Chinese pirates crack Blu-ray DRM, sell pirated HD discs

Law enforcement in Shenzhen, China, raided a warehouse last month that contained HD copies of a number of popular movies.

There were over 800 discs (so, what is that, like eight spindles?) that were packaged in faux Blu-ray boxes, complete with holograms to make them appear legitimate. According to the Motion Picture Association International, this is the "first ever" seizure of these types of discs in China. The pirates are apparently ripping high-def movies (cracking Blu-ray's AACS and BD+ encryption in the process) and re-encoding them using AVCHD, which offers a 720p picture. Because of the reduction in resolution, file sizes are smaller and can be burned to regular DVDs instead of the more costly Blu-ray discs, netting a tidy profit. Needless to say, the film industry isn't thrilled by the news. "We are concerned and are assigning priority to this issue," the MPA's Asia-Pacific managing director Mike Ellis told the Wall Street Journal.