Download And Burn Movies Available Soon

An anonymous reader writes "According to an article from PC World, a source close to the CSS Managed Recording forum said that technology which allows movies to be downloaded and burned to blank DVDs, using the same content-protection system as commercial discs, received official approval on Thursday. 'The technology will require discs that are slightly different from the conventional DVD-Rs found in shops today. The burned discs will be compatible with the vast majority of consumer DVD players ... Despite Thursday's approval, services that allow consumers to legally download and burn movies in their own homes are unlikely to appear quickly. The DVD CCA said it will be initially restricted to professional uses. These might include kiosks in retail stores where consumers can purchase and burn discs in a controlled environment.'"

Soon?

[by Anonymous Coward]

I've been doing it for years.

Re:Soon?

[uncleFester (29998)]

Frankly, I don't get this great desire for direct-delivery, or downloadable, or burn-your-own type of delivery. Why? Well, hell.. you're already getting charged an arm + leg today for the media and its content.. so to make it better you're going to do more of the providor's work for them? You're going to use your bandwidth, burn to your media for the content? What kinda sense is that?

And further.. to continue the cries downloading is the way to go (especially in the middle of this HD-format battle we're in),instead of a shiny silvery thing (complete with its case, booklet, promo materials) we're going to be satisfied with a download direct to a black box? You think that box is going to have any to get that content out of it? Especially if the RIAA/Hollywood/Insert-Your-Favorite-Boogeyman-here , et al have their way about it?

I've been watching this trend with music (iTunes, etc..), I see people think it's the cat's balls for video.. and I simply don't get it. Or I'm to materialistic and prefer the tangible product in my hand compared to some stuff on a harddrive somewhere which is (imho) prone to higher levels of control or loss due to failure..

-r (or maybe it's just another sign i'm getting older.. :)

Re:

[garcia (6573)]

Or I'm to materialistic and prefer the tangible product in my hand compared to some stuff on a harddrive somewhere which is (imho) prone to higher levels of control or loss due to failure..

People think it's better until 52GB of their music collection vanishes from their system because they forgot to de-authorize their computers, their music player HD crashes, and they don't have any other backup medium.

People think it's better because EVERYONE else tells them it is. Yay, having an iPod is cool. Ooh, shiny

Ohhhhh

[strack (1051390)]

Swing and a miss. nonstandard dvds, nice try, please come again.

Re:

[Kjella (173770)]

Swing and a miss. nonstandard dvds, nice try, please come again.

Well, if I remember the way CSS works correctly then it's simply a matter of DVDs where sector 0 is writable. That was the way they prevent 1:1 copies.
Pressed disks, DVD masters: Sector 0 CSS key, Sector 1-whatever data.
Consumer disks: Sector 0 all zeros, Sector 1-whatever data.

So it's not as much "non-standard" as it's probably "Will be used to burn a movie and we'll charge you as much as one"...

Yawn...

[by Anonymous Coward]

The burned discs will be compatible with the vast majority of consumer DVD players ...

This is a lie. And if I learned something from history (and e.g. Sony advertising), then that this is a lie...

The DVD CCA said it will be initially restricted to professional uses. These might include kiosks in retail stores where consumers can purchase and burn discs in a controlled environment.

That's not professional use. It's a business model that will fail. If I learned something from history, then that this is one of

I don't get it

[kniazvadim (628809)]

So I am going to walk into Best Buy, walk up to a kiosk, pick the movie I want to watch, wait 5-10 minutes for it to download and burn on this special DVD, pay for it, and walk out? As opposed to me just grabbing the movie off the shelf and skipping the burning-downloading part?

Re:

[tomstdenis (446163)]

There is apparently a large gap between reality and media execs. Nothing really new here.

Tom

Need more imagination.

[vhold (175219)]

Perhaps the advantage is that you'll be able to gain access to a giant catalog of movies as opposed to simply what is in stock? Furthermore, locations could offer this huge selection of movies without even having stock?

A good example would be a kiosk at a supermarket. You could come in, choose a movie, swipe your credit card, start the burn process, when it's done, it could set it aside until you swipe your credit card again, after you are done shopping. It could use DVD-RW and predict demand for popular movies and keep recycling disks, so that if you pick a popular movie it doesn't even have to burn it. It could do this all through the night and at 10 minutes a disk (conservative estimate) could produce 144 DVDs a day. More likely it'd be closer to double that.

Even more obvious is that it could be integrated into an online service that would let you choose movies and guarantee their availability when you go to the store. Browse online then simply pick it up when you go for groceries. Convenience and instant gratification.

Re:

[vhold (175219)]

Well, the nice thing is that it could just have more drives and produce more output at a rather low incremental cost to the machine. If it rents out a 1000 DVDs a day, that'd be pretty extreme. The machine would pay for itself in less then a month?

A DVD costs pennies to make/transport....

[Joce640k (829181)]

>"I think that this will reduce considerably the costs for the distribution of a movie"

A DVD costs pennies to make/transport (I get plenty of them for free with magazines/etc.). Installing all the hardware/infrastructure needed for this system will cost a fortune.

CSS??

[DigitAl56K (805623)]

using the same content-protection system as commercial discs

So why bother? It's been broken for over 7 years. Unless...

