Sonic Solutions today said that it has licensed Macrovision software to provide what the firms call the industry's first comprehensive protection solution for custom manufacturing of secure DVDs. The two companies claim the new partnership allows them to provide worthwhile security solutions for content owners who have been wary of insufficient digital ripping protection on DVDs.

Under the partnership, Macrovision will implement its RipGuard technology, which it announced in February of 2005, as well as ACP technology, both of which help to prevent digital and analog ripping. This security will be integrated into Sonic's DVD On Demand service, which has been licensed by other companies like Movielink. Sonic's software allows for custom-produced DVDs and, as the standard, incorporates Content Scramble System (CSS) technology for content security.

With Macrovision's integration of RipGuard and ACP, there will be a triple-lock system of sorts for the content stored on the DVD. According to the companies, this will prevent digital ripping from computer DVD drives, analog copying from a DVD player to VCR, and everything in between.

Sonic and Macrovision claim that the increased strain of video encoding for the additional security measures will not impact the quality of the audio or video. The new software solution with the integration between both companies is expected to be available by the end of the year.