Keith Jack's Blog

Shortly, movies on Blu-ray Disc will offer consumers a backup copy capability that could be played on a variety of devices.

The way managed copy is expected to work is that a consumer would insert their disc in a Blu-ray player or drive and the disc’s menu would include an option to make a managed copy or the consumer might have to press some buttons on their Blu-ray device to make a copy. Once they choose the option to make a copy, the Blu-ray player connects online to an authorization server, run by a studio, supplier or the AACS-LA. Discs are serialized, and the authentication server will determine if a copy is allowed.

Managed copies can be burned to recordable Blu-ray or DVD discs, as a download to a Windows Media DRM-compatible portable player or hard drive, on a memory stick, SD card or as a bound copy, such as a digital copy file on the disc, though AACS-LA can approve other methods going forward.

At CEDIA, Pioneer showed off the ability to make a managed copy of the Blu-ray movie “Bolt”, which Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment made special for the company. Just a few clicks had the digital copy of the film loaded onto the system, while other Bolt and Disney products were shown for sale. Users could Tweet, via Twitter.com, their rating of the film while they watched.