DVD Protection

[JR1]

I have a promo DVD that I hand out, for example on it there are short videos and photos to mucsic showing what I do, but I am wondering if there is any way I can protect the DVD even in a basic form that will make it harder for people to copy

Thank you

[Zero]

There's various methods from the sublime to the ridiculous. Early suggestions were to add 10 minutes of black to the end of the video, then scratch a couple of lines of burn out with a pin. Anyone tries to copy it and it reaches the scratch and 'error'
I did try it , but I wanted a multiple use solution, which I found with a company that provided Patronis copy protection. It cost £25 set up and £1.50p per disc and it did encourage more to buy where we'd previously lost sales due to piracy.
We now have our own 'copy lock' system which means it's far cheaper, quicker and we can provide the service for others too.

I do need to add that the geeks will always defeat these systems as there's always break solutions online, but the average punter just wants to pop one in the top tray and take another copy out of the bottom tray - This system defeats it. Good enough!!

[JR1]

So nop simple cheap solution then.

Thanks for the reply though

[Zero]

So nop simple cheap solution then.

On the contrary. I consider the copy protection, cheap . . and simple. We gain an extra £200 in sales that would otherwise have been pirated for the cost of applying our own bought in kit. We were very happy to pay for the patronis protection too as this also gained us £100 + extra sales. Anyone who doesn't apply some sort of copy protection is leaving their bank account open for the 'another free copy' muppets to fleece them of their hard work.

[TimStannard]

Zero, because I'm too lazy to go on-line and research myself, but more importantly, because I know you'll give me a straight answer if you can, how does the Patronis solution work if you are farming out the DVD duplication?

[Zero]

Hi Tim - Our system works by converting the DVD image file to .iso, it then adds the copy protect to give the file another name .vcp. I'm guessing that because neither of these file names are common to dvd readers they become confused and reject them . . . Much like me
A geek would no doubt search for .vcp to .mpeg convertor in order to make a copy.
Most people couldn't be bothered or have the knowledge to overcome it so would give up and order another.