Intro
For a while Blu-ray discs only used the protections that they were designed with: AACS (mandatory) and BD+ (optionally). Because they failed to do the job, studios started to look in other directions: some used audio watermark known as Cinavia, some used structural protection, much like the ones used for DVDs (eg. ARccOS, RipGuard, etc).
For Blu-ray, it was Sony DADC division that created the Screen Pass protection, which was adopted by Eagle Pictures (Italy), Summit Entertainment (USA/Canada) and others (see the table below).
How it works
Sony DADC Screen Pass is a Java based (BD-J) structural protection and it tries to determine if the disc that is played is original or it is a clone. In the later case, the user receives a black screen with a message (Protection card) saying that the original disc should be used, no ripping tools allowed, visit something.continuemovie.com etc. and playback is either stopped or affected (segments of the movie are swapped around, repeated or in wrong order).
Also the users that don’t use clone mode and backup Main Movie only (no Java running, no active protection) are having a problem with picking the right Title/playlist for some movies, because the disc is filled with fake playlists with same runtime, but subtle differences.
When AACS, BD+, region code, etc. are removed, tools like DVDFab and DVDFab Passkey need to hide some files and modify other from the original disc. The protection looks exactly for such changes in structure, hence the name: structural protection. For some time, DVDFab tools had a per-movie approach, because they were few.
StealthyClone
It is time for a generic anti-protection that will make the cloned disc appear as if it was the original one, hiding the fact that it was unprotected.
DVDFab presents StealthyClone anti-protection the world’s first truly generic approach to deal with Sony DADC Screen Pass and other structural protections that may appear. This way, users that want to keep the original menus and artwork of the disc are not forced to give them up any more, because the protection is rendered useless.
When the protected disc is trying to find out if it’s original and is asking through Java means about various files and performs checks on them, StealthyClone is hooked in and answers well. This way, the protection cannot tell if it is a clone or not and will continue with the correct playback of the movie.
Correct Main Playlist
Not only the Full Disc (clone mode) users will be satisfied with that. DVDFab has now a new, better-than-ever, algorithm to select the correct playlist when in Main Movie mode from the hundreds of fake ones. All the playlists in gray are very much likely to be fake.
| Title | Country | Studio | Release | Runtime | Fake playlists |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BandSlam | Italy | Eagle Pictures | 13jan2010 | 111 min | yes |
| House on Haunted Hill | Germany | Ascot Elite Home Entertainment 2 | 21oct2010 | 92 min | yes 3 |
| Twilight Saga: Eclipse | Italy | Eagle Pictures | 04dec2010 | 123 min | yes 3 |
| Sammy’s Adventures 3D | Italy | Eagle Pictures | 01apr2011 | 85 min | yes |
| King’s Speech | Italy | Eagle Pictures | 11may2011 | 118 min | - |
| The Fighter | Italy | Eagle Pictures | 15jun2011 | 115 min | - |
| Lord of the Rings trilogy (Extended version) | UK | Entertainment in Video | 27jun2011 | 726 min | - |
| Holland | A-film 2 | 28jun2011 | - | ||
| Italy | Medusa Video | 28jun2011 | - | ||
| Australia | Roadshow Entertainment 2 | 29jun2011 | - | ||
| Greece | Odeon 2 | 04jul2011 | - | ||
| Norway | Svensk Filmindustri 2 | 12jul2011 | - | ||
| Finland | 12jul2011 | - | |||
| Denmark | 12jul2011 | - | |||
| Sweden | 13jul2011 | - | |||
| Belgium | Cinéart 2 | 13jul2011 | - | ||
| Source Code | USA | Summit Entertainment | 26jul2011 | 94 min | yes |
| Canada | Entertainment One | yes | |||
| Sanctum | Italy | Eagle Pictures | 07sep2011 | 108 min | - |
| Sanctum 3D | Italy | - | |||
| Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind | Italy | Eagle Pictures | 07sep2011 | 108 min | - |
| The Next Three Days | Italy | Medusa Video | 07sep2011 | 135 min | - |
| Limitless | Italy | Eagle Pictures | 21sep2011 | 105 min | - |
| Gooische Vrouwen | Holland | BFD Home Entertainment | 21sep2011 | 108 min | - |
| Once Fallen | Italy | Eagle Pictures | 26oct2011 | 93 min | - |
| Final Destination 2 | Italy | Eagle Pictures | 09nov2011 | 90 min | yes |
| Final Destination 3 | Italy | Eagle Pictures | 09nov2011 | 93 min | - |
| The English Patient | Italy | Eagle Pictures/Miramax | 30nov2011 | 162 min | - |
| Equilibrium | Italy | Eagle Pictures/Miramax | 14dec2011 | 107 min | - |
| Kate & Leopold | Italy | Eagle Pictures/Miramax | 07dec2011 | 119 min | - |