The technology will require discs that are slightly different from the conventional DVD-Rs found in shops today ... ahhh, this will maybe prevent ripping? Or will there be media taxes imposed? Will I need to install special drivers to burn to or read from the discs? Would such drivers, if required, govern my PC playback and 'secure' access to the discs?

Re:

[Inverted Intellect (950622)]

Slightly different? Well then... by definition, these will probably not even be DVDs at all...

There're already a large number of DRMd CDs sold in stores which don't fit the definition, as outlined by the standard, of CDs...

Another disc format ?

[by Anonymous Coward]

computer store conversation

customer: hello, my son says i need some blank dvds for my holiday video
Salesman: certainly sir which would you require ?
customer: iam not sure
salesman: well is it DVD-R, DVD+R, DVD-HD, DVD-RAM, DVD+RW, DVD-RW, DVD+DL, DVD-DL, DVDRW+DL, DVDRW-DL ?
customer: erm iam not sure DVDR i was told
salesman: ok lets say its DVD-R what speed would you like?
customer: ??
salesman: 1-4x, 2-8x or 4-16x
customer: ???
salesman: and would it be an Organic layer based disc or Gold archival format ?
customer: forget it i'll just have a box of VHS tapes please

Re:Another disc format ?

[speculatrix (678524)]

customer: forget it i'll just have a box of VHS tapes please
Salesman: would you like Sony, TDK, Memorex or own brand
Customer: er, Sony
Salesman: what grade would you like? XB, XBR, XBR-E
... ad nauseam ...

Convenience for who?

[JonnyCalcutta (524825)]

All this saves is retail storage space - ie it is convenient for the studios and the stores because they don't need the same warehouse and shelf space. Its not convenient for me. I can already walk to the Global Video 50 yards from my house and buy (or rent) DVDs. Except now, if its not a popular choice, I have to wait at a booth until a 4GB file downloads.

It just reinforces in my mind that consumers are merely obstacles between the studios and their money, and technology is merely a lubricant to ease the movement of money from us to them. Nothing else matters - in fact anything else is an obstacle.

Waste of money.

[Purity Of Essence (1007601)]

Pressing real discs is much cheaper than burning DVD recordables. If you are dealing in quantities over just a few hundred, real replication is the faster, more reliable, and more economical solution. This idea makes no sense for the consumer or the business owner and there is nothing convenient about it. The only possible good that can come out of it is the increased availability of obscure DVD titles that there is currently no retail shelf space for. But it's never going to happen because this business model doesn't make sense for any business that is interested in volume: a requirement in the retail media channel. Too much overhead in terms of time, equipment, and pissed off customers stuck with useless or failing DVD recordable discs. The concept will fail before obscure titles ever are considered for this kind of duplication.

Anyone think...

[Darundal (891860)]

...that perhaps this isn't supposed to succeed? Think about it; the studios want this to happen. First, they say "downloadable and burnable movies for the masses!" Second, they come up with a business model designed to fail and a process designed to be less convenient for the consumer. Third, sales end up in the gutter. Fourth, they discontinue offering movies in this manner. Fifth, anytime someone starts talking about how movies should we should be able to download movies and burn them to discs, the studios point at this and say that the model is unfeasable. Sixth, they are able to label almost anyone who has a movie on a disc that wasn't burned by them as a pirate.

they have not let go of their strangle hold yet

[v1 (525388)]

The technology will require discs that are slightly different from the conventional DVD-Rs found in shops today

You can bet those disks, which cost them a nickel to make, will cost you $7 apiece. They are not going to stop robbing us, they are just trying to make it less obvious.

Why own?

[pacalis (970205)]

Most dvd's aren't watched more than once, and with increasing streaming services, why would I want to pay full price for these?

Still, for those rare dvd's one does want to own, why would you want a shit burned DVD with some crap injet label instead of a slick case with insert?

Re:huh?

[mumblestheclown (569987)]

Umm, because now they can offer a much larger catalogue and you have even less excuse than ever for pirating something that you claim is rare / not available locally?

Re:

[mumblestheclown (569987)]

while you're ranting on about your military/intellectual property/industrial complex, you may want to consider:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rationalization_(psyc hology) [wikipedia.org]

Re:Legal in own home?

[Goaway (82658)]

I SAY WHAT IS LEGAL IN MY OWN HOME.

The preferred argument of wife-beaters everywhere!

Re:Legal in own home?

[lhbtubajon (469284)]

Mods, this is NOT a troll. It is a really good point.

At what point does the "legal in my own home" argument fail to hold water? And if it fails to work at some point, what does that say about the entire argument?

For example, is it legal to shoot heroin in your house? How about meth? Is it legal to pass counterfeit bills to your drug dealer? Can you deprive him of liberty if he calls you on it? Is murder legal in your own home? How about arson to hide the evidence of the previous "legal" activities?

If your argument fails at some point in that chain, does it continue to work for your original "legal in my own home" actions?

Re:

[Odiumjunkie (926074)]

> For example, is it legal to shoot heroin in your house? How about meth?

It sure as hell should be.

How about "victimless" or "consensual" crimes should be legal in your own home? In fact, how about we just get rid of consensual crimes altogether? [mcwilliams.com]