[MPlayer-users] READ IF YOU LOVE HAd

[Phil Rhodes]

> there are no ways to play modern dics?

No, there isn't, and yes, it does suck.

As I understand it, the problem is related to the encryption that's used on 
blu-ray discs, which is fairly secure and difficult to break. From what I 
read on this list, it seems that the core people are waiting for a single 
universal solution to be presented, and from my understanding of how the 
encryption works, assuming the designers didn't make any fundamental errors 
in their work, a single unified defeat of this encryption system may never 
be possible.

There have been suggestions that mplayer could implement a blu-ray playback 
system that was dependent on the user supplying a key for the disc obtained 
from another source. While this would be technically feasible, it seems 
fraught with problems to me. I'm in the UK; the vast majority of published 
keys are for US releases. With manufacturers playing a cat-and-mouse game 
with pirates, it's entirely possible that different production runs of discs 
have different keys, which could be impossible to tell from the packaging - 
so you would buy a disc having no idea whether it's playable or not. The 
supply of keys is dependent on constantly-evolving hacks of commercial 
player software, and this supply, which is already restricted, may slow even 
more or, eventually, dry up completely. I share people's caution about this 
approach; it's half-arsed at best.

But yes, it does suck. I already own a very handsome 24" TFT, and I'd like 
to be able to play current and future blu-ray on it without some suit 
deciding I need to buy a new one which supports HDCP.

P