Comments on: Disney DVD debacle: Wall•E vs. DRM (or defects)

By: Chris Meadows

Chris Meadows — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 01:36:22 +0000

For what it’s worth, I finally got around to sending the DVD in for replacement. Will see whether the version Aaron sends me works, and write a new post about it at that point.

By: Torsten Adair

Torsten Adair — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 23:11:54 +0000

I’ve been having the same problem with my G3 Wall Street Mac running OS 10.1. (Cannot find a version of Windows Media Player for the laptop, so I use the Mac player.) Everything else on the two DVDs played flawlessly, including the Easter eggs. (And I recommend the deluxe edition!) The movie itself did not play.

CyberLink PowerDVD on my office Dell (Pentium 4/XP Professional) plays it without flaws (I tested it up to the Satchmo song in the BnL Mart). PowerDVD unfortunately does not adjust the window to the letterbox. Windows Media Player took too long to load.

I suspect if someone checks the files on both discs, they will find different DRM encoding on the movie.

By: AIVAS

AIVAS — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 12:19:47 +0000

Interesting, I have rented this DVD from our local Video Ezy, and interestingly enough, I get all the same issues on my 64bit vista lappy, vlc hangs etc… HOWEVER, Windows Media Centre reads the disc just fine, so this indicates it’s not a disc manufacture issue as media centre would also choke. Looks like DRM issues (Yet again) to me…

By: Neal

Neal — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 00:42:59 +0000

I’ve had the same problem with Disc 1 of the Special Edition on multiple players, and am having it replaced by Disney DVD customer service.

The support rep I spoke to acknowledged that this is a known problem with Disc 1, and so sending a new disc was his first suggestion.

I’m glad they’re happy to replace it, but not being able to watch it, waiting for a prepaid mailer, sending it back, and waiting for a new disc is extremely irritating. If this is indeed the result of sensitive/brittle/broken DRM then it’s even more annoying.

By: Chris Meadows

Chris Meadows — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 01:18:46 +0000

If that’s the case, then the replacements I get will probably have the same playing errors as the ones I send back. I guess I’ll see when the time comes.

By: Logan Kennelly

Logan Kennelly — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 00:32:37 +0000

I did read the comment (after posting unfortunately), but I’m still not convinced. From Disney’s perspective, they wouldn’t wish to admit the use of deliberate corruption as a DRM mechanism.

While it is possible (and, in fact, probable) that some of the discs were affected by a manufacturing defect, I’m not about to give them the benefit of the doubt when Ratatoullie and Cars were both manufactured with similar defects. Disney is still the company that pushes DVDs with unskippable commercials, after all. A lack of respect for the customer is not out of line with their general attitude.

By: Chris Meadows

Chris Meadows — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 21:59:18 +0000

Logan: See my update? It may not be a DRM issue at all, but an unintentional flaw in the pressing process.

By: Logan Kennelly

Logan Kennelly — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 21:52:16 +0000

Bob, it’s very possible that Region 2 DVDs do not have the same problem. Although it is easy to think of Disney as one big company, the truth is that publishing decisions are uniquely made for each region.

For those seeking more information, my brief encounter leads me to believe that the system is, or is based on, ARccOS protection. It also appears that, in general, ARccOS is primarily a Region 1 issue. Perhaps the publishers are afraid of stricter consumer legal protections in other regions?

By: Chris Meadows

Chris Meadows — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 19:57:10 +0000

Updated the article; I called Disney customer service about the issue. Kerry, FYI, the "ripping the movie" link leads to a discussion of a free utility that can apparently successfully rip even non-playable versions of the movie to your hard drive, where you can then handbrake them from there. Might want to check it out. (P.S.: Wow! I made TechMeme!)

By: Bob Gillham

Bob Gillham — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 19:28:44 +0000

I work in a shop that rents out DVDs in the U.K. We haven’t had any bad feed back on the Wall.E Dvd rental discs at all (that i know of) Just a problem with Retail copies or region 1 only? (UK is region 2) is DRM used world wide or differently in different territories? What about on eBooks? It’s consumer poison for sure.

By: kerry

kerry — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 19:12:50 +0000

I had a similarly frustrating experience with Wall-E on DVD. I, too, got the 3-disc set for christmas. Last weekend I decided to move the digital copy to my computer, so I could play it on my iPod and iPhone. I like to watch movies during my commute and also when I’m doing mindless busywork at my job. I popped in the disc and discovered that it needed an activation code printed on one of the 50 pieces of seemingly unnecessary paper that came with the DVD, which had all been pitched with the rest of the Christmas morning trash. So, after some frustrated ranting I decided to be a bad consumer and use handbrake to rip the DVD, just like I do with many of the DVDs I own. Sadly, they have some magic juju that scrambles the chapters, so the handbrake rip was unwatchable. Last night I ended up going through a box of trash and found the activation code. This whole thing has turned me off of Disney DVDs for the foreseeable future. If I can’t watch the movie which I purchased in the manner that I prefer, I’m not buying it.

By: Logan Kennelly

Logan Kennelly — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 17:46:09 +0000

I had the unfortunate experience of renting Wall-E for the holidays, and I can assure you that the problem isn’t limited to playing on a PC. Much like old floppy disks, CD games, and some audio discs, it appears that they are attempting to add DRM where it shouldn’t exist by mastering the disk with intentional errors. In theory, computers access data with the assumption that there aren’t errors and players use error-correction schemes that can correct such flaws. Unfortunately, that isn’t always the case.

We had a cheap DVD player that works great with most discs, but doesn’t appear to be able handle DVDs with these engineered errors. My solution was to rip the DVD (the software I use has the ability to work around this “protection”) and burn a new copy.

The joys of DRM, indeed.

By: Christine

Christine — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 17:27:13 +0000

This is insane. I don’t understand how companies that are this stupid are ruling the freaking world. The power of power I guess.

By: Bob Gillham

Bob Gillham — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 16:02:05 +0000

Great!