagrees and PS3 droids like yourself getting all worked up.

[vloeistof]

so saw 4 and 5 and 6 are blu lol

[Ps3ShellShock]

is correct.

and of course its about money aswell..ud be stupid to think its not.

[Boink]

how did I just download shoot 'em up HD yesterday?

they were both cracked, and everything will be.

[lockload]

blu ray was fully cracked with 24 hours of the improved security being released they are dillusional

[TANOD]

BD versions are not available on the web

The HD DVD versions are touted as HD versions/BD versions

[gamesR4fun]

This is just bs
not like the studio execs know whats what and if it will sell em on b/r why not bs and say its not cracked...

[rofldings]

Because "shoot 'em up" isn't using BD+, which hasn't been cracked... yet.

Plus, what you downloaded was compressed.

[IntelligentAj]

Yeah I think it's foolish to be believe that Blu-Ray won't be cracked. Every new protection format will be cracked. There will always be people determined to break the protections for their own use. That's life.

[Makroyale]

To count I think I have read 5 articles that are anti Blur-ray since Warner went exclusive.

If writing articles helps dry the tears on their cheeks keep writing them, cuz it isn't gonna change a thing.

[Nameless]

LionsGate & the other studios are fooling their selves if they really think that this will not be cracked eventually.

[bohemian 23]

You don't know what your talking about.

[Kakkoii]

The industry needs to learn the Piracy will never go away.

They need to learn that Piracy doesn't effect them that much. Because a lot of the people who pirate stuff, wouldn't have bought that stuff in the first place. So the companies not loosing any damn money anyways. But what they are getting is more people to see there stuff.

It's free promotion. Which is why file-sharing over the internet is actually GOOD for the music industry. It helps music get around faster and allows newer bands to get recognized faster. And grow in fan-base.

Wish all this war on piracy crap would stop. Same with the war on drugs. Both will never end, so something else needs to be done. There poking sticks at fire.

[davez82]

the deciding factor is money, always was, always has been

[jaja1434]

Security? Enh the same was said about DVD back in the day and look at things now. No sooner or later BR just like everything else will be cracked and Netflix will go from being the holy grail of DVD copying to the newer BR format.

But thats a moot point at the moment when you consider the price of a single BR blank disc is close to what the actual movie cost to buy.