Blu-ray and HD DVD are easy to hack

A security watchdog has highlighted a major hole in the Blu-ray and HD DVD high-definition formats that would allow anyone to pirate HD movies.

Despite a wealth of copyright protection measures, in particular HDCP, this is the first serious breach of the much-hyped copyright protection system for HD content.

Security website Heise highlighted the findings from a German magazine, c’t, that managed to take high-resolution screenshots of HD movies played on Windows XP PCs or laptops by simply pressing the Print Screen key (PrtScn).

This function could be easily automated to take screenshots of the entire movie that could then be recompiled in a movie format with the separately captured audio track mixed back in.

This copy protection hole applies to Sony's first Blu-ray PC Vaio VGC-RC 204 and Toshiba's first HD DVD notebook, the Qosmio G30. Both systems use special OEM versions of Intervideo's WinDVD player software.

Toshiba confirmed the problem and said software updates and graphics card drivers that will close the hole are on the way.