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Not familiar with CDP? Montague started up the company about four years ago, because of requests by local Chicago video producers who had a need for professional and affordable post production services. The company began moving into manufacturing about two years ago with the introduction of its PPDVDs (Pre-Packaged Blank Recordable DVDs) for videographers and other producers who don't mass-replicate their products. RipGuard-MOD fits their clients' bill. The specifics of how RipGuard-MOD works are proprietary in nature, but in essence the technology thwarts software and hardware attempts to duplicate DVD’s by modifying the file structure of the disc without installing software on users’ computers or affecting playback of the disc itself. “Macrovision has designed RipGuard-MOD so that there is absolutely no loss in video/audio quality and has the absolute highest unaffected playability rate in the industry, in the neighborhood of 99.98%, according to their independent analysis," according to Montague. CDP takes protection even a step further. RipGuard-MOD can prevent DVDs from being ripped, but that doesn’t help if someone is copying the content into a DVD recorder or on to a VHS. Thus, CDP has also pioneered the mainstream application of ACP (analog copy protection), another Macrovision technology, on recordable DVD after the DVD has already been authored, another industry first, according to Montague. Macrovision’s ACP has been an established technology for more than the last decade and is still employed on virtually every mainstream Hollywood title to protect analog content. Up until now, if ACP was applied during the authoring process and then burned to DVD, it would strip out that ACP activation because of the different sector sizes between a Recordable DVD and replicated DVD. Thus, a title had to be put on digital linear tape (DLT) before a replicator mass-produced it. “We've pioneered a process to go in after the fact and apply ACP on any already-authored DVD from a client,” Montague says. “We can now provide a recordable DVD that has a closed digital hole with RipGuard-MOD and a closed analog hole for ACP. We’re offering a level of protection never before available, and have the ability to protect every title as thoroughly as a Hollywood movie.” CDP offers both duplication and replication of discs. To make the copy protected discs, CDP had to set up a special production line. “Obviously, once we’ve create a DVD that is protected, even we can’t copy it. There is a special manufacturing process that we go through, but it is all done using industry standard recordable media, so any chance of playback performance problems is all but eliminated, by keeping things standardized, and adhering to industry specs. The ACP is actually a proprietary software process that we apply to the title itself. It’s an intensive process, but it’s all automated,” Montague says. In the last three months since Chicago Digital Post launched the RipGuard-MOD service, Montague said it has protected thousands of discs already for producers from coast to coast. “We’ve had the gamut of clients,” he said. For example, one of our clients in Michigan produces training DVDs. Another client, in Texas, produces custom waiting room video presentations for plastic surgeons. Photo-Proof DVDs for wedding photographers have also been copy-protected. Special events, such as children’s football games or dance recitals that are sold to parents, are also being copy-protected. A little bigger application, but one that has gotten a lot of press over the years, is the copy protection of screeners." One major cable network television station has used this technology to offer copy protected screeners for a pilot that hasn’t aired yet, according to Montague. Does it really work or can the protection be cracked? “Of course, it’s not impossible to copy the content if someone is determined. But the analogy I offer has to do with locking your house. Someone can get into your house if it’s locked, but that doesn’t mean you don’t lock it just because somebody could break in. What you do by locking your house is prevent all but the most committed people from breaking in. That’s where the value comes from,” Montague adds. “If only 85% of attempts to copy your DVD are averted by using copy protection, then that translates into either 85% more potential sales or 85% less piracy depending upon how you care to look at it.” For more information on this copy protection technology and how to get it, check out the website. At least other six other manufacturers around the country are RipGuard-MOD Dealers for CDP and they are also available through the website. One company that can attest to the effectiveness of CDP’s work with RipGuard is Effective Training Inc. (ETI), a publishing company that creates textbooks, videos, and software on the topic of geometric tolerance—a blueprint language for engineers. ETI offers a DVD featuring a 24 hour class on the topic. “When I moved our content from VHS to DVD, I had no way to copy protect it,” says Jamy Krulikowski, multimedia developer. “The first couple of DVDs we sent out were not protected, and that’s a problem because we sell worldwide to countries that may not be paying close attention to copy protection rules.” ETI sells only a few copies of these discs a year and standards can change, so it’s not efficient to inventory the discs. Before ETI found CDP, Krulikowski went to another company that wanted to record the content on a DAT tape and charge $20,000 to apply the protection. “We’re not likely to sell enough units to invest that kind of money,” he said. RipGuard-MOD, on the other hand, fit the bill, and according to Krulikowski, ETI has done quite a lot of their own testing and have not been able to break the protection. The cost for RipGuard-MOD ranges from less than a dollar per disc to a few dollars per disc, depending on quantity. The cost structure also includes a one-time set up fee for applying the copy protection, Montague says. RipGuard MOD is also available for dual-layer DVD. Debbie Galante Block is a freelance writer based in Mahopac, New York.
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