COPY BARRING

[Lee Prescott]

Yeah --- *shock and awe!!!

Hi All,

A guy in our club was booked / branched out into the veritable minefield of wedding
videos.....His first "contract" has been / was to video a *Budhist Wedding....!
a la Asiatic. OK colourful, interesting But--But--when he stated the DVD was ready and
stated that he would provide copies at "X" cost per disc ---- he was told NO Ta, that the
"client" would make his own copies - and flog 'em to all the "guests"!!!!

Nah then I have been trying to help him to stop this in various ways and apart from info. I have suggested to him I have also sought advice generally from various "sources". This includes various software capable of making "copy barring" &c.

I just wondered if anyone out there in the "jungle" would care to make any other comments / advice etc. etc. By the way, it aint ME I do NOT get Murdoched/hacked

Cheers......Lee.....

[tom hardwick]

The simple and straightforward reply is that there's very little the filmmaker can do to stop people copying DVDs. If it's a film that can be put onto a single layer DVD then the timeline can be extended to twice its length with black, silent video. This is then burnt to a double layer and anyone trying to copy it will be told (assuming that they put 4.7 gig blanks into their drive) 'Not enough space'.

Of course anyone with an inch of savvy gets around this with DVD Shrink or simply buys double layer blanks, but it'll stop the casual copier in his tracks.

The next thing is to use Watershield blanks and print them beautifully before handing them over - that way you'll make it look worth the client's while to come back to you for more of those beautifully produced discs to give away as presents. Handing out DVD-R festooned with felt-tip spelling mistakes will look like a penny-pincher at work.

Next, remind the client that your music copyright clearance is for 5 copies only, and breach of said copyright has severe penalties. Extra copies will require another licence.

Lastly, bite the bullet and know that your film will be copied. Knowing this, charge appropriately in the first place, hand over the 5 copies and close the book.

tom.

[fraught]

I agree with Tom. Having made lots of Wedding Video's in the past, i always price it all up with 3 Copies included in the total cost and assume that will be it. I can also provide additional copies at a cost, but very rarely get this requested as i guess they're making copies themselves.
You can't stop it, you just have to make sure your upfront cost compensates you for this potentially happening.

[TimStannard]

There are copy protection solutions, for example: http://www.fortiumtech.com/patronus_dvd ... ction.aspx
Whilst no solution is going to totally prevent duplication, this sort of solution is likely to put off the average user once they've tried a few DVD copying programs.

What was the client's reaction when your member reminded him that his copying of the media was prohibited under the terms of the contract? ... there was a contract, wasn't there?

[Dave Watterson]

Lee Prescott wrote this in a new topic, but I am putting it here, where it belongs and trying to find out why he could not reply here - Dave:



Hi,

This is not a new post - site won't let me in when I go to post reply.....!

Anyway, I want to thank Tom, Tim and "fraught"(?) for replies to my
question re Copy Barring. Most grateful and I'll pass your comments on to
our member.

Tim: I'm afraid that I don't know what, (if any), the guy included in his "contract".
Maybe I'll discuss that with him and find out.

Kind regards........Lee.

[Lee Prescott]

Further (final) report on the Copy Barring problem:

First to answer Tim re Contract: It seems that he did not include any reference since it's the very first one he's done, and arrangements were verbal!!!! (He's learned now)!

Second: I got him to scratch the inner (start) and outer (finish) of the DVD with four
very tiny scratches. He then gave the disc to me with the following results:

1. It played through OK on three different player / recorders, (one an £800 Sony), without
any problem.

2. I then placed the disc in a professional copying Tower. It copied but it took five times
longer than normal. (The tower will copy a one and half hour production in 4 minutes. It
does not work in Real Time).

3. At the finish the display read "Bad Master Disc".

4. A little bemused I then played The Copy in the afore mentioned machines......it played
for the first 1 minute and 03 seconds then stopped DEAD and would not play further.

An interesting result which I have never been involved with before!

Regards to all........Lee.

[TimStannard]

Thanks for reporting your findings, Lee.

I think you've missed the most important test though. In practice, people will be making a few copies only and almost certainly will not be using pro equipment.
What is the result if you place your scratched "master" in a standard PC and try to copy it? That is what they will be doing (or possibly attempting it with a DVD recorder).

As for:

First to answer Tim re Contract: It seems that he did not include any reference since it's the very first one he's done, and arrangements were verbal!!!! (He's learned now)!

I'm not surprised and I'm sure he's in very good company (and I'm not feeling smug, nobody in their right mind would offer me a paying gig and if they did I'd probably get so excited I'd shrug off the contract altogether).

But the forums are littered with tales of people who've made very similar mistakes. It's a great way of learmning the lesson though.

A bit like losing all the data off your hard drive is a great way to learn to back up.

[Lee Prescott]

In response to Tim's comment. Didn't try the PC, (oddly), however I have just done
so and all I got was: "Incompatible DVD decoder", the disc would not even play .. the other methods I have i.e. VLC etc. simply ignored the disc and reported nothing.

Also tried Casablanca - that had - C)Kittens!

** Note His original software for producing the DVD disc was Nero. Don't know the version.

Cheers....Lee.

[TimStannard]

Didn't try the PC, (oddly), however I have just done
so and all I got was: "Incompatible DVD decoder", the disc would not even play .. the other methods I have i.e. VLC etc. simply ignored the disc and reported nothing.

Fantastic, Lee.
So it seems that the "scratching" method might at least deter the more casual thief.

many thaks for taking the trouble.

[Lee Prescott]

!!!!

Hi Tim and All,

Just another word / afterthought.

The scratches Les put on his DVD disc were eight in number and quite tiny.

There were four more or less equally spaced around the centre where the clear bit
joins the recording surface. Four more were on the outside edge. It has been suggested
that the outer four should be at the junction of where the recorded burned "stripe" meets
the unburned section. (I aint tried that).

Of course, Les' disc was burned to the outer edge 'cos of the length of the "film".

(I can confirm that the scratched DVD would not make a playable copy).

Cheers......Lee.

!!!!!