AfterDawn: News

DRM ruins German showing of 'Avatar'

Avatar, the epic blockbuster from director James Cameron was released today worldwide but some viewers of German midnight showings were foiled by DRM, when the protection system caused the video to not be decoded for the digital 3D showing.

Originally reported by Heise.de, the digital 3D copies sent to German theaters had problems with its encryption and therefore could not be decoded.



TorrentFreak says "the complex DRM system, which involves several certificates and server-delivered time-sensitive keys for hard drives and projectors, failed in a way consistent with the movie’s epic status. Unfortunately, after working for several hours cinema workers failed to decrypt 150 gigabytes of data, which resulted in at least one location reverting back to the 2D version."

“We regret the failures and the associated discomfort, but we are confident that we will be able to play the premiere both in 2D and in 3D,”added Oliver Fock, general manager of CineStar group.

Written by: Andre Yoskowitz @ 18 Dec 2009 21:44

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• 16 comments

• Amak

  You can easily play the premiere: get your heads outta your arses and ditch DRM. It doesn't work, and when it does this happens.

  18.12.2009 21:46 #1

• slickwill

  It would have been a disaster if the 3D version of the film was cammed and the people watching the film on the internet didn't have their 3D glasses.....LOL
  
  But seriously, to put things in perspective, should the readers' assume that most, if not all, theaters who are making the film available to watch in 3D have to comply with this DRM standard, and out all those theaters, this is just a rare incident that the film was not able to be shown?

  18.12.2009 23:06 #2

• DXR88

  Ha'Ha, serves you right. why don't you pile some more DRM on there.
  
  Classic Case of the ID10T error.

  18.12.2009 23:38 #3

• cyprusrom

  Originally posted by slickwill: It would have been a disaster if the 3D version of the film was cammed and the people watching the film on the internet didn't have their 3D glasses.....LOL
  
  But seriously, to put things in perspective, should the readers' assume that most, if not all, theaters who are making the film available to watch in 3D have to comply with this DRM standard, and out all those theaters, this is just a rare incident that the film was not able to be shown?
  I agree...unfortunately this was just an isolated incident.

  19.12.2009 00:15 #4

• Wings13

  The theatre i work at just installed digital projectors a week ago for the opening of Avatar. We got our digital keys on time and have had no problems running Avatar in 2D and 3D last night/today. The theatre probably made a mistake with their key.

  19.12.2009 00:18 #5

• KillerBug

  There is an old saying about protection methods..."If it works, it can be cracked"...clearly the studios have found out about this, and have finaly made a DRM that works...or at least the movie does not work.

  19.12.2009 00:23 #6

• engage16

  Im thinking they need to start running anydvd or dvdfab on their machines at the theaters...

  19.12.2009 02:02 #7

• iluvendo

  Originally posted by engage16: Im thinking they need to start running anydvd or dvdfab on their machines at the theaters...
  Second that !

  19.12.2009 02:08 #8

• iluvendo

  edit , double post

  19.12.2009 02:08 #9

• bmlshane

  The news item didn't mention what actually caused problem, was it operator error, Film distributor sending film without correct code, or was the film's protection faulty and unable to accept the " Correct " code?
  

  warlock

  19.12.2009 02:22 #10

• DXR88

  the cause is the Movie Mafia don't trust anyone with there precious Reels, all about control these days.
  

  Powered By
  
  

  19.12.2009 02:27 #11

• bmlshane

  Re-read article about the German screening of AVATAR in Germany, The Digital Rights Management could be the problem, It switched between 3D and 2D during screening, the operator/ projectionist couldn't decode all the protection, it would appear he didn't have all the required information codes for full 3D showing.If he/ she could show film at all shows that they knew how to apply codes / keys to screen, nut not enough codes for continuous showing in 3D. So.... whose fault is it?
  

  warlock

  19.12.2009 02:34 #12

• KillerBug

  Originally posted by bmlshane: Re-read article about the German screening of AVATAR in Germany, The Digital Rights Management could be the problem, It switched between 3D and 2D during screening, the operator/ projectionist couldn't decode all the protection, it would appear he didn't have all the required information codes for full 3D showing.If he/ she could show film at all shows that they knew how to apply codes / keys to screen, nut not enough codes for continuous showing in 3D. So.... whose fault is it?I am guessing it was a date error; they probably designed the DRM to only work durring a specified time on a specified date...and the date&time they used was probably for Pacific Standard Time when it should have been for the local time of the theater. This would explain why part of the movie worked in 3D while the rest was stuck in 2D.
  
  Just goes to show you once again...DRM only hurts paying customers and retailers. Pirates bypass, crack, and remove DRM with ease...and most pirates don't even have to do so because they download pre-cracked media from the internet. Meanwhile, I buy a new movie and it has bad sector protection that crashes my portable DVD player after about an hour of play...I then have to rip it with anydvd and re-burn it minus the "protection".
  
  BTW...I assume you were being sarcastic about AnyDVDhd...it is a great ripper; but I don't think it supports 3D movies yet (though I wouldn't be suprised if they used it to get the 2D version of the movie that they showed).

  19.12.2009 03:09 #13

• Tristan_2

  This is why DRM is crap.

  19.12.2009 10:19 #14

• blueboy09

  Originally posted by Tristan_2: This is why DRM is crap. Yep, that's right. When you can't even view 3D, b/c of DRM's BS requirements, that really sucks. I mean the damn thing wouldn't play cause of the midnight showing was NOT decoded correctly, WTF? It's bad enough DRM is in our music, and now we even see it in the movies. Anyways, I haven't seen it yet, but if i do, I'm sticking to 2D anyway, to avoid the headaches associated w/glasses anyways. - BLUEBOY

  19.12.2009 14:05 #15

• blaster4

  EXCELLENT!! I just LOVE it when the paying public is a victim of DRM. The media moguls keep doing this and making the public angry but never seem to learn by it. It isn't as if the "pirates" will be phased by this.

  26.12.2009 09:11 #16