Quote:
Originally Posted by DianNC
And were I to sell it, the buyer would have no problem popping it into the player of his choice and watching it -- and he wouldn't have to remove the copyright protection first!
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Actually, if it's a US DVD and you sell it to someone in (say) the UK, he might well have a problem watching it.
DVDs are encrypted, and all DVD players have to know the (no longer secret) key to decode the encryption. In addition, there are DVD region codes that mean that a disk make for one region (US) won't play in a DVD player made fore another region (Europe). And vice-versa.
It's only because manufacturer have built in back-doors to DVD players that this isn't more of a problem. For many DVD players it's possible to find a sequence of key presses on their remote control to turn the player into a 'multi-region' player that effectively disables the region controls.
And then there's the way DVDs can lock out controls while specific content plays when you first start playing a DVD. Ugh...
DVDs are an example of a universal DRM scheme. It's still a pain. Even if most of the time most people don't notice it. Except when they have to wait a couple of minutes for the anti-piracy trailers to play on the DVD they've just /bought/, which those who pirate the content don't have to!