[MPlayer-users] mplayer and Windows Media DRM

[Kichigai Mentat]

On May 23, 2005, at 16.11, Andrew Pimlott wrote:

> On Fri, May 20, 2005 at 05:54:44PM -0700, RC wrote:
>
>> On Wed, 18 May 2005 15:41:36 -0700
>> Andrew Pimlott <andrew at pimlott.net> wrote:
>>
>>
>>> Could mplayer tell me instead of making me struggle to figure it out
>>> myself?
>>>
>>
>> Probably not.  What's the difference between a broken file, and a
>> DRMed file?  How is mplayer supposed to detect that, and not  
>> mistake a
>> one problem for the other?
>>
>
> I don't know, I'm not the developer. :-)  I would think it's a  
> matter of
> some flag in the header saying "I am DRMed/encrypted/whatever".  Since
> mplayer understands the file format, I would think it would be easy to
> check this field.  But maybe it's more complicated than I realize.
>
>
>> A developer would  have to look through the
>> specs of every different DRM implimentation, and include a check for
>> each one.  Lots of work for no real gain, IMHO.
>>
>
> I don't agree that there is no real gain.  Detecting DRM would allow
> mplayer to educate the user about why it cannot play the file.
> Currently, the user just thinks that mplayer is broken, and that's not
> good for mplayer.
>
>
>>> Could this fact be added to the documentation or the FAQ?
>>>
>>
>> That is a more likely possibility.  Would you like to submit a patch?
>>
>
> I'll try, but I don't know much about mplayer or video formats, so
> somebody will proabably have to edit it.
>
>     Q:  Can mplayer play files with DRM?
>
>     A:  DRM (Digital Restrictions Management or Digital Rights
>         Management) systems are intended to restrict what software can
>         view protected content.  Since mplayer is not approved by  
> these
>         systems, mplayer cannot view these files, and you will get
>         unpredictable results if you try.  The exception is DRM  
> systems
>         that have been defeated, such as CSS (any others?).
>
>     Q:  How do I find out if my file has DRM?
>
>     A:  ???
       A: Check the source of your file. Did you download it off of a  
website? If so, did you pay for it? If you paid, chances are that  
your file has DRM. If not, the website should have that information  
somewhere. Did you acquire this off of a P2P network? If so, the file  
is most likely broken or spoofed.
>
> Andrew
>
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