Copy protection doesnot work???

[Mike Kujbida]

The copy protection flag is for replicators who are going to add Macrovision (or similar) copy protection scheme to your production.
This is an additional cost which you probably won’t be able to afford.
To be perfectly honest, there is no such thing as an unbreakable copy protection system so don’t waste your money.

As far as splitting a DVD, either use a dual-layer disc, try a tool like DVD Shrink to compress it, re-render it from Vegas and lower the bitrate (a lot, depending on the length) or re-render it from Vegas in two sections and burn it on 2 discs.

[Mike Kujbida]

Douglas, the reason I said what I did is that I’m constantly amazed at the number of “consumers” that have the lastest copy of any software they want or the latest Hollywood release.
It doesn’t seem to make any difference how hard you try to protect your material, if someone wants it bad enough, he/she will find a way – and then either tell all their friends how it was done or give them a copy 🙁

Having said that, can you tell us an average cost of having a production copy-protected and the necessary steps involved in doing this?
Is this something that an independent producer or a small shop producing a limited run video could do on a periodic basis?

[Douglas Spotted eagle]

To be perfectly honest, there is no such thing as an unbreakable copy protection system so don’t waste your money.

Kinda have to take umbrage with this statement, Mike. There is no way to assure 100% protection against someone stealing your car or coming into your home, either. Right? But you still have locks on the doors and keep your car locked or in a garage?

Copy protection today isn’t terribly expensive, and we do now have copy protection schemes from other vendors that don’t depend on the Line 22 system that CSS and similar vendors do. In other words, we *can* burn copyprotection at the desktop level (although it is a PITA). Either way…marginal, minimal, or maximum protection is often worth the effort if it helps avert the lazy thieves. The other way to look at it is that if you have minimal copy protection, pirates will move on to something else unless your content is really worth ripping. I’d wager it *generally* isn’t.
I once felt the same way you’ve expressed here, until a Vegas user illegally used some of my material in his training DVDs, and then we later found many of the VASST works online. IMO, if you’re replicating 500 DVDs or more, it’s generally worth it to check out the cost of CSS or similar.

Douglas Spotted Eagle
VASST

Certified Sony Vegas Trainer
Aerial Camera/Instructor

[Mike Kujbida]

We’re experimenting with a product created by AMSRabbit.com…
… it’s very impressive for an exceptionally low cost.

Thanks Spot.
Please keep us informed about this product as it definitely sounds interesting.
I work for a community college so, for the most part, I don’t worry about someone stealing my work.
However, I know a lot of producers who have had their material ripped off by unscrupulous users simply because they couldn’t afford to copy-protect the small amount of copies (typically under 100) of a program they may produce.
It’s those people that could really use a product like th eone you mentioned.

[Douglas Spotted eagle]

It doesn’t seem to make any difference how hard you try to protect your material, if someone wants it bad enough, he/she will find a way – and then either tell all their friends how it was done or give them a copy 🙁

Again… we completely agree here. But, I’m not willing to give away the farm just because there is a small (ever-increasing) percentage of people that are willing to steal.

Costs for encryption range from as low as .12 to as high as around .50 per copy (almost as much as the DVD itself) depending on the replicator price and size of run.

We’re experimenting with a product created by AMSRabbit.com as wll. They’ve got a locked in system that *appears* to work. We thus far, have not had them replicate any discs using this technology, but thus far, it’s very impressive for an exceptionally low cost. The consumer tools we’ve got can’t crack it, either. But…it also appears some SOFTWARE DVD players may have issues with it.

Douglas Spotted Eagle
VASST

Certified Sony Vegas Trainer
Aerial Camera/Instructor