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Hi Everyone,

After replacing a broken DVD burner, I've gotten my Kron back in use thanks to helpful advice on the forum. The Kron has been in mothballs for eighteen months.

I needed to get it back up to speed to edit and remaster a DVD I created. It's hobby quality, but it's my one lone commercial product to date. Because I was able to achieve my outcome of getting the new disc out without upgrading the OS, I'm still in OS 4.1c.

I want to copy-protect the DVD, but I don't want to upgrade to the pricey new OS just for that one purpose.

Does anyone have any advice for how I can cheap-cheap-cheaply copy-protect my little project?

Is this an easy favor I can ask around for? Or is this an expensive service that folks with the right software offer?

-JOHN

Macrosystem announced this product recently. This was all the information I could find.
http://www.macrosystem.us/HARDWARE/Copy_Protection.html

There are no cheap copy protect methods and there are no sure copy protect methods.

Yeah, I'm starting to see there are no easy solutions. I thought copy protection was just a piece of code you add to the encode that makes it less easy to copy a disc. Apparently there is more to it than that.

I called a DVD copying facility (one with a good reputation) and they told me they can protect my discs at about 25 cents a disc about the buck and a half I'll be paying for duplication and disc printing.

It's a special interest DVD. I don't know if that means the underground of followers would all know each other and would happily bootleg each others' discs ... or if it makes it a small enough market that few people would have enough of a network whereby to copy and distribute my work.

And of course, it only takes another piece of software to break the copy protection. Copy protection is really only to guard against folks who don't know how to bootleg a DVD.

Any of you guys have any incidences or anecdotes to share on the value of copy protection?

-JOHN

Easiest kind of protection would be some watermarking with a small or translucent logo. Disadvantage of this method is that the whole project has to be re-rendered.

If your DVD is not filled to the maximum, there is a trick that could work to prevent duplications with most of the DVD-copy programs:
For example if your video is 60 minutes long, just add a second "dummy" movie with a black scene of 60 minutes length. Burn the DVD. Then use a knife or a screwdriver to add a physical scratch to the surface of the DVD. But do this at the outer parts only because that part only contains that dummy movie which can be destroyed at no risk.

I guess that many copy-programs fail to read and duplicate this DVD. But your DVD player still can play the "real" movie without problems.

Ok, please do this at your own risk...

So the DVD chapter menu would show two chapters but only one would play?

Well, ... yes.

Maybe you can hide this entry somehow in the menu by using a transparent icon / film name.
I did not think about that...

That's correct, the editor can also make an "EGG" chapter icon and shrink it into the menu.

Volker wrote:Well, ... yes.

Maybe you can hide this entry somehow in the menu by using a transparent icon / film name.
I did not think about that...

No offense Volker, but the long term durability of a burned DVD is already highly suspect and I consider purposefully damaging the integrity of the DVD to be unethical.

I know if I paid for a DVD movie, Wedding DVD, etc and found it had a significant scratch on it brand new I would be demanding an undamaged new one.

There is also the issue that pruposefully doubling the footage with a dummy video requires you to choose to degrade either or both the video and audio quality to make it fit.

My opinion is if you cannot run your business without either building the costs of software based copy protection into the product (it is not really that expensive with the new dedicated duplicators) or building the cost of estimated pirating losses in your market you should get out of business or hire someone who understands how to run and market the business.