Today, the BBC is reporting that Bigchoice, err.. Blockbuster Video has lined up on the Blu-Ray side of the HD video disc war. It seems that BD titles were rented quite a bit more than HD-DVD titles at the 250 Blockbuster test locations.

In general, I don’t particular care one way or another who wins the format war, but I’ll say that HD-DVD does have some things in their favor, even if they’re the 2007 equivalent of VHS to BD’s Beta. For instance, HD-DVD’s don’t seem to be suffering from the disc rot problems currently being reported over on the AVS Forums. Further, HD-DVD lacks the extra layer of DRM, BD+ that is available on the BD side of the house.  In my book, the less DRM, the better, preferably, none.

Why no DRM?  It has nothing to do with piracy.  Pirates already have proven themselves wildly successful at circumventing copy controls on all sorts of media (VHS, CD-ROM, DVD, various digital music formats even).  DRM has to do with you & me, the consumers.  The ones that pay for their content.  You see, according to the RIAA or MPAA, if we want to shift our media to a different format, preserving our investment, we should have to re-purchase the media.  Don’t even get me started on the commercials urging you to “own it on DVD today!“  You know what you own?  A disc and the box it came in.  What you don’t own is the content that you were led to buy.

In a perfect world, what would I choose?  Blu-Ray’s technical superiority, no DRM, and the dual-format publication system that lots of HD-DVDs are using now (standard def DVD on one side, HD-DVD on the other).  Why?  I’ve seriously pondered buying those, and I don’t even own an HDTV, let alone hi-def player of any format.  But I will.  Why re-purchase the movie?  So, I pay a bit more up front, but (hopefully) save on the back end, and have the ability to play the movies I’ve already got in 1080p, rather than just 480p.

Forbes is running a story about a couple of companies that I’ve never heard of, Media Rights Technology and BlueBeat.com.  Seems the kids at MRT and BlueBeat think they’ve got a DRM solution that would keep people from copying digital media.  Ok, so it’s just another DRM solution, right?

Apparently not.  The brain trusts at MRT and BlueBeat believe that Apple, Microsoft, Adobe, Real and others need their products so much that they’re suing.  They’ve send cease & desists to Adobe and Real for “actively avoiding their X1 SeCure Recording Control.”

Ok, so under the DMCA, you can send a C&D for circumventing a security mechanism, but this is a whole new level.  Now threatening lawsuits because I didn’t buy and use your product?  That’s just stupid.

Hey guys, maybe they just don’t want your product.

Yesterday, Ken Fisher wrote an excellent piece on Hollywood’s true motives behind DRM. I saw a link to the article on Digg, thanks Kevin Rose.

Ken hits the nail squarely on the noggin in his piece. All the DRM we’re currently enduring, and worse, yet to come, is not about pounding a stake into the heart of piracy. Pirates will always be around. Eh? What about all of this stuff with HDMI and HDCP controlling what content can and can’t be displayed? There are plenty of HDMI devices out there that support, but do not honor HDCP restrictions, for instance. These devices are already in the wild, how will the MPAA & friends stop them? Answer: they can’t.

DRM, as Ken points out, is 100% about you, the consumer. With the DMCA, it’s illegal for you to enjoy fair-use rights that you’ve enjoyed for years. Take that Pirates of the Caribbean DVD you bought. You want to watch that on your iPod? Buy it again, sucker. Oh, you believed them when you saw that commercial for the DVD that said, “Own it today!”??? You know what you own? A plastic case, and the DVD media, not what’s on the DVD. According to the letter of the law, it’s actually illegal for you to invite friends over to watch a movie, since that constitutes a showing of the DVD. Our pals across the pond in the UK can’t legally rip a CD into iTunes either. In short, DRM gives the content provider all of the “rights”. DRM should really stand for “Digital give up all your Rights Management.”

Curiously enough, the VCR was going to destroy the entertainment industry. Funny how that never happened. Also funny is how the studios manage to stay in business with such staggering losses, all due to DVD piracy.

It’s madness I tell you. Just plain madness.

Rise up, don’t buy the lie. Don’t put money in the pockets of greedy individuals. I’m not advocating law-breaking, merely not patronizing a pox on humanity.

Currently playing in iTunes: Crazy by Gnarls Barkley

How appropriate, eh?

Dave Ralph is hungry.

Please, help Dave eat, quite possibly for the rest of his life.

Head over to this site, register and vote for Dave’s video. If he wins, he gets free burritos for life. It remains to be seen if Beano and Charmin... will follow suit and help the winner out… Hmm.. But I digress.

But hey, Dave’s a good guy, and he needs to eat too, so let’s all pitch in to help feed him. Go Digg this as well