[ltp] FYI -- New ThinkPad T22 model for Linux includes DVD movie playback

Mon, 16 Apr 2001 14:22:53 -0400

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Excellent! Can we download/buy a player for the T21?

DS
Keith Frechette wrote:

>
> This is an FYI, since I'm not aware that anybody noticed our success
> in rolling out "legal" Linux DVD movie playback with our ThinkPad
> models.
>
> The IBM ThinkPad T22 laptop computer was released in early April 2001.
> For the Linux model, we were finally able to incorporate legitimate
> DVD movie playback, using an application called LinDVD, created by
> InterVideo, Inc. I had been working with InterVideo since last April
> (when they first publicly announced their intent to deliver DVD movie
> support on Linux), and all the pieces finally came together.  I've
> included some anecdotal information below for your information /
> amusement.
>
> To implement legal Linux DVD movie playback support on a ThinkPad
> laptop that includes an "S-Video out" port, we had to overcome some
> very *interesting* hurdles. (While I can say "interesting" now,
> several months ago I would have chosen a different word. :-)) The
> obvious requirement that we had was to take adequate measures to
> protect the copyrights associated with DVD movie titles. For example,
> enabling the user to transfer DVD movies to other media (video tape,
> for example) via the S-Video port would likely have triggered a flood
> of lawsuits. (Although there may have been some happy Linux users!)
>
> The primary hurdles were: 1) no standardized way for implementing
> Macrovision (copy protection) on Linux, and 2) open-sourced X servers
> could easily be hacked to disabled the necessary copy protection.
>
> 1) For laptops, the primary mechanism for stopping DVD movie piracy
> over the S-Video port is to encode the out-going video signal using
> Macrovision. Under Windows, the video driver architecture provides a
> standard mechanism that allows DVD playback apps to tell the video
> driver to enable Macrovision encoding when playing a protected DVD
> title. Under Linux, no such standard exists. Fortunately, IBM, S3, and
> InterVideo were able to come up with an interface that allows the
> LinDVD app to communicate with S3's driver for controlling
> Macrovision. Perhaps in the future the Linux community will define a
> standard interface for this, possibly taking advantage of some of the
> work we did.
>
> 2) Under Windows, the natural place to put the actual Macrovision
> control logic is in the video driver. Under Linux, however, video
> drivers (X servers) are generally open-sourced, so handling
> Macrovision control logic in the video driver is not appropriate.
> Instead, the code is placed in a separate, binary-only, kernel driver.
> While this provides adequate protection, it does tie the Macrovision
> support to specific kernels. Hopefully we can resolve that in the
> future by packaging the Macrovision control logic into a user-mode
> driver (e.g. a daemon running as root, which has access to I/O space).
>
> In short, releasing DVD movie playback for Linux was not as simple as
> it initially seemed. However, with the constant cooperation of all the
> parties involved, we were able to work through the issues. It excites
> me when diverse teams work cooperatively together toward the common
> goal of improving the end-user experience. And I suppose that's what
> has drawn me to Linux.
>
> So, we did it! I hope that our success helps to raise the bar just a
> little, that in the future DVD movie support on Linux will be
> commonplace, and that we can say to Windows users, "DVD movie playback
> -- yeah, we've got that."
>
> -- Keith
>
> Keith Frechette
> Linux Development Lead, Mobile Computing Options and Software
> Development
> IBM Research Triangle Park, North Carolina
> kfrechet@us.ibm.com / 919-543-3761 / TieLine:441-3761

--
D. Sen, Room E167
AT&T Labs-Research
Shannon Laboratory
180 Park Ave.
Florham Park NJ 07932-0971
Ph: 973-360-8546
http://www.research.att.com/~dsen

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Excellent! Can we download/buy a player for the T21?
DS
 Keith Frechette wrote:
<blockquote TYPE=CITE>&nbsp;
 This is an FYI, since I'm not
aware that anybody noticed our success in rolling out "legal" Linux DVD
movie playback with our ThinkPad models.
The IBM ThinkPad T22 laptop computer
was released in early April 2001. For the Linux model, we were finally
able to incorporate legitimate DVD movie playback, using an application
called LinDVD, created by InterVideo, Inc. I had been working with InterVideo
since last April (when they first publicly announced their intent to deliver
DVD movie support on Linux), and all the pieces finally came together.&nbsp;
I've included some anecdotal information below for your information / amusement.
To implement legal Linux DVD movie
playback support on a ThinkPad laptop that includes an "S-Video out" port,
we had to overcome some very *interesting* hurdles. (While I can say "interesting"
now, several months ago I would have chosen a different word. :-)) The
obvious requirement that we had was to take adequate measures to protect
the copyrights associated with DVD movie titles. For example, enabling
the user to transfer DVD movies to other media (video tape, for example)
via the S-Video port would likely have triggered a flood of lawsuits. (Although
there may have been some happy Linux users!)
The primary hurdles were: 1) no
standardized way for implementing Macrovision (copy protection) on Linux,
and 2) open-sourced X servers could easily be hacked to disabled the necessary
copy protection.
1) For laptops, the primary mechanism
for stopping DVD movie piracy over the S-Video port is to encode the out-going
video signal using Macrovision. Under Windows, the video driver architecture
provides a standard mechanism that allows DVD playback apps to tell the
video driver to enable Macrovision encoding when playing a protected DVD
title. Under Linux, no such standard exists. Fortunately, IBM, S3, and
InterVideo were able to come up with an interface that allows the LinDVD
app to communicate with S3's driver for controlling Macrovision. Perhaps
in the future the Linux community will define a standard interface for
this, possibly taking advantage of some of the work we did.
2) Under Windows, the natural
place to put the actual Macrovision control logic is in the video driver.
Under Linux, however, video drivers (X servers) are generally open-sourced,
so handling Macrovision control logic in the video driver is not appropriate.
Instead, the code is placed in a separate, binary-only, kernel driver.
While this provides adequate protection, it does tie the Macrovision support
to specific kernels. Hopefully we can resolve that in the future by packaging
the Macrovision control logic into a user-mode driver (e.g. a daemon running
as root, which has access to I/O space).
In short, releasing DVD movie
playback for Linux was not as simple as it initially seemed. However, with
the constant cooperation of all the parties involved, we were able to work
through the issues. It excites me when diverse teams work cooperatively
together toward the common goal of improving the end-user experience. And
I suppose that's what has drawn me to Linux.
So, we did it! I hope that our
success helps to raise the bar just a little, that in the future DVD movie
support on Linux will be commonplace, and that we can say to Windows users,
"DVD movie playback -- yeah, we've got that."
-- Keith
Keith Frechette
 Linux Development Lead, Mobile
Computing Options and Software Development
 IBM Research Triangle Park, North
Carolina
 kfrechet@us.ibm.com / 919-543-3761
/ TieLine:441-3761</blockquote>

<p><br>--
<br>D. Sen, Room E167
<br>AT&amp;T Labs-Research
<br>Shannon Laboratory
<br>180 Park Ave.
<br>Florham Park NJ 07932-0971
<br>Ph: 973-360-8546
<br><a href="http://www.research.att.com/~dsen">http://www.research.att.com/~dsen</a>
<br>&nbsp;</html>

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