Reports are starting to pile up of unhappy encounters with a new copy-protection system that Sony is baking into commercial DVD release and which renders certain discs useless on older DVD players.

Suspect titles include regular (not Blu-ray) releases of "Casino Royale,' "Stranger Than Fiction" and "The Holiday," all of which render nothing more than a brief title screen on certain DVD players (including some Sony models).

DRM snoops say it's the return of ARccOS, a somewhat discredited anti-copying system Sony toyed with a year ago. The technology was quickly subverted by makers of DVD-copying software, but is robust enough to flummox some DVD players made by RCA, Toshiba, Philips and others.

One irked customer was told by Sony that it's up to the manufacturers of the DVD players to update their firmware to accommodate the new DRM.

Sony really sucks at DRM[ZD Net]

Sony Pictures DVD’s have a new a copy protection that makes the movies unplayable on some Sony (& other makes) DVD players![Sony Strikes Again]