Riplock is a
firmware component of some computer
DVD
The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...
and
Blu-ray
The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of st ...
drives that enforces a speed ceiling below a drive's physical capabilities (typically 2×) when
DVD-Video or
BDMV data is being read.
CDs are usually not affected, nor are DVDs or Blu-rays not
authored as videodiscs. Riplock's stated purpose is to reduce noise during video playback by preventing a drive from spinning up faster than would be necessary to read a standards-compliant disc.
It has been asserted that Riplock is also (or solely) intended to deter video
ripping
Ripping is extracting all or parts of digital content from a container. Originally, it meant to rip music out of Commodore 64 games. Later, the term was used to extract WAV or MP3 format files from digital audio CDs, but got applied as well to e ...
(specifically illicit ripping of
copyrighted
A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, education ...
content, i.e.,
piracy
Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and other valuable goods. Those who conduct acts of piracy are called pirates, v ...
) by making the process artificially time-consuming. For example, a
feature film
A feature film or feature-length film is a narrative film (motion picture or "movie") with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole presentation in a commercial entertainment program. The term ''feature film'' originall ...
pressed on a dual-layer Blu-ray (the most common variant for commercial movies) can take up to 90 minutes to rip at 2×, while ripping the same film without Riplock would take half an hour or less even with a power-limited slim drive (and potentially as little as 12 minutes with a modern
half-height
A drive bay is a standard-sized area for adding hardware to a computer. Most drive bays are fixed to the inside of a case, but some can be removed.
Over the years since the introduction of the IBM PC, it and its compatibles have had many form ...
drive and capable system). This theory is lent credence by the fact that nearly all pre-Riplock drives were already calibrated to not spin faster than necessary during real-time video playback, and modern drives not incorporating Riplock continue to be.
Some Riplock drives can be restored to full functionality by applying a third-party firmware
patch
Patch or Patches may refer to:
Arts, entertainment and media
* Patch Johnson, a fictional character from ''Days of Our Lives''
* Patch (''My Little Pony''), a toy
* "Patches" (Dickey Lee song), 1962
* "Patches" (Chairmen of the Board song) ...
or, if Riplock was not part of the drive originally but became added through an update, reverting to an earlier revision of the official firmware. Because optical drive firmware is rarely intended to be modified by end users, this will typically void a drive owner's
warranty
In contract law, a warranty is a promise which is not a condition of the contract or an innominate term: (1) it is a term "not going to the root of the contract",Hogg M. (2011). ''Promises and Contract Law: Comparative Perspectives''p. 48 Cambri ...
, especially in the former case.
References
{{Reflist
External links
Riplock firmware patch DVD