X-PROTECT blue was announced earlier this week hoping to position itself as an extra layer of copy protection solution for Blu-ray Discs, together with the existing AACS.

Developed by X-PROTECT, a German manufacturer of anti-piracy-protection systems for DVDs and DVD-Rs, the new X-PROTECT blue solution is designed to combat illegal piracy on Blu-ray Discs.

The solution works on both HDMV and BD-J Blu-ray Discs and it can be frequently updated to stop new piracy attacks in its tracks. The company claims that X-PROTECT blue fulfills all Blu-ray requirements and specifications and works in combination with AACS, the content protection scheme currently used in Blu-ray movie releases.

The main advantage of the X-PROTECT blue is that it can be implemented seamlessly into the current workflow and does not impact the authoring and replication process. The material stays within the normal secure environment and does not need to be sent out to any offsite facility. This is very important for the replicators. Currently, a Blu-ray replicator should buy media key blocks (MKB) from te AACS LA in order to be used in the pre-mastering stage. The pre-mastering tools use the MKBs to encrypt the content and outputs a content certificate, which should be sent to the AACS LA for signing and approval. All this procedure is quite time consuming.

In addition, the implementation of the solution would not require Blu-ray replicators to make changes to their disc manufacturing processes, equipment or encoding lines, all translated in new investments.

X-PROTECT blue supports all Blu-ray profiles, as well all existing and future stand-alone Blu-ray players, PC players and Playstation 3.

The solution is available in North America through the company?s offices in Newport Beach.

The Blu-ray replication is much more complicated, time consuming as well as more expensive than the CD and DVD in the past. Although the currently available hardware and software tools may contribute in a more straight-forward procedure, licensing and content protection issues are still around and could make replication more complicated. X-PROTECT blue acts as an extra layer of protection of Blu-ray discs and although we have no evidence of its efficiency, it seems to offer seamless intergration in the Blu-ray replication workflow.