Editing PlayStation (console) (section)

=== Copy protection system ===
Sony was aware that using CDs for game distribution could have left games vulnerable to [[Video game piracy|piracy]], due to the growing popularity of [[CD-R]] and [[optical disc drive]]s with burning capability. To preclude illegal copying, a proprietary process for PlayStation [[Compact Disc manufacturing|disc manufacturing]] was developed that, in conjunction with an augmented optical drive in Tiger H/E assembly, prevented burned copies of games from booting on an unmodified console. Specifically, all genuine PlayStation discs were printed with a small section of deliberate irregular data, which the PlayStation's optical pick-up was capable of detecting and [[Frequency modulation|decoding]]. Consoles would not boot game discs without a specific wobble frequency contained in the data of the disc [[pregap]] sector (the same system was also used to encode discs' [[Regional lockout|regional lock-outs]]).{{sfn|Green|2015|p=255}} This signal was within [[Rainbow Books|Red Book]] CD tolerances, so PlayStation discs' actual content could still be read by a conventional disc drive; however, the disc drive could not detect the wobble frequency (therefore duplicating the discs omitting it), since the laser pick-up system of any optical disc drive would interpret this wobble as an oscillation of the disc surface and compensate for it in the reading process.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|date=26 March 2018|title=Sony's Clever but Flawed PlayStation Copy Protection—And How They Might Have Fixed It|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUwSOfQ1D3c|access-date=14 November 2020|via=[[YouTube]]|archive-date=20 November 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201120021006/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUwSOfQ1D3c|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="patent">{{cite web|date=16 August 1999|title=Digital compact disc player security system reproducing method and apparatus|url=https://patents.google.com/patent/US6304971| archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20211001/https://patents.google.com/patent/US6304971| archive-date=1 October 2021|url-status=live|access-date=22 September 2020|via=[[Google Patents]]|language=en}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

As the disc authenticity was only verified during [[booting]], this copy protection system could be circumvented by swapping any genuine disc with the copied disc, while [[modchip]]s could remove the protection system altogether by tricking the console into thinking the wobble is there on the pirated disc.<ref name=":0" /> Sony untruthfully suggested in advertisements that discs' unique black undersides played a role in copy protection. In reality, the black plastic used was transparent to any infrared laser and did not itself pose an obstacle to duplicators or computer CD drives, although it may have helped customers distinguish between unofficial and genuine copies.<ref name=":0" />{{Self-published inline|certain=yes|date=May 2022}}