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Yet Another Degrading DVD
Aire Libre writes "Efforts to eliminate price competition from cheap DVD rentals and used DVD sales appear to be speeding up. Flexplay Technology's EZ-D self-destructing DVD, which goes dark in a lagardly 48 hours, has been surpassed by a French DVD-D that goes dark in a speedy eight hours. Because neither technology has anything to do with piracy, they both appear marketed at movie studios that might wish to drive up the price of DVD rentals. Presumably, once throw-away DVDs catch on, the studios can for the first time prevent price competition between rental and sales of DVDs by charging more for a regular DVD (rentable and re-saleable) and having the retail sales copies disappear 8 hours after opening so that no one can re-sell them, lend them, rent them or give them to charity. This will also suppress competition from rentals and used copies against currently uncompetitive online movie downloads."
That's just great. Lets overflow landfill after landfill with disposable view-once or twice DVDs, and use up those fossil fuel supplies even faster making these disposable frisbees. Oh yeah, while we're at it, lets gouge the customer's wallets more on regular DVDs that don't self destruct...
The combinatiom of these things does nothing to stop piracy, it may even increase it. You could rent one of these and copy it in the first 8 hours to a regular DVD-R and enjoy it forever.
Urge to post... fading... fading... RISING!... fading... fading... gone.
How can we watch 9 & 1/2 weeks?
I'll just rip it and burn a copy before I watch it.
"Da ist ein Technölüst in mein Unterpanten!"
These disks should not be used for backing up valuable data
That man tried to kill mah Daddy
This still won't prevent me from buying the cheaper copy and ripping it, er... backing it up... onto my hd for later viewing...
I dunno, but this sure looks like a good way to give out screeners. It should make things harder at least.
They can still rip it before they watch it though... guess there's no easy solution for that problem.
I am a speak english. Do you not? - Saroto
but too many people are lazy and slugs - landfills keep filling up and roadside trash increases. sigh, always going for the $$ my penny's worth anyway
The DVD was going to have a video of someone hurling insults at the viewer. ...'Cause BDSM is pretty difficult to do, virtually.
"My God...It's full of ads!" -Fry, about the Internet, Futurama
What happens when you want to get a dvd to watch the next day?
48 hour dvd disks are much more suitable for rental.
Everyone will have to do this, or else people will just stop buying DVDs from people X. Sure they might miss out on some movies, but people would rather that then not being able to own a DVD.
Also, the distributors who use these DVDs better make sure they don't distribute the same movie in VHS format, or else people will just go back to that. How this helps the distributors I'll be fucked if I know (it is possible to pirate videos, just before DVD became popular they were experimenting in copy-protection, but there would have been work-arounds).
I really don't get the point to this, this will only increase piracy. People like to own stuff they buy. If you make them think they don't own it, they won't buy it if there is an alternative (even an illegal one) available.
inject all those massive amounts of non-renawable energy and chemicals into creating a tiny plastic disc to be thrown away after use (but will take 2000 years to degrade into bio-usable matter)
It's sad that most consumers won't 'get it'.... The disposable DVD costs more to make, has the same data on it, and costs 25% the cost of a normal dvd.... which is identical without the degrading chemicals...
I heard about the first degrading disk a long time ago, and I really see it as THE WORST invention in many years.... It's a horrible product for consumers, and a clear example of many things that are horribly wrong with companies today.
Do movie companies really think that the buying public is *THAT* stupid? Why would I want to buy a DVD that self destructs in 8 hours. Say I buy it leave it on the top of the TV until Friday open it up and find that it's dark due to a packaging malfunction? Who is going to refund my money? If the movie comapnies insist on this path I for one will not be buying DVD's
Meddle thou not in the affairs of Dragons, for thou art crunchy and with most anything.
These things are designed to die X hours after the case is opened. This is just a guess, but I'm betting they won't be able to keep these things stable in the box. Shipping, mass production etc. are going to play hell with them.
DeviantArt Page
NSFW8 Hours?!? WTF is that. That's hardly enough time to watch some movies. What with all the comentary from this director, and that actor, and rewatching it again with the in-movie game.
Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
It's not gonna work. Too much to dispose of. Hm.
So if you can only watch it for 8 hours, what's the point? What is the incentive for people to buy it when they could watch it once in a cinema (for example) with a much better screen size and audio system, rather than on their TV screen at home? DVD lending will always be around, they can't do much about that, but if they want to cut down on piracy they should try making the DVDs copy protected.
Due to lack of disk space this user has been discontinued
May be to stop movie/award screeners from distributing the films they are given(supposedly a major source of hi-def piracy, esp. when a movie is new) thats about the only legitimate use I can see. However, it wouldn't take a genious to copy the film first to a normal dvd, then watch it. :P
Oh well, as bandwidth improves, downloading movies(legally) will *hopefully* become the norm of after-theatre distribution. But then again, the MPAA could always emulate the enormously successful strategy of the RIAA and ignore new distribution methods till you are pretty much forced to do something about it
yup... think i could just about rip and burn a new copy in 8 hrs!
Calm down, guys. They've tried self-destructing DVDs before and they didn't sell then either.
Remember, the technology has only been developed. The movie studios haven't bought in yet. And if they do, it'll only be a financial disaster for them.
One of hardware engineering labs involved etching our own circuits boards before sealing them with resin. Surely, it would simply be a case of opening one of these DVD's enclosed by a similar substance (car wax?) to prevent the degradation?
Vintage computer adverts: http://www.vintageadbrowser.com/computers-and-software-ads
The Mission Impossible movies are going to have to think of a new way to transmit mission information. Once this technology becomes completely mainstream, the whole "this tape will self-destruct in 5 seconds" won't be so hip and cool, and you'll hear moms in the theater saying "Just like our Little Mermaid discs at home".
Anyone have any ideas for Mission Impossible to stay ahead of the game?
this is AWESOME for video rental companies. if you worked at Blockbuster (etc) wouldn't it be great to not have to restock shelves? and i would LOVE to not have to return my videos, i can throw them away instead. as a consumer i totally support this!
Nobody in their right mind would buy one of these discs. Unlimited-view DVDs can be easily found for $10-15, and a five day rental is usually about $3.79. They would have to sell these for $0.99 to get anyone to buy them, and even then I imagine that most people would much rather spend a bit more money to get an item that they can watch again whenever they feel like it without running back to the store to buy another copy.
Also, think of the environmental impact of these disposable discs! Thousands of them would be thrown away every day, and our landfill sites would quickly overflow with these discs. It is also a complete waste of energy, as using the same amount (or less) of energy could easily produce an item that could be viewed/rented a practically infinite number of times.
What type of idiots think this stuff up? Do they really think this is going to help piracy or something? Just copy it in the eight hours you have it!
They should make them a bit more exciting. When you have finished watching the DVD it should display "This DVD will self-destruct in ten, nine, eight..." so you have to quickly take it out of the player and throw it out of the window just before it explodes. Would make watching DVDs much more fun, and would stop you falling asleep during movies.
I suspect most will buy it and rip thier own copy. I'm planning on getting a DVD burner anyways because I've got two small kids. DVD's don't last long around kids. The "Spin Doctor" polisher helps a lot, but only to an extent.
From now on, I'll just keep the master copy stored away safe and only give them copies to play.
Joe
A goal is a dream with a deadline
Or, how 'bout, a DVD that, after 8 hours, fades into an old Jerry Lewis movie -- worse, by far, than just going black....
"All great things are simple & expressed in a single word: freedom, justice, honor, duty, mercy, hope." --Churchill
People just don't want to buy something that becomes worthless as a matter of course, and they probably never will. As far as I'm concerned, these products are just interesting exercises in chemical engineering, and nothing more.
-=20
me doesn't live for do [DEPRECATED]
Now the studios expect Blockbuster to carry 3000 copies per location to get that same number of rentals? Or order 30 copies per week, every week, for the same time period?
Shyeah, right. Blockbuster's a big enough corporation that they won't hesitate to tell the studios to get stuffed on this.
