Sony fixes problem DVDs

Copy-protection glitch reported on Casino Royale, Pursuit of Happyness, others

By Jennifer Netherby -- Video Business, 4/17/2007

APRIL 17 | Sony Corp. of America says it has fixed a glitch on recent DVD releases including Casino Royale, The Pursuit of Happyness and Stranger Than Fiction that prevented the movies from playing on some DVD players.

Sony said the problem was due to an update of its ARccOS copy-protection system, an additional layer of protection meant to prevent ripping. The studio has included ARccOS on its DVDs for the past two years. The copy-protection is continually updated to keep ahead of hackers.

“Recently, an update that was installed on approximately 20 titles was found to cause an incompatibility issue with a very small number of DVD players (Sony has received complaints on less than one thousandth of one percent of affected discs shipped),” the company said in a statement. “Since then, the ARccOS system has once again been updated, and there are no longer any playability problems.”

Several hundred users complained directly to Sony and on discussion boards at Amazon.com and other blogs, saying their players were freezing or shutting off in the menu section of recent releases from the studio.

Sony is providing replacement discs to customers that have had problems. Customers can call Sony Pictures Home Entertainment customer service at 800.860.2878 for replacement discs.

ARccOS is known to have compatibility problems with some models of Sony, Toshiba and Harman Kardon DVD players. Those were the same players that users on Amazon reported problems with.