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-   -   Is demultiplexing a DVD illegal or controversial? (https://www.digitalfaq.com/forum/myths/2831-demultiplexing-dvd-illegal.html)

lordsmurf 01-25-2011 12:31 AM

Is demultiplexing a DVD illegal or controversial?
 
1 Attachment(s)
This week's stupid myth is brought to us by the folks at Audio Intervisual Design, Inc., a company that specializes in ..... something. (I'll get to that confusing tidbit later on, after the myth.)

from http://www.aidinc.com/features/dvdfaq.asp
Quote:

What are muxing and demuxing?
They are short for multiplexing and demultiplexing, respectively. Multiplexing is the process of building a project in your authoring program so that it can be burned to DVD and read by a standard DVD player. This is normally the last step in making a DVD, though you will often multiplex to test the DVD as you author. Conversely, demultiplexing is the process of taking a burned DVD and extracting the original audio, video, etc. As you might expect, demuxing is controversial and can be illegal depending on which DVD you are demuxing. So please tread carefully.
What the ... ? :rolleyes:

No! Wrong. And not just "wrong" but ridiculously wrong. As such, we've left the world of "media myth" and headed into that area that can only be referred to as a "stupid myth".

Yes, I'm being harsh, but let's be honest with ourselves -- anybody that wants to pass themselves off as a professional should not be making these kinds of boneheaded mistakes! This is honestly no different than a doctor telling you that a vitamin or Advil is illegal. It a dumb mistake at best, outright incompetence at worst. And that's part of why we started this "media myth" section of the site -- to make others aware of the BS, in order to educate consumers.

So let's go over this carefully:
  • What is multiplexing?
  • What is demultiplexing?
  • Could it ever be illegal? If not, what is potentially illegal?

Multiplexing
(or "muxing") is the process of combining something. In the case of digital video, you're combining audio, video, and possibly other data (navigation info, subtitles, etc). Multiplexing is only one part of the authoring process, when it comes to DVDs. Authoring includes the creation of navigation, menus (optional), and organization and presentation of your DVD.

De-multiplexing (or "demuxing") is the process of separating something that was previously multiplexed. In the case of digital video, that means recreating the program and/or elementary streams. Or at least you hope so -- but that's another conversation. Demuxing isn't always perfect.

Demuxing is NOT a process that only describes extracting a DVD. Indeed, de-multiplexing is only one part of the DVD decompile process, as it contains quite a bit of non-AV data that generally needs to be dumped. The DVD is also in a specialize disc structure format, and requires re-assembly (re-merge PGCs) before you can ever get to the demuxing phase of the DVD decompile. I build and un-build dozens of DVDs daily -- I would know this.

Demuxing cannot be illegal any more than eating a brownie is illegal. (And there is an analogy here -- but we'll get to that in a second!)

The term "illegal" itself is a misnomer.

What's likely being referred to here is the unauthorized breaking of CSS encryption (and/or other encryption algorithms, if present). Yes, this means that there is indeed "authorized" breaking of encryption, if done at the request of the content owners. And technically, the encryption is "broken" by way of keys -- that's how the DVD player can play your discs!

But DeCSS and/or other decryption happens before demux can happen. The entire structure of CSS make a disc unreadable by standard byte-for-byte data-reading by a computer drive. So you can't demux what you can't read. Some underground (and at one point, even mainstream) software, which performed DeCSS, would DeCSS then demux in a single step. But that doesn't mean it's the same process -- or even related.

Let's go back to that brownie. If you stuff it full of marijuana, yeah, you'll be in big trouble if you're caught. But it's not the brownie that's illegal -- it's the pot. They're not related, or even closely related.

DeCSS itself also isn't necessarily illegal. It's civilly actionable -- but it's not necessarily criminal. To suggest otherwise is to drink movie industry koolaid and go completely head-up-ass at the continually changing nature of how the courts are deciding copyright law can and cannot be interpreted and enforced. For example, DVD Jon was acquitted.

