Date: Fri, 12 Mar 1999 14:23:57 +1000 (EST) From: Q <q@fan.net.au> To: Anthony Kimball - High Performance Computing <alk@pobox.com> Cc: jkh@zippy.cdrom.com, ulf@Alameda.net, rdewalt@meridianksi.com, freebsd-multimedia@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Creative Labs DVD Dxr2 Message-ID: <Pine.BSF.4.02.9903121349450.23442-100000@gromit.fan.net.au> In-Reply-To: <14056.23790.315779.344086@avalon.east>
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On Thu, 11 Mar 1999, Anthony Kimball - High Performance Computing wrote: > > http://www.thedigitalbits.com/officialfaq.html#6.1 > reads: > > Matsushita licenses the CSS encruption technology free of charge: > contact CSS Interim License Orgnization, 2-15 Matsuba-cho, Kadoma, > Osaka 571 Japan, 81-6-905-4155, fax 81-6-901-9299. > > That being the case, one need simply obtain the spec. Presumably the > licensor can provide a CSS spec independent of the $5000 DVD spec book > set sold by Toshiba at a substantially lower cost. Possibly, but just because it's free doesn't mean they will let you do whatever you want with it. It would be logical to assume that obtaining such a license would involve NDAs and other agreements to ensure that the derived works would meet various requirements. The primary aim being to prevent unencrypted versions of the DVD-Video streams from being generated. Which means that any DVD support for FreeBSD/Linux that requires CSS be done in software would have to be distributed in linked binary form only. Going by the following statement (from the same FAQ) it could rule out source code distribution unless the recipient was also a CSS licensee. |Makers of equipment used to display DVD-Video (drives, chips, display |boards, etc.) must license CSS. There is no charge for a CSS license, but |it's currently a lengthy process, so it's recommended that interested |parties apply as soon as possible. Near the end of May 1997, CSS licenses |were finally granted for software decoding. It is interesting to note that Auravision will not sell their Universal DVD manufacturers kit to anyone who isn't both a licensee of CSS and Digital Dolby. What is interesting is that both the CSS and Dolby Digital processing are done in hardware. And the unencrypted mpeg stream can't be accessed by the board manufacturer (C-Cube call it SafeView technology or something like that). Like I said, unless something changes you probably won't be able to open source anything that does CSS in software without getting sued. Seeya...Q -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- _____ / Quinton Dolan - q@fan.net.au __ __/ / / __/ / / Systems Administrator / __ / _/ / / Fast Access Network __/ __/ __/ ____/ / - / Gold Coast, QLD, Australia _______ / Ph: +61 7 5574 1050 \_\ SAGE-AU Member To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-multimedia" in the body of the message
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