Latest on DVD Ripping: RealNetworks, Control4, Crestron, Kaleidescape

RealNetworks is causing quite a stir with a new DVD ripping program called RealDVD.

Big deal? The software appears to be the first from a studio-friendly, name-brand provider, and the company claims it is entirely legal.

From the RealDVD FAQ:

Is it legal to save movies with RealDVD?
Yes, provided that you are the owner of the original DVD and you use your saved copy solely for your personal use.

I'm not sure where this stipulation comes from – certainly not the DVD CCA (Copy Control Association), which licenses the decryption software to RealNetworks for DVD playback.

Even so, RealNetworks says it is abiding by the DVD CCA's licensing mandates because the ripped DVDs maintain their copy-protection wrapper (and, by the way, everything else about the DVDs including the extras).

Kaleidescape Part II

Sounds a lot like Kaleidescape, which has been in and out of court with the DVD CCA on this very same matter.

Kaleidescape, developer of very-high-end media servers, prevailed in the last hearing, but the DVD CCA thinks the ruling didn't prove anything. Rather, it was merely a contractual technicality.

There is a vital DVD CCA document called the "CSS General Specifications." Apparently, that's the piece that stipulates a physical DVD must be present in a DVD player in order to play protected content.

Kaleidescape, which signed that document after agreeing to the DVD CCA's "Technical Specifications" and paying a licensing fee, argued that the CSS General Specifications are not part of the original licensing agreement to which the company is bound.

The court agreed. The DVD CCA is appealing.

So I'm wondering: Did this technicality occur in the case of RealNetworks, too?

DVD Ripping Developments in the CE Channel

The subject of DVD ripping is heating up, as evident at CEDIA Expo 2008.

Escient, a pioneer in the CD-ripping and management category, finally released its Vision series of DVD management products.

Originally, Escient skirted the hairy DVD copyright issues by not allowing users to rip DVDs directly to its servers. Rather, DVDs would have to be ripped to a PC, and then copied to the Vision hard drive.

In the shipping version of the product, though, "Vision will in fact support direct import of encrypted DVDs maintaining all of the DVD’s original content and CSS encryption," says product manager Marty Wachter. "Vision also applies the extra step of further encrypting the copy on the Vision hard drive so that if in the unlikely event that someone were to hack it, they still can’t copy the DVD’s off the drive and play or distribute them."

Like Kaleidescape, Escient believes that "extra encryption" mechanisms will insulate the company from DRM lawsuits.

Other manufacturers think they're litigation-proof because, theoretically, they're not doing the decrypting.

Fuze Media, for example, originally ignored the issue of DVD ripping with its Media Center-based servers. "We felt there were adequate solutions for getting DVDs onto the system, so we left it alone for DRM purposes," says VP of marketing and sales Bob Silver.

But customers wanted a more seamless way of integrating DVD libraries into Fuze's media manager, so now Fuze offers a ripping solution that works in conjunction with AnyDVD software from SlySoft (sold separately).

This approach provides an easy solution for consumers, Silver maintains, while insulating Fuze from copyright-protection issues.

AnyDVD, he says, "resides in the background of the computer and decrypts any type of encrypted DVD that you put in the computer. Our software sees the DVD as an unencrypted DVD and imports it without any type of encryption."

He adds, "We're not unencrypting DVDs; AnyDVD is. We're clean."

Axonix and the now-defunct Xperinet have taken similar approaches with their movie servers. Neither has had licenses with the DVD CCA.

They rely on users to install their own DVD decryption software, which keeps them immune from CSS-related litigation, so they claim.

On the other hand, Fusion Research proudly touts its CSS license and the fact that users need not download their own decryption software to rip DVDs.

AMX, which also has a CSS license from the DVD CCA, works similarly to the Kaleidescape and Fusion servers. In the past, the company has skirted DRM discussions by claiming that its products are used primarily for commercial digital signage applications, where users develop their own content.

Crestron and Control4 are bypassing the issue altogether by not allowing users to rip DVDs directly to their servers.

As demonstrated at CEDIA, Crestron's new Adagio Digital Media Server (ADMS) is a movie maven's dream, incorporating virtually every source of video content imaginable.

But you'll have to get DVDs onto the server in your own way – wink, wink, nudge, nudge.

"We don't rip DVDs," says VP of technology Fred Bargetzi, "but you can transfer them to the box or play them off NAS drives. If you can get movies into it [ADMS], you can play them."

Control4 distances itself even further from DRM issues. The company will manage movies stored anywhere on the network -- just not on its own servers.

The company has offered a music server from day one, and it has also enabled movie management through a connected multi-DVD changer.

Until now, however, Control4 has not supported libraries of ripped DVDs.

At CEDIA, Control4 unveiled the MediaPoint, which aggregates DVD content ripped to other devices on the network, including PCs, NAS drives, and channel-oriented servers such as those from Kaleidescape.

The MediaPoint application is available through Control4's software release 1.7. The hardware, which supports H.264, delivers video (up to 1080p) over Ethernet to any TV in the house.

Just like a million other digital media adapter (DMA), right?

Wrong, says Control4 CTO Eric Smith. "There are lots of DMAs out there, but they have bad GUIs [graphical user interfaces]. With the Media Point, you get the same Control4 experience as you would get from a DVD changer, but from the hard drive instead."

Media Point is expected to retail for less than $400.

ReQuest takes a hybrid approach to DVD ripping and management. The company's new Intelligent Media Client (ICM) doesn't store content, but it can manage movies (and other content) stored on ReQuest's F and IQ Series servers.

ReQuest CEO Peter Cholnoky claims, "We do not rip DVDs." He adds, however, that the system will "create a personal backup or archive of the DVD on the server."

From the ICM FAQ:

How does the system add and play DVDs from the server?
When a user selects "archive" the system will create a personal backup or archive of the DVD on the server. When users want to watch this video, the media is played through a fully compliant and licensed CSS player and preserves all CSS.

How do clients archive DVDs?
When a DVD is inserted into IMC users must select to either play the movie or archive it to the server.

Evidently, "ripping" a DVD is not the same thing as "archiving" it. (Update: It's not. Read Cholnoky's response.)

But just in case, the ReQuest server has a "built-in physical verification system that will ask for physical DVDs at random times to verify ownership," ReQuest says.

Let's hope ReQuest and its ilk pass muster with the the DVD CCA, the studios, and the other meanies who have inhibited our Fair Use rights for too long.

Back to RealDVD

Which brings us back to the potentially game-changing RealDVD software from RealNetworks.

Expected to be available for download this month, the product wll retail for $50 after the introductory price of $30 expires.

So, is it or isn't it legal?

According to an article in the New York Times, Real CEO Robert Glaser calls RealDVD "a compelling and very responsible product that gives consumers a way to do something they have always wanted to do. … If you look at the functionality of the product, we have put in significant barriers so people don’t just take this and put it on peer-to-peer networks. … I think we’ve been really respectful of the legitimate interests of rights holders."

In a FAQ at RealDVD.com, the company says, no, you won't be able to share your movies with friends: "The DVDs you save with RealDVD will only play on your PC with the License Key you purchased."

The New York Times, however, reports that you can transfer copies of a ripped DVD to as many as five computers, as long as they're running copies of RealDVD, available for $20 apiece.

By the way, RealDVD does not integrate with a Media Center interface yet, but the company says a future release will enable it to do so.

UPDATE: 9/30: RealNetworks Preemptively Sues DVD CCA, Studios to Allow RealDVD
Fearing lawsuits from DVD CCA and Hollywood studios, RealNetworks asks courts to OK RealDVD copying software; MPAA sues back, asks for restraining order.