ARccOS Protection

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This article is about Sony's copy-protection system, not the trigonometric function arccos.

ARccOS is a copy-protection system developed by Sony used on some DVDs. Designed as an additional layer to be used in conjunction with Content Scramble System (CSS), the system deliberately creates corrupted sectors on the DVD, which cause copying software to produce errors. Allegedly, "Normal" DVD players do not read these sectors since they follow a set of instructions encoded on the disc telling them to skip them. However, many users with "normal" DVD players still report unplayable discs, and in some cases total lock-up of their players. Less sophisticated DVD copying programs do not follow these instructions and instead try to read every sector on the disk sequentially, including the bad ones. Slysoft's AnyDVD, Fengtao's DVDFab Decrypter, RipIt4Me + DVD Decrypter + FixVTS, DVD43, MacTheRipper, along with VLC media player[1], dd_rescue and MPlayer/MEncoder (for Linux) are usually able to overcome ARccOS.

ARccOS had reportedly been discontinued by Sony in February of 2006.[2] However, several high-profile releases since then have used it, including the region 1 DVDs for "Hostel" (2006), "Underworld: Evolution" (2006), "Running With Scissors" (2006), and "Casino Royale" (2006). Many DVDs by Disney, Touchstone Pictures, and The Weinstein Company also use ARccOS - including "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest", "Flightplan","The U.S. vs. John Lennon", "Lucky Number Slevin", and "Ratatouille". "Hairspray" appears to also be encumbered with ARccOS. Many DVD rental companies are now warning users that the Sony DVDs in question may not play on their machines.

Despite being promoted as 'Fully compatible with available DVD players and drives'[3], some DVD players cannot play movies with ARccOS: Sony DVPCX995, Toshiba SD4700, Harman Kardon DVD101, Microsoft Xbox and others. [4] Sony has announced a future firmware update for their players to fix this incompatibility issue.[5][6] Sony Customer Service is now offering re-issued replacements for defective discs.[7][8]

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[edit] References

  1. ^ HOWTO Backup a DVD. Gentoo Linux Wiki. Retrieved on 2007-04-16.
  2. ^ Kate DuBose Tomassi (2006-03-10). Macrovision's RipGuard Shows Consistent Use By Disney. Forbes Magazine.
  3. ^ ARccOS. Retrieved on 2007-04-18.
  4. ^ Erik Hanson (2007-04-16). Sony copy protection taking heat again: now DVDs won't play. engadget. Retrieved on 2007-04-17.
  5. ^ Sony Pictures DVDs have a new a copy protection that makes the movies unplayable on some Sony (& other makes) DVD players! (2007-04-19). Retrieved on 2007-04-21.
  6. ^ Jacqui Cheng (2007-04-18). Sony admits, fixes problem with DVD DRM. Retrieved on 2007-04-19.
  7. ^ Adrian Kingsley-Hughes (2007-04-18). Sony fixes problem with ARccOS-protected DVDs. Retrieved on 2007-04-21.
  8. ^ Sony Replaces ARccOS-Protected DVDs (2007-04-19). Retrieved on 2007-04-21.

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