Hollywood studios desperate to protect their copyrights from unscrupulous critics had been planning to send out this year’s Oscar “screeners” on encrypted DVDs that can only be viewed on specially equipped players which would be distributed to Oscar voters across North America. But with awards season fast approaching, the technology is reportedly nowhere near ready, and the studios are in danger of a similar PR debacle to the one it faced last year, when the industry tried to do away with screeners altogether.