New HD DVD discs will hit the store shelves next week that won't play on some players because of compromises to the AACS protection system. Customers will have to update their player's software, according to InfoWorld on Monday.

The Advanced Access Content System (AACS) that protects Blu-ray and HD DVD disks has been under severe assault. Hackers recently found hidden keys on an HD DVD disc, and so the Device Key Revocation system will now be implemented that keeps a player with older security from playing new discs.

"It's the first time the content industry has used the revocation feature, and probably not the last. But supporters of AACS said it is designed to roll with the punches from hackers," InfoWorld reported.

"The attacks -- all of them -- represent only attacks on individual players," said Michael Ayers, an attorney who is chairman of the business group of AACS Licensing Administrator, the trade group that represents vendors supporting the technology, which include Sony, Toshiba, The Walt Disney, and Warner Bros.

"They don't represent hacks of AACS itself," he said, adding that the industry expects more hacking attempts."

No one is sure how long the AACS can stand up to these assaults. At each cycle of compromise and fix, the hackers learn more and more about AACS. Some expect the new fix to only last about three weeks because the game inherently favors the attackers.

Alex Halderman, a doctoral candidate in computer science at Princeton saw an extremely sophisticated level of reverse engineering in the latest compromise of the AACS. "This may be the test in whether AACS is going to provide any value to the movie studios in the long run," Halderman said. "If the new version is broken very shortly ... then it looks like the long-term prospects of AACS are very bleak. We'll probably see this game repeated forever."