Audio Video News

Pirates May Target HDR

Mark Fleischmann  |  Sep 6, 2017

HDR improves picture quality but also makes content more tempting to steal. Writes a Fox studio executive in Multichannel News: “Fox’s experience is that the moment a high-quality pirate source becomes available, it immediately becomes much more popular than lower-quality sources such as theater camcorders or ‘ordinary’ HD sources, and is therefore a bigger threat to our legitimate business.”

Six studios joined to publish a Specification for Enhanced Content Protection in 2013. The next step may be forensic watermarking, which enables pirate booty to be traced back to the weak link in a distribution system, and thus enables warnings to both pirates and consumers. This approach has brought “significant delays in piracy of high-quality sources” in South Korea.

COMMENTS
Billy's picture
Submitted by Billy on September 6, 2017 - 11:59am

I have no love for pirates, I pay for all my stuff (too scared of 25 year old lawyers with Jags in the garage and slinky blonde girlfriends) but how much of a profit killer are they really? Maybe if they substantially lowered the price for digital media that basically costs them NOTHING except a little server time, then perhaps it would deflate the piracy bubble. A fair price for a movie or TV show would be far more attractive to most people who file share. (at least per some of my braver friends who do.) Asking the same for a movie online that is almost as much as a physical Blu ray that has no production or distribution costs calls out greed and smugness, and that fuels the larceny. Give people a fair deal and they (most) will treat you fairly. I don't see most Hollywood people eating cat food on their toast to get by, they can afford a little less profit and still live like kings. (of course, that is the mentality of the 1%, they want it all) Besides, I bet they would more then make up for it in volume sold, anyhow. For instance, we just bought a UTV yesterday from a dealer who was substantially lower priced than anyone else in a 200 mile radius. He told us that he in a year of that kind of pricing has became the number two seller in the whole state, and profits are way up. Henry Ford did it with the Model T, why is this lesson so hard to learn?

jnemesh's picture
Submitted by jnemesh on September 6, 2017 - 4:55pm

Fox still thinks a pirated copy = a lost sale! Have they learned NOTHING??? People who pirate movies aren't going to pay for every movie they pirate even if the movie is unavailable in a pirated format...but they WILL PURCHASE more movies than those that don't pirate at all. That is a PROVEN FACT! When will Fox and the rest quit demonizing piracy and learn to live with it?

Billy's picture
Submitted by Billy on September 6, 2017 - 10:48pm

Sooner or later there will be a sure fire way to stop piracy, most likely governments (after being prodded by money yielding lobbyists) will prey on our privacy rights and obtain info on EVERYTHING we do online, and then... piracy will be over in those countries. I think you are correct, we will then prove you right. Even without piracy, the gain in sales will be minuscule at best, but it really isn't about profits... hoped for profits maybe, but mostly its a pride thing. They need to be in control. Rather childish really. Grown ups learn what is and is not important, and don't get worked up over the petty little stuff. Maybe they should focus their efforts on bringing us better programming that we want in the best possible format, stuff we just can't live without, and will gladly pay for. My buds that file share, say its for occasional viewing, stuff they just want to pass a little time with, then it gets erased. They say there is very little stuff they would want to archive and watch more then once (read, "buy"). Hollywood needs to learn that lesson, a premium product will always command a better price. Plus, as I said above, charge lots less and you will make up for it in volume. That makes a satisfied customer, someone who is going to be a multiple REPEAT customer.

thehun's picture
Submitted by thehun on September 8, 2017 - 2:42am

Fox is the most paranoid studio, if it was up to them they would charge consumers for every viewing, and stop selling physical copies all together. The only thing they protect is their greed.

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