Watermarking at the Audio Level Complements Protecting theatrical releases from piracy is made easier with video watermarking.
Detecting an undetectable audio watermark embedded in the soundtrack of audio or video content is a robust form of anti-piracy technology that prevents any unauthorised content from playing back. Digital-to-analog (D/A) and analog-to-digital (A/D) attacks used by pirates of premium video content can now be countered by audio watermarking.
The rise of OTT platforms and premium content delivery networks, as well as changes in how movies are served and played in theatres, has necessitated the use of audio watermarking as a defence against premium video content piracy. The watermark should be able to withstand attacks like cropping, as well as more advanced audio processing operations like time-scale modification, in order to be effective.
When a signal is relayed over a public announcement system with a microphone tapping on it, premium content with audio watermarking – which is used in conjunction with video watermarking – becomes useless. Spread spectrum watermarking (SSW) is a widely used method for implementing such schemes. So that the signal energy is undetectable at any frequency, it requires sending a narrow-band signal across a wide bandwidth. Watermark removal requires the addition of significant amounts of noise across all frequency bands, which effectively renders the accompanying premium video content inoperable. “
An additional layer of security on DRM protected content and robustness has become a requirement with the rapid growth of OTT and VoD services, making audio watermarking a requirement for all devices. End-to-end content security is ensured, and video watermarking is greatly enhanced by this technology, which aids content owners in fending off A/D and D/A attacks.
It’s essential that audio watermarking solutions strike a balance between the process’ robustness and an audio signal’s ability to be detected. Technology has made it possible to track any shady theatrical releases throughout the movie distribution network.
Advanced access content system (AACS) is a DRM and content distribution standard designed to prevent premium content from being illegally copied and distributed. Legitimate copies of theatrical releases can be distinguished from illegal ones by the presence of a watermark or AACS key that matches the original.
Encapsulation and verification of ownership are possible with audio watermarking. It’s no surprise that it’s one of the most studied and constantly evolving technology areas for protecting Hollywood studios’ theatrical releases from piracy.
Storage registration is the first step in the registration process for packaging jobs. A job name, a unique Content ID for the content to be packaged, input and output storage registered during the storage setup, the path of the source video file excluding the bucket name, security settings to apply DRM and watermarking to the content, streaming format for packaging, etc. are some of the details for completing the registration process.
In addition, the panel provides access to all pending and currently running packaging tasks. The DASH/HLS watermarked content is stored in the output storage content path that was set during the job registration process after the packaging process is successful. Finished packaging jobs and their associated details can be viewed in a history panel provided by some SaaS providers.