OTHER TECH

JVC's D-Theater format exploits something relatively new in consumer electronics, though we aren't talking physics but the arcane mathematics of cryptography. Protecting the precious video data from unauthorized use or duplication are several layers of cryptographic security. This isn't going to be broken by some 15-year-old kid from Norway, as happened with the DVD protection scheme. Some of the crypto techniques are new to consumer electronics, and others are relatively new anywhere (like the use of "elliptic curve" calculations).

Though protecting high-def movie data in this way might discourage casual copying, it may not deter for long the pirates bent on mass duplication of prerecorded movies. And no amount of any kind of data protection is going to stop such potentially copyright-infringing uses as charging people admission to watch D-VHS movies on your big-screen surround sound system. How else will you pay for that expensive high-def projector, aside from a popcorn concession charging New York City movie-theater prices of $4 a bag?

I'm sure of one thing. If the cryptosystem in JVC's D-Theater format is broken in such a way that casual dubbing becomes feasible, it'll probably be a long time before we see any other packaged medium carrying HDTV signals. Blue lasers, lithium niobate, second-harmonic generation, and the rest may well have been for nought. No Hollywood studio is going to give away not only the golden eggs but the high-definition goose that lays them. If you want the highest-quality images in your home theater, better hope that JVC's recorder remains secure. Otherwise high-def on disc might remain a sparkling visual mirage, beckoning in the distance, out yonder, forever beyond reach.

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