We
reported early this week that the recently-approved final AACS license included Managed Copy, enabling consumers to make one copy of any Blu-ray Disc they buy. Now additional details on the acquisition procedure and on the actual rollout of this feature have arisen. Soon, the vast majority of BDs will support Managed Copy, but studios will be able to charge for it, and new players will be needed
(update: except possibly the PS3).
Video entertainment site Video Business has contacted the chairperson of the AACS Licensing Authority, Michael Ayers, who confirmed that virtually all Blu-ray discs released after the first quarter of 2010 will offer consumers the ability to make one full-resolution backup copy. There are some exceptions where the studio won't be required to offer Managed Copy, such as for small distributors and when the content owner may not have all the necessary rights to allow copying.
Content owners will be in tight control of the backups made, and will be free to charge for the copy.
Managed copies are possible on to various media: burned to writeable BDs or DVDs, downloaded on a Windows Media DRM-compatible portable player, hard drive or memory card, or as a bound copy, such as a digital copy file on the disc. Surprisingly, the AACS-LA has not received a submission from Apple to make Blu-ray copies to Apple devices, and thus downloads to iPods, iPhones and other Apple devices are not approved at this time.
When managed copy is operational, the disc menu on the BD will include an option to make a managed copy, or the consumer will access copy through the player controls. Then, the player will connect online to an authorization center (run by a studio, supplier or the AACS-LA), which will give the go-ahead to make a copy. Discs are serialized, so that the authorization centers can tell whether a copy has already been made off a given disc.
Most existing BD players and devices don't support Managed Copy, so in all likelihood a new player will be needed. A notable exception is the PS3: back in April 2008, Sony engineers claimed that, once Managed Copy was adopted, it would be possible to add the feature to the console via a firmware upgrade.
Hardware manufacturers aren't expected to get new players out until the first or second quarter of 2010 at the very earliest. Managed Copy support won't become a requirement in the Blu-ray specification, so it is up to the individual manufacturers to include it in their players or not. And if they do, they will have to add additional content protections, safeguarding copies from piracy.
Ayers said he expects hardware manufacturers will add Managed Copy because it's something consumers have indicated they want. “We think that consumers really do want the ability to use their content flexibly,” he said.
Andy Parsons, U.S. chairman of the BDA Promotions Committee and senior VP of product planning at Pioneer Home Entertainment, agreed. “There's enough interest in the consumer community that there should be enough incentive in the hardware community to do this,” he said.
Parsons said he hasn't heard of any hardware manufacturers including managed copy features in players on the market now or those that have been announced. It's unlikely that the feature could be added to players already on the market. “It doesn't seem likely as a firmware upgrade because the specs weren't done,” he said. “Hardware guys don't like building stuff that might not be done.”
June 14 update: information added regarding PS3 and Managed Copy.