DRM must die

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Got a good deal on an ex-display PVR from LG with blu-ray. Sold as new with a two year warranty, in my country it's basically the same as buying a new product without a box.

I bought it for the HD PVR and to replace a failed DVD player, not primarily for blu-ray. I don't intend to buy all our DVD collections on the new format just for a few extra pixels.

But I thought I'd buy a blu-ray of a movie we hadn't seen before, just to make sure everything was working properly and in case we wanted to buy more at some stage.

So, brand new player, essentially a 2013 model, brand new blu-ray disc from 20th Century Fox. A 2012 film "Lincoln" with the blu-ray released in 2013. Plays the 20th C Fox just fine, then this:



I'd updated the player to the latest software release already.

Here's the answer LG Support gave me as to why it won't play:

First of all, thank you for taking time out of your day to contact ourselves in relation to your LGHR939M.

Having looked into this for you I can advise that this is not technically down to the Blu-Ray Player itself. In this case the creaters and publishers of this disc using software that different manufactures haven&#39t yet been issued with. I can advise that we are currently awaiting this software to be obtained from the creaters and publishers of these new releases. 

We hope for this to be done as soon as possible although as I am sure you can appreciate we do not have an ETA on how long this will take due to this coming from a 3rd party source. 

I hope my email has answered your query and assisted you today; I would really appreciate your feedback. Please help us to improve our customer service by completing the short survey after this email.

Thank you in advance.

Kind regards 
Josh
LG Electronics UK Help desk 
---------------------------------- 
LG Customer Services 
UK: 0344 847 5454 Ireland: 01 686 9454
Mon-Fri 8am to 7:30pm Sat 9am to 6pm Sunday 10am to 4pm 
Closed bank holidays 
www.lg.com/uk <http://www.lg.com/uk>
You can even reach us via our Web Chat facility through the LG UK website
<http://www.lg.com/uk/support/contact-customer-support>

 I replied telling them that I would not be holding my breath. 

 So is part of the reason there are still many more DVDs in the shops than blu-ray simply that consumers have learned they can't rely on DRM allowing them to play legitimately purchased content on their legitimate home equipment? 

 Seems like dinosaurs like the ultimate owner of Fox are damaging their own business by trying to maintain unrealistically tight control over who can play and distribute their content. One book publisher abandoned DRM and found their sales increased 104%.

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