Hi has anybody heard of 'LOCK AND PAY' ?

[inzane609]

Hi Forum, has anybody heard of 'LOCK AND PAY' ?
basically some scenes from purchased or free DVDs are locked until the user enters a code.

I do some DVD encoding and have been asked about this, but I have never heard of it before so I have no idea on the technology involved.
Maybe someone here knows something about it?
I would be very interested to find out more.

Thanks

[pierotokou]

all about lock and pay

Hi !

I am a french post-production manager (I am not quite sure of the translation) in a DVD publishing company and I use the - so called - technology lock and pay quite often.
The company that is suppose to own the patent, belongs to a guy called Bonnant. I know the guy and the system, I am not sure there is anything to be patented in what he does, so I personaly believe this is pure bluff.

The visible process is simple: when you pick a video to watch it (or when you insert the DVD), you are ask to call a over-taxed phone number and dial a reference number to get the unlocking code, then you use your remote control to enter the 4 digits of this code and if it is the right one the video starts playing.
The background process is quite simple too, it's only authoring.
it is just a set of slighly different menu where the user selects a digit from 0 to 9 (as regular DVD buttons) and 4 holes showing wich of the 4 digit you are going to fill.
the first menu (the 1st digit menu) asks to call the phone number and gives the reference code, after he had call, the user enter the first digit. if the right first digit was selected you go to a similar menu (with an ordinary DVD link) where the first hole is checked and the second highlighted, meaning the first digit is already filled and the second one will be next (this one we'll call the 2nd digit right menu).
In case the first digit is wrong, you go to another menu that looks EXACTLY the same as the second digit right menu (so the user doesn't know he is wrong), but that will lead to a dead end whatever digit will be entered next (the 2nd digit wrong menu).
concretly, 9 of the 10 buttons of the first digit menu will lead to the 2nd digit wrong menu, and the button corresponding to the right digit will lead to the 2nd digit right menu. then 9 buttons of the 2nd digit right menu will lead to the 3rd digit wrong menu and 1 will lead to the 3rd digit right menu and so on for the 4th digit, the right button of the 4th digit right menu will lead to the video, and all other to a "wrong code" message page.
if at any point you end up in a digit x wrong menu all of the buttons, in this menu, will lead to the next digit wrong menu till the 4th digit where you lead to a page warning the user he entered the wrong code.
So if you have N different video to lock, with different codes, you will need to have 4xN + 4 menus just to handle the codes. (1 per digit right for each video: 4xN + 1 per digit wrong - these can me common to all of the videos).
It is not easy to handle so I considerably improved the system with scripts. If you are interested to know more, please contact me.

[Dan_fr]

Hi Pierotokou

I have several clients wanting lock and pay.
Can you do the authoring ?
danny.stocker@gmail.com

[alainsmith]

Hello,

In fact The system Lock and Pay is an international patent and the french firm has the patent and the rights for the name.

There is no Bluff.Because i wanted to do it in some coutries and i found that french company since some years make a deposit for the world.

So if someone want to do they need to call the french company.

If you really want to know about the system contact me

alainsmith@free.fr

[ed klein]

If it ever reaches the USA and George Bush, Bill Gates & Company, and the RIAA get their hands on it, it will be called:

LOCK & NO PLAY

[TerenceRoman]

Why should I have a Lock & Pay

on a purchased dvd? Does still "purchased" mean that I've payd for it? If so, isn't it a scam, a double payment?
Unless, of course, the dvd is given to me for free and aftewards I have to pay in order to watch it, in which case it still is a scam.
Pretend a payment for something you give away "for free" is not exactly legal and I would see the guy or the "Company" in Court.
Sub Poena.
Ciao!

[photo_angel2004]

I am thinking if some crap like that ends up on dvd movies in the usa many people will be mad and probably stop buying dvd's all together.

Most people have blockes on their phone lines here so those high cost calls cant be made.

It all sounds like a bunch of crap to me.

Then again I am sure there must be some way around that too.

I think if you buy a dvd ... you bought it why should you have to pay again for it.

[soup]

I think it would be time to lock & load.

[olyteddy]

Didn't Circuit City once have something like that? A DVD player that needed to call home to play the video. IIRC it was called X-vid or Vid-x or some such...