I seriously doubt that any company will ever put these DVD's to use in the general consumer market - its just too risky! Aside from the potential to actually INCREASE piracy as opposed to decrease it, think of the monumental bad press that they would get, not only from those of us "in-the-know" about such things, but the casual consumer as well. This is to say nothing about consumers' rights groups and environmentalists.
If someone *were* to take a gamble on these, I bet the geeks in the world could find some kind of solution to either remove the darkness or penetrate it pretty quick. Failing that, its still readable (and thus, ripable) in the first 8 hours anyways, which once more leads back to the piracy-increase arguement.
(On the subject of penetrating the darkness, if someone were to just turn down the potentiometer on the DVD drive's laser [as is sometimes done in XBox Thompson DVD drives to help them perform to spec], do you think that would be enough to "punch through" as it were, and still allow enough light to escape upon reflection to allow reading after the blackout has set in?)
There is no mod option "-1: Disagree" for a reason. "Overrated" is not an acceptable substitute. Post something instead.
The new disposable DVD will cost more to manufacture and they will charge less for it at the retail point. Doesn't this just beg the question of their ethics and business practices?
Stay tuned for new sig...
While I agree with the majority here that this is not a good idea for rental DVDs, I think it would be a good thing for awards show screeners (i.e., Oscars, Golden Globes, etc).
I don't know if it's the academy members that do the ripping or the people they loan them out to after screening it, but if it's the latter, this would help reduce the problem.
<?php while ($self != "asleep") { $sheep_count++; } ?>
Once Video-OnDemand it pervasive won't the idea of buying or renting these things become obselete.
Imagine this...the full TV/Movie library on Demand...anytime you want it. Let's say $50 a month. Would it be worth it? You could bring up "Tails of the Golden Monkey: Episode 7" at 2:13am.
Other than portability to take it to your mom's house in BFE...why do you need a hard copy?
Reuse the space in your living room that you were using for that Danielle Steele movie collection. Those VHS tapes aren't needed.
Any other ideas?
Sean D.
"Hmm. I am to metaphor cheese as metaphor cheese is to transitive verb crackers!"
While currently the exception and not the rule, LOTR is a long movie in itself. There are many additional hours of bonus footage. With this technology, you have no chance of watching any of the bonus footage. Guess you'll have to throw it away and watch it another time.
People have been copying cassette tapes for years. They had also been copying software for years (all of my software on my Amiga was pirated). They have also been copying VHS video's for years. But it was only until a year or two before I got my DVD player that they started making copy-protection for VHS videos.
So the question is, why then? What happened then that made everyone from that point onward paranoid about copy-protection? It's like America with terrorism. Before 9/11 your average-day joe didn't care about it. After 9/11 they did care. What was the 9/11 in the music, video and software industry?
The movie industry really needs to start focusing on making movies, like back in the old days. How damn long is it going to take for them to catch on that consumers dont like and wont buy their bullshit schemes like this?
movie guy 1: hey, check out this new technology i made that fucks the dvd as it gets played preventing it getting ripped
movie guy 2: cool! im gonna protect my movie [insert current shitty film title here] with it
consumer: fuck both you guys, im not putting up with this shit. kazaa here i come!
TIAEAE!
Hour 0: DVD Purchased. Child or sibling opens it while you are not looking. ...
Hour 5: Reinstall finish. Hunt for DVD burning/decrypt^H^H^H^H^H^H backup software begins.
Hour 6: DVDXCopy found and installed, read phase begins. You realize that you burned your last blank DVD last night.
Hour 7: You return from Staples with a rediculously priced 5pack. Burning begins.
Hour 8: You finish just in time to watch the light show on the back of this 'novel' disc. Perhaps a 48-hour version would be less stressful in the future.
Hour 1: You realize the package was opened, but do not know when. Hour 2: You finally get home, only to realize that your Windows machine is DOA and needs a reinstall.
So you're saying that glass, which can simply be remelted and recast, is more expensive than obtaining sillica, dyeing, melting, and casting it?
Yeah, right.
I definitely will not buy it if it is too expensive. Not many movies that I am willing to waste more time than I needed to finish it once. Make it more expensive just reduce the appeal of the movie exponentially (for me at least).
