Movie and software piracy are quite serious problems nowadays and even if some important steps have been taken towards the eradication of this phenomenon the results are still not quite visible. And in order to help the movie industry in its struggle against pirates, Cinea, a subsidiary of Dolby Laboratories, has launched the S-View SV510 Secure Video Key, whose purpose is to extend playback of S-View secure content to laptops and desktop PCs.

The device, which is quite small and lightweight, works in a very simple manner. The user must simply plug it in the USB 2.0 port of their laptop or desktop computer and, after installing the accompanying software and registering the device, they can play back the S-View secure content from a DVD or download it from the Internet. The authorization to play the S-View secure content is carried with the DVD image file, thus ensuring secure delivery. At playback, the video content is decrypted and watermarked using Cinea's special watermarking technology, which includes the date and time of playback as well as the specific playback device used to access the content for user accountability.

Moreover, the content owners can prevent the viewing of future content on the lost or stolen SV510 by simply deregistering the device to ensure exclusion from any future playback lists. In the event the S-View secure content is lost or stolen without the SV510, the content is simply unplayable. So, this device could prove to be a very good solution for preventing piracy if the movie companies decide to adopt it on a large scale, but seeing just how determined hackers are, a counter-solution could be developed quite soon.