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ars technica managed to track down someone from Scenic Labs to ask them about their process in producing the first ever managed copy Blu-ray disc. You may be surprised, or not, to find that the introduction of Managed Copy, which has very little enthusiasm from the studios, has been a pretty shoddy affair so far.
While Scenic Labs, and consumers, are eager for Managed Copy to arrive, even the AACS-LA, the organisation responsible for managing copy protection on Blu-ray, and thus, responsible for the Managed Copy specifications, were somewhat unprepared for the introduction of MC, let alone electronic manufacturers and major studios.
Apparently, the only significant thing added to the Blu-ray was a product specific serial number (ISAN), and one measly XML file that contained an URL that doesn't even work at the moment. And the instructions on doing this was only obtained after Scenic Labs had contacted the AACS-LA directly.
The actual mechanics of how to activate MC, when the hardware will arrive, how the payment and authentication system will work, still seems to be far away, even though one of the deadlines has passed and another is less than 4 months away.
Scenic Labs contends that their "implementation" of MC might not work once the first MC enabled players are released, but they really have no choice given the lack of enthusiasm from the rest of the industry. Scenic Labs has promised that if their MC discs don't work, they'll offer free downloads for anyone that takes a picture of their purchased disc and send it to MC, relying on this old fashioned "authentication" process to deliver managed copy to those that want it.
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While Scenic Labs, and consumers, are eager for Managed Copy to arrive, even the AACS-LA, the organisation responsible for managing copy protection on Blu-ray, and thus, responsible for the Managed Copy specifications, were somewhat unprepared for the introduction of MC, let alone electronic manufacturers and major studios.
Apparently, the only significant thing added to the Blu-ray was a product specific serial number (ISAN), and one measly XML file that contained an URL that doesn't even work at the moment. And the instructions on doing this was only obtained after Scenic Labs had contacted the AACS-LA directly.
The actual mechanics of how to activate MC, when the hardware will arrive, how the payment and authentication system will work, still seems to be far away, even though one of the deadlines has passed and another is less than 4 months away.
Scenic Labs contends that their "implementation" of MC might not work once the first MC enabled players are released, but they really have no choice given the lack of enthusiasm from the rest of the industry. Scenic Labs has promised that if their MC discs don't work, they'll offer free downloads for anyone that takes a picture of their purchased disc and send it to MC, relying on this old fashioned "authentication" process to deliver managed copy to those that want it.
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