I personally don't copy CD or DVD, I buy the CD and DVD when the price is right and only if I like that songs or that movies.
If the studios want to push for supply/demand price adjustment, I am all for it. But I think reducing price will work better in this instance.
All you need to do is take the thing back the next day and demand a refund.
Say that when you tried to play it the DVD was already dead. How can they prove the air seal hadn't failed already or the disk was faulty due to a manufacturing defect.
Philip
Philip
Signatures are broken
So does this mean that the A/V quality of the film will degrade as I watch it? If this thing is slowly going dark over 8 hours after I open it and the movie is say 3 -> 4 hours long, will I notice a loss in quality as the film progresses?
I imagine that Hi-Fi DVD players will not like these discs one bit...
Everyone here will be gibbering about how much this sucks for rental movies and blah blah blah! WHO CARES!
This is an immensley kickass way of protecting ultra sensitive data. Especially for espionage situations. Operative gets caught with a DVD of sensitive files or somesuch? Damn sorry you can't decrypt 4gb 1024 bit PGP in under 8 hours!
Movie studios could probably cut down on staff stealing promo editions and leaking them onto the net before they are released. I'm not saying they could eliminate it, but it would sure as hell cut down on it!
Rock on, I say.
--
The last digit of pi is four.
now it will be more convenient to download movies than to rent them. ans since you can't rent movies via download, that means all movies will be free in the future.
Which means that pirates will get most of the proceeds of the DVD sales, bring it on, this'll a be great laugh.
2 wrongs dont make a right - but 3 lefts do
Here is America again consuming and disposing. I wish people would think about the environment for once.
I am totaly confused! If I go BUY a DVD from X and bring it home to watch it, 8 hours later it becomes useless. But I bought and paid for it shouldn't I be able to watch it every-day for the rest of my life? WTF! Instead they should just lower the price of DVD's. And besides at my local video shop you can buy 3 pre-owned DVD's for $20. $20 is cheap in comparison to: -renting a DVD($3.95) -blank DVD-R ($2) -good copy software ($0-$50) -my time (priceless)
I like-a do-the cha-cha.
In addition, all recycling programs will continue to be in place and new initiatives will continue to be developed. Currently, Flexplay is partnered with GreenDisk, a specialized electronic waste recycling company, along with local environmental organizations to offer several closed-loop recycling programs for ez-D. BVHE also is offering an incentive program to encourage consumers to recycle ez-D discs. Additional recycling options include mailing an expired ez-D disc back to GreenDisk, visiting www.ez-D.com for postage paid alternatives to mailing ez-D discs to GreenDisk and dropping expired ez-D discs at designated collection points in each local market. Additional details are currently available at www.ez-d.com.
Doesn't that INCREASE the motivation to copy it, download from the net, etc.? Get it cheaper then rip it?
Will sales of these self-destructing DVDs really be worth it? Will it really pay off? What market research has been done?
How many of these will be made with errors due to the manufacturing process and unexpected degredation? How do you do QA on something that self-destructs?
Even if the technology exists, I can't see it being worth it, and perhaps not even being applied on a large scale.
"The Sage treasures Unity and measures all things by it" - Lao Tzu
Someone ship a tonne of these thing to AOL and not tell them they are ghost disks.
flinging poop since 1969
--rhad
Slashdot needs to interview Natalie Portman.
The retail stores would have a large crowd of unhappy consumers within a week of a major release wanting to exchange the defective DVD for a new one. This would be a very bad PR risk for all involved in selling these.
The real use of this technology is sales demos, military operations, transfer of medical records, etc. Your new anti-Linux memos "Halloween Documents" would be a lot less likely to make it to ESR.
Get a free ipod.
I'll make money that goes blank in 8 hours, and buy them with that
It seems to me whomever did their market research forgot about consumers. No doubt the industry likes the idea but I seriously doubt many consumers will and therefore this will never become a viable product.
Anyone else have visions of the latest Rubber and Leather Monthly on DVD?
Or maybe they had released the monkey dance on DVD
I give up I'm shattered
Recycling, anything but cans, is actually more harmful to the environment than just throwing it away.