But before I go...

from http://www.aidinc.com/about/default.asp
Quote:

Professionals come to Audio Intervisual Design for superior technical knowledge, vast experience of both traditional work techniques and emerging formats, and the understanding that you need to service your client’s projects.
from http://www.aidinc.com/home.asp
Quote:

Audio Intervisual Design has served as a consultant, design team, integrator, reseller, and service & support group for over 25 years to Motion Picture, Television, and Music industry Production and Post-Production professionals. Bookmark this page (Ctrl+D) or subscribe to our Newsletter to stay on top of the latest innovations and technologies vital to your work.
After both of those quotes, I can truly say that I have no idea what it is that these people do. I'm reminded of politicians -- people who can write and talk endlessly, yet manage to say absolutely nothing about what they've done and what they'll do in the future.

It may as well say
"Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah ."

Demux illegal? No, I think not. :rolleyes:

Posts like this may not make us new friends -- but then again, I don't want stupid friends. :cool:

PNG screencap of offending page attached inside the RAR.

Steve(MS) 01-29-2011 01:22 AM

Sounds like he has de-encryption and demuxing mixed up, doesn't sound like a professional to me.
The last I heard, it isn't against the law to break encryption
to backup a movie that one owns.
It seems to me the intent is to not allow (unlawful) copying
on materials for resell that are copyright.
Yet I find these new frontiers of copyright and patents distasteful.
For instance about electronics, a patent can be filed for an "invention" of an electronic process, not a completed working circuit mind you, but a process that explains what the circuit does or is supposed to do.
So if another comes along with a similar design, he must check
all process electronics wording patents to make sure his doesn't violate other patent theory processes.
What I am getting at is I don't think the patent office or copyright boards were setup originally for the all encompassing
lengths to which they are used (abused) today.
It is very difficult if not impossible to police individuals who copy for their own personal use--writings, photos, audio and video with audio recordings....regardless of what stupid lawmakers make up.
Having said all that, most modern movies aren't worth watching a second time anyway, much less copying.

deter 01-30-2011 11:02 PM

Lordsmurf,

From my two years of doing work with video, I have found only a few know what the hell they are doing. I have called many places on the phone, and they can't answer simple questions. Don't claim to be a pro, still learning, and getting better. However 95% of the VHS to DVD shops are incompetent in the work they do.

I think if you want to learn you need to pull apart a DVD and find out what makes it tick. DVD's are out of date with the times. In a few years they will be gone. They just don't hold enough data.

Most people don't have a clue what a DVR is...They just know it plays their movies.....

CD's have gone backwards which is kind of weird. How? The stupid IPOD players, mp3's are a lower compression.

I have never purchased an mp3 nor do I think I would.

The thing I never understood, pretty much every DVD you purchase from a store is DVD9 (Duel Layer) but they sell the public 'Single Layer' disks. If you own a DVD recorder, you think a normal movie is 2 hours and two hour recordings should be good. But the fact is no recording of a major movie title that is 2 hours would fit on a 'Single Layer' disk. It tells me they want the public to have lower quality recordings. An mpeg2 is just a data file. You can get the same bit-rates that the studios use for their DVD's. You just have to know how to record or encoded.

In the Video Industry you have many false prophets and a only a few wise sages. It takes ones intelligence to figure out what is correct.

However many people don't care and they will even record their DVD's in 4 hour mode, thinking they are great! They will pay a service tons of money to convert their VHS tapes and they will have insane macro blocking and poor video quality. They will think it is great!

I found this on that site:

Finally, Professional Blu-ray Production That's Affordable: under $2499!

That is kind of a lot of money for something that can be done with most editing programs.

I am always looking for the next best thing! This $2,500 software seems to be not worth the price.

lordsmurf 02-03-2011 02:43 AM

Quote:

I found this on that site:
Finally, Professional Blu-ray Production That's Affordable: under $2499!
That is kind of a lot of money for something that can be done with most editing programs.
I am always looking for the next best thing! This $2,500 software seems to be not worth the price.
Well, I took a quickie peek at the site again. Although I did not see that exact price, I did see a lot of sale ads for Avid gear. So I'll assume what you saw was for an Avid system. Those are generally high-end gear for crunching heavily uncompressed video via SDI/etc, and target a specific sort of audience.

Neither your nor I fit that audience. :)

And based off your last post, I wrote two new threads in the myth forum!
(1) - Why DVD9 dual layer media for Hollywood, but not consumers?
(2) - How to tell that a media "professional" is a clueless twit

Give those a quick read when you get a chance. :)


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