Bootleggers have found a way to pirate Blu-ray?

Here we go again. I guess this was bound to happen eventually. I just didn’t figure it would be this quick. The Wall Street Journal reports that bootleggers using a type of Blu-ray ripping software, have figured out a way to extract the high-def content from copyright protected Blu-ray discs, and then recompress the video with a compression format developed by Sony and Panasonic, for use in HD camcorders.

According to the report, while the new file is 720p, instead of the original disc’s 1080p format, it allows the pirates to encode the film onto a DVD-9 disc instead of a higher priced Blu-ray disc, which is far cheaper to mass produce. The completed DVD-9s are then packaged in Blu-ray cases to fool consumers who, for the most part, don’t know the difference.

While the bootlegged disc haven’t appeared anywhere outside of Asia, MPAA-Pacific director Mike Ellis told the paper,

We are concerned and are assigning priority to this issue.

Read the entire report RIGHT HERE.