DIGITAL DIGEST - http://www.digital-digest.com
DIGITAL DIGEST | LiveUpdate Newsletter - Issue 51
14 June, 2006

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TOP NEWS SUMMARY:

1. Introduction

2. Software Spotlight: x264

3. History of ARccOS - Part 1

4. How to cancel/change your subscription email address/settings
- how to maintain the subscription to this newsletter even
if your email address has changed

5. A simple thank-you and some concluding words

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1. Introduction

In this issue, we continue our look at H.264 with a spotlight on
x264, the open source H.264 encoding codec. News in Brief takes a
break this issue and will be back next issue, which will be
available within the next few days. Jonathan Metcalf (jmet from the
forums) also provides some insight into the new types of DVD copy
protection currently doing the rounds.

-- DVDGuy


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2. Software Spotlight: x264

x264 is a open source codec for encoding H.264 video files. While
it's still currently under development (builds are made available
almost on a daily basis), it's already quite a complete tool for
H.264 encoding, with many of the advanced compression features that
makes H.264 better than previous codecs, already supported.

x264 is available as both a Video for Windows (VfW) codec (to use in
software like VirtualDubMod) and as a command line tool. Already,
there are many graphical user interfaces (GUIs) that can provide a
nice Windows interface to the command line tool, and also helps to
simplify the encoding process - MeGUI and StaxRip are just two
examples.

x264 encoded clips (or rather H.264 clips) are often smaller in file
size and at the same time better in quality than similarly encoded
DivX/XviD clips. As a comparison, you can download the same trailer
encoded using H.264 and XviD and compare the differences yourself:

H.264 version:
http://www.digital-digest.com/movies/pirates_of_the_caribbean2_h264_720p_trailer\
.html
XviD version:
http://www.digital-digest.com/movies/pirates_of_the_caribbean2_xvid_trailer.html

Note that the H.264 version is smaller in file size, but (at least
to my eyes) looks better.

I have also just written a guide about all the various options found
in x264 and recommended settings for them. It is really these
settings that determine how well your encoding will turn out, just
like DivX and XviD, but there are now more options to set and things
are a little bit more complicated than before (which allows x264 to
be an even more efficient encoder).

-- DVDGuy

x264 Options Explained Guide:
http://www.digital-digest.com/articles/x264_options_page1.html

x264:
http://www.divx-digest.com/software/x264.html

MeGUI:
http://www.divx-digest.com/software/megui.html

StaxRip:
http://www.digital-digest.com/software/staxrip.html


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3. History of ARccOS - Part 1

Two years ago you could copy any DVD you wanted to without any
problems just using one program. Things have got a bit trickier when
they put a speed bump up and changed the copyright protection
scheme. They still had basic CSS encryption but they also added
Sony's ARccOS™ or Macrovision's RipGaurd™ protection on top of
regular CSS. Not all movie studios are using ARccOS™ though.
Generally it is newly released movies by Columbia Pictures and/or
Sony Pictures or DreamWorks.

You can now also find ARccOS™ protection or a form of ARccOS™ on
DVD's from the following companies:
* Walt Disney Pictures
* Touchstone Pictures
* Hollywood Pictures
* Caravan Pictures
* Miramax Films
* Buena Vista Home Video
* Buena Vista Home Entertainment
* Buena Vista International

According to Sony, ARccOS™ copyright protection is the newest and
most effective digital copy control solution currently available for
DVD-Video. The reason ARccOS™ has become so effective is that at any
time, it can be altered. There are currently several different
forms of ARccOS™ out there for different DVD's. Each version of
ARccOS™ has its own structure so that a single method cannot be used
to break it.

The protection is applied to the content after authoring, leaving
the input material unchanged - a method which is successfully being
used in the computer games copy protection market. The solution
achieves its high protection level by having developers constantly
monitor the ripping software market and ensure that ARccOS™ remains
effective when new products are sold for circumventing the
protection. Extensive testing results document ARccOS™'s success in
preventing of the commonly used ripping software products in the
market.

The protection system relies on 'bad sector headings' on sectors
which are marked as never to be read. In a way, its throw back to
the very first copy protection on floppies, which had bad sectors on
them and made your FDD clank (and sometimes break!).When ARccOS™
first appeared; the author of DVD Decrypter would crack it in a
matter of hours or find a way around it temporarily until he could
release a new version to overcome it. That went on for a couple of
months until the development of DVD Decrypter was halted due to
legal pressures.

Since that day, new decrypting programs have popped up all over web.
Some work, some don't. There is no doubt; DVD Decrypter was the best
ripper that was ever available. It can still actually be used to
beat the new ARccOS™ protection with the help from other programs
which make so called PSL files to import into DVD Decrypter to help
bypass the corrupt sectors of the DVD.

Essentially, these PSL makers automatically analyze the DVD and make
a PSL file which DVD Decrypter can read to insert dummy sectors
where the intentional bad sectors are. They also "patch" the IFO
files to make them good.

In part 2 of this article to be published in a few days time, we
talk about the software that will handle ARccOS and how to make DVD
Decrypter work with new ARccOS DVDs.

-- jmet

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4. How to cancel/change settings/email address for your subscription
to this newsletter

Changing subscription status for this newsletter is pretty easy.

To un-subscribe:
- Send an email to liveupdate-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com using the
email account that receives this newsletter.
- Or go to the Yahoo My Groups page to edit your group
subscriptions. More information here:
http://help.yahoo.com/help/us/groups/groups-32.html

To change the email address that receives this newsletter:
- Un-subscribe using your current one, and sign up using a new email
address


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5. A simple thank-you and some concluding words

Just a note to thank all the thousands of people, including you, who
joined the Digital Digest LiveUpdate list. I've spent quite a bit of
time developing this site, and making it what it is today, and
really do appreciate your continued support.

I hoped you enjoyed another issue of the LiveUpdate newsletter.

Thanks!!

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