Asian pirates are producing counterfeit copies of copyrighted Blu-ray Disc videos. A recent raid on counterfeiters in southern China has prompted the Motion Picture organization of America (MPAA) to warn consumers about counterfeit movies.

Pirates are using software to create imitation Blu-ray disks with a format called AVCHD, which allows both high-definition and standard-definition recording. The format is used in tapeless camcorders that record onto DVD and Blu-ray disks. For high definition, all major variations are supported, including 720p, 1080i and 1080p.

Victims may not be able to tell the difference amoung real Blu-ray disks and the counterfeit versions.

A Growing Problem

The Blu-ray Disc organization added several layers of protection to disks, but some hackers claim to have cracked the codes. Last year, an employee at Slysoft Software said he had cracked BD+ and posted that knowledge: “Note to Twentieth Century Fox: as you can see, BD+ didn’t offer you any advanced shield, it

just annoyed some of your customers with older players.”

The association’s Advanced Access substance System (AACS) helps control the use of digital media and is more advanced than the encryption for standard DVDs. Blu-ray disks additionally use BD-ROM mark and BD+ layers of protection. The ROM mark embeds a rare mark and undetectable identifier and can only be copied with equipment licensed to BD-ROM manufacturers.

In 2007 alone, the MPAA assisted authorities in the Asia-Pacific region in investigating more than 36,000 cases of piracy. It additionally helped in 13,000 raids resulting in the seizure of more than 31 million illegal optical disks, 40 factory optical-disk production lines, and nearly 7,000 disk burners, according to the MPAA. Around the world, the MPAA seized 118 million illegal optical disks.

The MPAA estimates that member companies, including Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures, and Warner Brothers, lose about $1.2 billion each year in potential revenue…

Orginal post by Mike

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