The two potential uses I can think of for disposable DVDs would be:
a) "screener" disks and
b) maybe giveaway disks on cereal boxes? Neither one of those even makes much sense. For the screener problem, this would introduce a nuisance copy protection measure. (Note to industry; have those ever done anything to prevent copying?) For cheap giveaways, I'm missing why you'd want kids not to play your commercials-for-Fox-programs disk as many times as they'd want.
But this product page calls these "the new video rental." For anything like a Blockbuster chain, these'd *cut profits*. Rental places don't want to be paying extra for the media that get thrown away, and they make a ton of their money on late fees. I could almost, almost, imagine a model with re-recordable disks and a deposit system, but even that would just create a big nuisance for both customers and the store, with no payoff for them. Moot point, these aren't re-recordable.
If you imagine them as one-time-only purchases (as in "I want to watch this movie, but only once"), the priced had danged well better be way less than a ticket at the multiplex.
Where's the blinkin' market? Who's going to sell this to the audience? What market is there? Steve Jobs couldn't pitch this crap...
It really is as if, in some incredible example of snake-eats-its-own-tail self-reflexive logic, media companies are working steadily to assault their own audiences and remove their own products from circulation. They rant about how they don't want customers to have "near perfect" versions of their stuff, because that'd let people rip them. (You want me to have an inferior version of your product?!?) They steadily try to introduce restrictive DRM measures that prevent people who DO want to buy their products from feeling comfortable about it. Presented with the original Napster, they try to conduct a scorched earth war with their audience.
We didn't choose to accept this mission. The tape should not self-destruct in two minutes.
"Fundamentalism" isn't about divine morality. It's about human authority.
I was around for the 70s. Razor blades got replaced with Bics. Ink cartridges got replaced with Bics. Where was the long-range vision then?
Another decade. Another mountain of junk plastic.
Perhaps if the movie industry didn't create an artificial environment for legalised extortion (namely region coding), the consumer would be more inclined to feel some guilt when copying movies...
Perhaps if the movie industry priced movies fairly in the first place (why are DVDs more expensive than VHS when DVD is obviously the cheaper media format of the two?), the consumer would be more likely to pay for product rather than steal it...
Gentoo Linux - another day, another USE flag.
At least in my country (France) it is legal to copy something you had legal access to (whether you buy it, rent it, borrow it from a library or have it broadcasted on TV or radio). Even camcording in a theater should be technically legal. ;)
It's the right to the "copie privee" (limited to personal use). I would have thought "fair use" was the same thing in US? (before DMCA crap).
Remember you USians won't break the DMCA with a bit to bit copy of a DVD
I'm not reading all these comments, but let me just say:
8 hours is enough time for me to copy 30 dvds between my computers. It's time for the MPAA (and France) to go back to the drawing board. OR JUST STOP.
schild
editor, f13.net
How many commenrcials do you see saying at the end: LoTR, *Own* it today!
If you own it , it's yours to do what you please. Copy, lend, destroy, etc
Imagine if they were more honest and said instead: LoTR, *license* it today!
Joe-six-pack would probably not be so enticed to fork over $ for something that he can't own outright.
Obama's legacy: (N)othing (S)ecure (A)nywhere and (T)error (S)imulation (A)dministration
Let's think about the largest player in the game...Blockbuster. Blockbuster has to actually have DVDs on-hand to rent to customers. Well if all these DVDs keep degrading then what is BB going to have to do...carry more inventory so where they might keep a new release for four months with 40 copies now you have to go out and multiply your inventory by 1000x. I don't go up the full way because this does give Blockbuster the opportunitiy to not replace DVD's as their popularity wanes. BB already gets some residual value today when they sell the DVDs they have rented though.
Now before anyone gets sneaky and says "well now anyone can rent out movies because they never have to be returned." Not too many folks are going to give up precious shelf space for something that will inherently create some distrust and confusion amongest consumers. No thanks.
By the time I post this it may be redundant, but this sounds awfully similar to the business model Divx tried to use and we know how well that went ;)
"It's better to be a pirate then join the Navy"
Bring this technology on! How long until some clever 6th grader figures out a way to stabilize the disk by applying clearcoat paint!
