Comments on: Have The Hollywood Studios Finally Beaten Down Kaleidescape?

By: Steve Austin

Steve Austin — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 21:46:03 +0000

You already have such a device at your finger-tips. It’s called a personal computer. Stick in your DVD, rip it, upload the file to file hosting site. Yes Megaupload is now gone, but there are literally thousands more to choose from.

By: MrPoindexter

MrPoindexter — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 23:59:43 +0000

The fight wasn’t that Kaleidescape broke the copy protection but that they breached the terms of service of the DVD CCA contract. It is interesting to note that the general specifications of the agreement isn’t divulged until after you pay to enter the contract. The DVD CCA states that “the disc must be present in the tray” as part of that general specification.

Normally, such agreements are allowed so that one can keep secret information secret until somebody is bound under the terms of the contract, but “the disc must be in the tray” is hardly a trade secret that must be protected.

I have had a Kaleidescape for over 8 years now and there is no way in hell I would go back to using the discs. It would be like abandoning the DVR and going back to using a VHS deck. Interestingly, Hollywood sued Sony to try to put an end to the VCR, claiming it would destroy their industry. They fought all the way to the Supreme Court only to lose 5-4 in the landmark Sony Betamax ruling. Instead of destroying Hollywood, it created the home video market which is now the largest source of income for Hollywood.

By: TheBrett

TheBrett — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 20:03:43 +0000

That’s pretty lame. I wish the DMCA allowed for this stuff, provided that the hard drive device you upload the DVDs on to had protection designed to prevent people from simply copying the hard drive content on to other hard drives. Instead, we’re still stuck with a big pile of discs that we don’t want.

Ultraviolet is nice, but it’s not really what I need. I need some way to get rid of the giant pile of DVDs I’ve got sitting in a closet, and the best way would be to upload them into a single server and/or hard drive to watch them On Demand.