Security flaw allows HD flicks to be copied with screencaps

Posted Jul 7th 2006 3:12PM by Evan Blass, on engadget.com

Filed under: Desktops, HDTV, Home Entertainment, Laptops, Media PCs

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With all of the time and money that Hollywood and the consumer electronics industry have poured into copy-protecting high definition content, we were amused to learn that both formats can already be duplicated by the simplest of means: the trusty Print Screen button on your keyboard. UK-based Heise Security is reporting that the special OEM version of Intervideo's WinDVD software bundled with both Sony's first Blu-ray Vaio and Toshiba's first HD DVD Qosmio contains a security hole that allows users to capture video frames at their full resolution by simply triggering that Print Screen option -- which in and of itself is little more than a curiosity, but opens up the possibility of running a script that advances a given film one frame at a time and automates the whole screencap process, which would allow pirates to create high def copies by compiling the pictures and dubbing in the audio. Toshiba is already aware of the "problem" and claims that an impending software update will provide the fix, but as one HDBeat commenter astutely pointed out, as long as you can see a picture on your monitor or hear sound through your speakers, there will always be a way to capture that data.