Am I Missing Something?

[chris83]

As I stated in the subject line, if I’m missing something here, please forgive me…or at least set me straight.

I was doing a bit of channel surfing yesterday and happened across the Shop at Home network. They were pitching two products: one was the Sony DvDirect Video Recordable DVD Drive, which you can hook up to a VCR to place your old VHS video on DVD. The second was the Sima Go DVD, an interface you connect between a DVD player and the Sony DvDirect in order to copy DVD’s.

According to the salesperson, the Sima will enable copying of ANY DVD, including commercial releases. In other words, if you own a copy of “Shrek” and wish to make a backup for personal use, this enables you to do so. It bypasses the copyright encryption. They then went on to state the “Only for DVD’s you own, it’s okay to do that, but not to make illegal copies of rentals, etc.” disclaimer.

Pardon me for being a little confused. If it’s now okay (per Sony, anyway) to make a backup of your personally owned DVD, what was someone such as Lightning UK shut down for? He didn’t develop software such as DVDD to promote piracy, did he? Wasn’t it developed so you could backup your private collection? And if the response from The Powers that Be is “Well, we know it’s REALLY being used to make pirate copies from DVD's that you DON’T own”, how is the Sony-Sima process any different? Of course, silly me…it’s $300-$400 in Sony’s pockets different, I guess.

I realize my naivete in all this, but it DID just make me laugh out loud.

[dodge]

I suppose its a case of "if you cant beat them join them".

[setarip]

To chris83

"if I’m missing something here, please forgive me…or at least set me straight."

You are mixing together two totally independent products, from two different and unrelated companies, and arriving at a false conclusion.

1) By itself, the SONY "tabletop" DVD recorder will NOT properly record a realtime copy of a DVD or VHS tape - you'll get miserable results due to the Macrovision (sporadic alteration of brightness and color intensity) copy protection on most commercial videotapes and DVDs. Additionally, the recorder will NOT copy the original DVD structure (Menus, etc.). It is NOT a DVD duplicator. It is NOT intended to copy commercial copy protected tapes or DVDs.

2) The Sima product is a "video enhancer/stabilizer", that adjusts for the effects of Macrovision. SONY has nothing to do with this product.

(As an aside, it purportedly was Macrovision, and NOT SONY, that "put the squeeze on "LIGHTNING UK!")

[chris83]

Setarip,

All I'm relating is what they were saying during the presentation. I realize the two products are independent of each other, but the person stated that if you used the Sima Go DVD WITH the Sony DvDirect Video Recordable DVD Drive you COULD duplicate a commercial copy protected DVD.

The conclusion I arrived at isn't false, at least based on their claim. From what you are saying, it's the claim they are making which is false...something I suspected all along. But it WAS their claim that using these two products together would enable you to produce a perfect backup of a commercial, copyrighted DVD.

I just found it ironic that Sony (and the person presenting the two products WAS introduced as a Sony representative) would be pitching something that appears to bypass copyright protection.

[setarip]

"the person presenting the two products WAS introduced as a Sony representative"

1) You didn't state this in your initial post.

2) Using the two products in concert would allow you to backup the movie-only portion of the DVD, in real time (versus 15-45 minutes to back up a FULL DVD on your PC)

3) "I just found it ironic that Sony would be pitching something that appears to bypass copyright protection."

Making one backup copy (for yourself) of a commercial DVD that you've purchased is not presently a violation of US (and many other countries') copyright laws...

[chris83]

2) Using the two products in concert would allow you to backup the movie-only portion of the DVD, in real time (versus 15-45 minutes to back up a FULL DVD on your PC)

3) "I just found it ironic that Sony would be pitching something that appears to bypass copyright protection."

Making one backup copy (for yourself) of a commercial DVD that you've purchased is not presently a violation of US (and many other countries') copyright laws...

I'm not advocating the quality of the products involved, or the process used; just relating what they were claiming it does.

With regard to the copyright/backup issue, I merely found it interesting that one of the major players in the market (Sony) is saying "Here's a way to backup your DVD's" at the same time folks such as Lightning UK, who develop a freeware method of doing just that are being shut down. While making said copy isn't illegal, those who release DVD's don't seem to be in the habit of encouraging us or making it easy to do so.

That's all I was saying.

[setarip]

k

[chris83]

Cool