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DVD cookies

Let DVDs store "state" information
 
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Provide a means for the DVD scripting language to store 'state' information which persists when a DVD is ejected. If cookies each contain a 24-byte title and 8 bytes of data, then 1024 of them would fit in a 24LC256 EEPROM chip. Since most DVD players already have a small EEPROM chip anyway (for storing settings and the region code), enlarging this to one that could hold cookies would add very little to the cost of the player.

Disks could then be designed so that fancy annoying graphics would only appear the first time the disk was loaded and could be switched off on subsequent times. A menu in the DVD could allow people to delete cookies from DVD's they wanted to watch from scratch, and a "geek mode" could allow people to adjust the cookie on a DVD if desired.

Cookie-enhanced disks would test for machine support of cookies and--if absent--behave normally, but with the extra features disabled.

supercat, Jan 24 2003

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       It is my impression that some players do this already. They merely cache the variables that the menu software on the DVDs can use already to implement stateful menus.
krelnik, Jan 24 2003
  

       Really? What's this feature called, and how can I know which machines support it?   

       The only DVD's I've seen that offered "stateful menus" required the user to write down a code after using the DVD and re-enter the code next use.
supercat, Jan 24 2003
  

       Also nice would be having a player that remembers settings such as subtitles, language, wide-screen vs. pan & scan, comentaries enabled, and even last postition while viewing.
ry4an, Jan 25 2003
  

       I wish this enhancement could be used to bypass the FBI's 'don't copy this DVD or we'll hunt you down' warning after the first time it is used. Most DVD's can't be manually skipped past this message.
Cedar Park, Feb 04 2003
  
      
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