| Warrior | USA | Lionsgate | 20dec2011 | 140 min | yes |
| Hypnosis | Italy | Eagle Pictures | 11jan2012 | 100 min | - |
| Scream | Italy | Eagle Pictures/Miramax | 25jan2012 | 111 min | - |
| The Boy in the Striped Pajamas | Italy | Eagle Pictures/Miramax | 25jan2012 | 95 min | - |
| Master and Commander | Italy | Eagle Pictures/Miramax | 25jan2012 | 138 min | - |
| Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn 1 | USA | Summit Entertainment | 11feb2012 | 117 min | yes 3 |
| Canada | Entertainment One | ||||
| Italy | Eagle Pictures | 01mar2012 | |||
| I Soliti Idioti | Italy | Medusa Video | 22feb2012 | 90 min | - |
| Ligabue Campovolo 2.0 3D | Italy | Medusa Video | 07mar2012 | 109 min | - |
| The Three Musketeers (2011) | USA | Summit Entertainment | 13mar2012 | 110 min | yes |
| The Three Musketeers 3D (2011) | USA | yes | |||
| Nova Zembla 3D | Holland | BFD Home Entertainment | 21mar2012 | 108 min | - |
| This Must Be The Place | Italy | Medusa Video | 21mar2012 | 118 min | - |
| Dragon Eyes | UK | G2 Pictures | 09apr2012 | 88 min | - |
| Vacanze Di Natale A Cortina | Italy | Filmauro | 11apr2012 | 113 min | - |
| The Awakening | Italy | Eagle Pictures | 18apr2012 | 107 min | - |
| Anche Se è Amore Non Si Vede | Italy | Medusa Video | 18apr2012 | 99 min | - |
| New Kids: Nitro | Holland | BFD Home Entertainment | 25apr2012 | 77 min | - |
| Across the Line: The Exodus of Charlie Wright | Italy | Eagle Pictures/Multivision | 03may2012 | 94 min | - |
| Black Gold | Italy | Eagle Pictures | 03may2012 | 130 min | - |
| Jackie Brown | Italy | Eagle Pictures/Miramax | 03may2012 | 155 min | - |
| Cop Land | Italy | Eagle Pictures/Miramax | 03may2012 | 105 min | - |
| Shaolin Soccer | Italy | Eagle Pictures/Miramax | 03may2012 | 90 min | - |
| The Faculty | Italy | Eagle Pictures/Miramax | 03may2012 | 104 min | - |
| Rounders | Italy | Eagle Pictures/Miramax | 03may2012 | 121 min | - |
| Transit | UK | G2 Pictures | 07may2012 | 84 min | - |
| Dolfje Weerwolfje | Holland | BFD Home Entertainment | 09may2012 | 95 min | - |
| Midnight in Paris | Italy | Medusa Video | 09may2012 | 94 min | - |
| The Grey | UK | Entertainment in Video | 21may2012 | 117 min | - |
| Carnage | Italy | Medusa Video | 23may2012 | 80 min | - |
| The Inbetweeners Movie | Italy | Eagle Pictures | 06jun2012 | 98 min | - |
| Immaturi – Il Viaggio | Italy | Medusa Video | 06jun2012 | 94 min | - |
| Good Deeds | USA | Lionsgate | 12jun2012 | 110 min | yes |
| Cool Kids Don’t Cry | Holland | Dutch Filmworks 2 | 03jul2012 | 100 min | - |
| Man on a Ledge | Italy | Eagle Pictures | 04jul2012 | 102 min | - |
| Benvenuti al Nord | Italy | Medusa Video | 11jul2012 | 110 min | - |
| Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy | Italy | Medusa Video | 25jul2012 | 128 min | - |
| The Hunger Games | USA | Lionsgate | 18aug2012 | 142 min | yes |
| UK | 03sep2012 | yes | |||
| Posti In Piedi In Paradiso | Italy | Filmauro | 29aug2012 | 119 min | - |
| Safe | USA | Lionsgate | 04sep2012 | 94 min | yes |
| Blade II | UK | Entertainment in Video | 17sep2012 | 117 min | - |
| Blade Trinity | UK | Entertainment in Video | 17sep2012 | 122 min | - |
| The Cabin in the Woods | USA | Lionsgate | 18sep2012 | 95 min | yes |
| Madea’s Witness Protection | USA | Lionsgate | 23oct2012 | 114 min | yes |
| The Expendables 2 | USA | Lionsgate | 20nov2012 | 102 min | yes |
| Canada | yes | ||||
| UK | yes | ||||
| The Possession | UK | Lionsgate | 21jan2013 | 93 min | - |
| The Words | Italy | Eagle Pictures | 23jan2013 | 103 min | - |
| Alex Cross | USA | Summit Entertainment/Lionsgate | 05feb2013 | 101 min | yes |
| Canada | Entertainment One | - | |||
| Madea Gets A Job | USA | Lionsgate | 05feb2013 | 143 min | yes |
| Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn 2 | USA | Lionsgate | 02mar2013 | 115 min | yes |
| Canada | Entertainment One | yes | |||
| Italy | Eagle Pictures | 06mar2013 | - | ||
| The Master | UK | Entertainment in Video | 11mar2013 | 137 min | - |
| Killing Them Softly | UK | Entertainment in Video | 25feb2013 | 97 min | - |
| Italy | Eagle Pictures | 27mar2013 | - | ||
| Silver Linings Playbook | UK | Entertainment in Video | 01apr2013 | 122 min | - |
| The Blue Lagoon | eu+jp | Sony Pictures | 22apr2013 | 105 min | yes |
Note 1: the information in above table is by no means complete, they’re just examples.
Note 2: some studios had just one-movie test release with this protection.
Note 3: of all the discs released for same movie in a country, not all of them may have fake playlists.
Note 4: in teritories where the movie is not released by the above mentioned company, usually it’s safe to say that the Blu-ray does not have this protection.
