December 23rd, 2005

If you need protection for your finished DVD to help ensure that illegal copies are not made, the process can be a little initimidating if it’s your first time. There’s a lot to know and many questions to ask to guarantee you get it right. By providing the simple, high-level overview on all of the basics, I hope to educate readers and make the task of including DVD copy protection a little less confusing.

CSS (Content Scramble System, not Cascading Stylesheets) and Macrovision are the two most common forms of copy protection. CSS and Macrovision flags are embedded by the DVD author on DLT Tapes, but the actual encryption is done by the replication facility (large center that manufacturers the finished DVD-ROM). Macrovision requires a licensing fee of approximately $0.25 per unit, although this varies among facilities. Find out exactly how much from your replication facility and don’t be afraid to shop around for better pricing.

Macrovision is for preventing analog duplication, such as copying a DVD to a VHS tape. CSS is for prevention of digital copies, for example copying DVD to DVD. Macrovision ACP is activated when a rights owner instructs an authorized Macrovision replication facility to set Macrovision analog content protection control bits with authoring flags. The activation bits instruct an integrated circuit within the playback device to add ACP to the outgoing analog video. The content protection is transparent when content is viewed, but prevents or substantially degrades copies made on DVD recorders, DVRs, PCs, Media Center PCs, D-VHS recorders and VCRs. The DVD application process for ACP and RipGuard DVD can be transparently combined at the replication facility, regardless of the type of manufacturing systems used. Macrovision ACP is also available for VHS.

Duplicated (DVD-R/RW or DVD+R/RW) media does not support CSS, Macrovision or region coding. You must master to DLT for such features and no copy-protection feature is truly copy-proof. Each layer requires a separate DLT cartridge, for example a DVD-9 requires 2 DLT tapes.

When submitting your DVD masters, there are quite a few things to keep in mind. The most important thing to remember is that the absolute best masters for replication are on DLT (Digital Linear Tape), and there are two formats (CMF or DDP) so find out which format your replicators prefer. Also, be sure to use the right tape type, which is usually Type III or Type IV tape. Don’t get a DLT-1 drive as they’re not made for DVDs.

Most replicators now accept DVD-R or DVD+R media, but send two copies because duplicated discs are more prone to errors and it may save time to have the backup there already. Use only high-quality media such as Mitsui (MAM-A), Taiyo Yuden, Verbatim, or Ritek, and verify each copy before sending (turn on the verification pass if possible).

Another important consideration when submitting is to check data integrity. An easy way to do this is to copy the entire disc to your computer’s hard drive and discard the DVD if there are any issues. Test on multiple TVs in both Full Screen and Widescreen settings. Do not use adhesive labels. Use inkjet or thermal labeling on disc or use a Sharpie.