AfterDawn: News

Sony fixes DVD ARccOS issues

We reported a couple days ago that users were reporting playback issues with a few of Sony's new DVD releases .

Sony has now reported that they have fixed the glitches on the releases Casino Royale, The Pursuit of Happyness and Stranger Than Fiction.



According to Sony, the problem was due to an update of its ARccOS copy-protection system which Sony has been using on all its DVDs for the last two years.

“Recently, an update that was installed on approximately 20 titles was found to cause an incompatibility issue with a very small number of DVD players (Sony has received complaints on less than one thousandth of one percent of affected discs shipped),” the company said in a statement. “Since then, the ARccOS system has once again been updated, and there are no longer any playability problems.”

Sony reported that they will be replacing all "broken" discs as well. All that is necessary is to call their Customer Service at 800.860.2878 and ask for further instructions.

Future buyers of Sony DVDs should be warned however that ARccOS is known to have compatibility problems with some models of Sony, Toshiba and Harman Kardon DVD players.

Source:
VB

Written by: Andre Yoskowitz @ 18 Apr 2007 7:59

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• 13 comments

• rulisky

  Quote: "Future buyers of Sony DVDs should be warned however that ARccOS is known to have compatibility problems with some models of Sony, Toshiba and Harman Kardon DVD players."
  
  Just lovely!! Sony DVDs are known to have compatibility problems with some models of Sony players!!
  
  Gotta love it.

  18.4.2007 08:35 #1

• SProdigy

  (Sony has received complaints on less than one thousandth of one percent of affected discs shipped)
  
  Why would we bother calling outsourced tech support that can't help us? Just take it back to the store. Sony manipulating numbers again. I can hear them saying: "Don't worry, it's not that big of a deal..."

  18.4.2007 08:40 #2

• simpsim1

  LMAO!! I wonder why they bother when ARccOS is so readily cracked these days.

  18.4.2007 10:27 #3

• dsgtrain

  Quote:Future buyers of Sony DVDs should be warned however that ARccOS is known to have compatibility problems with some models of Sony, Toshiba and Harman Kardon DVD players.
  Basically there saying they’ve fixed it, yet there’s still a problem with some DVD players. So have they actually done anything??

  18.4.2007 11:27 #4

• tabletpc

  well at least they are going to replace them
  
  but this shouldn't have happened to begin with

  18.4.2007 12:33 #5

• PeaInAPod

  I called the number. You (at least I got)get a kind gentleman/woman on the other line who speak clearly and was easily understood. I asked him what was needed to get another copy of 007 Casino Royale. I was told that besides general shipping information such as name, address, etc. that they also required the UPC label of the package. After that they would supposedly send on out to me free of charge.

  18.4.2007 13:01 #6

• christ93

  So, arccos is buggy. Was buggy when it was farking up the dvd structure on The Forgotten. It will be cracked in due time. I just wish LightningUK! was still updating his fine tool DVD Decrypter.

  18.4.2007 15:55 #7

• Unfocused

  Sony needs to just stick to putting out hardware. Customer service and software have never really been their strong points.

  18.4.2007 18:42 #8

• PeaInAPod

  I just was told earlier that my new copy of 007 Casino Royale would be sent out priority mail and arrive to me within 3-5 business days. I was actually very pleased with Sony's tech support, very kind people. Im happy.

  18.4.2007 18:49 #9

• borhan9

  The question is can they be cracked still?? Probablly even if they updated them its possible.

  18.4.2007 23:17 #10

• simpsim1

  I'd say almost definately. The likes of AnyDVD and DVD Fab Decrypter seem to get the updates out almost as quick as ARccOS gets upgraded. This form of copy protection is only really effective against the occasional opportunist copier. If a "professional" pirate really wants to copy something, he'll find a way to do it eventually.

  19.4.2007 05:34 #11

• mackdl

  Interesting, as I was beginning to believe this was a problem with my stand alone players and not the discs. I have had problems with previous releases. Being huge James Bond fans, we did purchase Casino Royale, but did not experience any problems playing the discs in our Toshiba. However, what happens, if years down the road, we replace our player and discover a problem?
  
  Btw, I've been down that road of asking for my non-working legitimate discs to be replaced and was accused of pirating. I see no offical news release on the Sony site.

  19.4.2007 07:19 #12

• DVDdoug

  Originally posted by PeaInAPod:... I was told that besides general shipping information such as name, address, etc. that they also required the UPC label of the package. After that they would supposedly send on out to me free of charge. So, you didn't have to send them the UPC label? You just had to read it over the phone? ...They might end up replacing 200% of the DVDs... hehehe!

  19.4.2007 10:23 #13