Sig? - yeah, whatever.
And I thought Coming to America (1988) Eddie Murphy
4 3/ ref=ed_oe_dvd/002-6288603-7095238
was Degrading enough (for black people that is)
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/63053103
I don't understand people developing this type of DVD
Either you want to store something for a _long_ time, than you use a DVD (or whatever media to store data.) or you just want to watch a movie and do not want to store the data, then you turn on your TV.
Shall this innovation just be an interim solution until video on demand is technically possible for the broad mass?
Wow, leave it to the media moguls to take a great idea and just run with it! We all remember how popular Divx players ( this kind, not this kind) were, and those let you watch the movie a whole three times before it wasn't yours any more! These guys know good products when they see them. I imagine a future where the lifespan of the degrading DVD is less than the viewing time of the movie itself, forcing the consumer to buy it twice so they can watch the whole thing! And it won't end with DVDs, no sir! Disposable durable goods are the way of the future. I envision cellular phones that melt in your hand in mid-call, cars that self-destruct after 3000 miles, computers that dissolve into their component atoms when they become obsolete... And then, we will build entire cities from the trash this creates! Our grandchildren won't have to go house-hunting, they'll just mine themselves a 1400 square foot condo near good schools and shopping. What times we're in for!
Why is it when my DVD, CD, TAPE, LP, 8 Track, Reel-Reel, or whatever media I paid for, I cant install another copy when the media is destroyed? I wouldn't mind at buying a license for music and movies but I should have a perpetual license for the "art" until I sell it. I should be able to get another copy, download it, install it on my media center, whatever I want to do with it until I sell that property rights.
I would rather have a license but the media industry wants you to buy a new copy based on media. So why should I buy something I already own (especial just because a new media format is released like DVDs and CDs)?
You'll "buy" the self-destructing kind for a couple of bucks in place of rentals, and pay $20-$30 for the Regular versions that don't self destruct.
The Self-Destructing CD's replace Rentals, where you have to worry about the people who rented it before you having smeared peanut butter all over it, or scratched it to shit, and the Rental Places have to deal with people returning the wrong disks in the packages, or blank packages.
The story summary has a serious typo, or the poster is on crack. Where the summary says "Presumably, once throw-away DVDs catch on, the studios can for the first time prevent price competition between rental and sales of DVDs by charging more for a regular DVD (rentable and re-saleable) and having the retail sales copies disappear 8 hours after opening so that no one can re-sell them, lend them, rent them or give them to charity. This will also suppress competition from rentals and used copies against currently uncompetitive online movie downloads."
The bold part is in error, they'll use 'em in place of rental DVD's, and they'll be able to sell them anywhere, rather than having to have something like Blockbuster's infrastructure. You'll just be able to buy the 48 Hour DVD for a couple of bucks, instead of renting one for a couple of bucks a day and returning it afterwards.
come for the naked robots, stay for the zombies
They'll be able to sell 48 hour self destruct DVD's in the regular retail chain. Why do you need Blockbuster and all it's overhead dealing with returns, chasing late fees, stock management, etc.
Just sell 'em at retail for a couple of bucks, and the purchaser get's 48 hours of viewing once they crack open the package or first play it. No returns, no lost DVD's, no damaged DVD's
..if you try to watch the LoTR series on these things.
Before that, you had to know someone that knew someone that knew someone.... With the Internet, suddenly you have "friends" everywhere. Least friendly enough to give you a copy of their copy.
Basicly, the time aspect disappeared. Before, you usually had to wait a while and dig around to get the latest and greatest fad. Nowadays they're released as fast or faster than retail.
Also, I think it might have something to do with DVDs having CSS. It would even it out "they both have it", no reason to stay on VHS. Unlike the music industry (which is still stuck on protection-less CDs) the video industry saw it early and made precautions.
The software industry always saw it. I remember floppies with special bad sectors as copy protection. They've been pirated since the very start.
Kjella
Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
Ever since I got a TiVo, I don't rent movies from blockbuster anymore. Why? Because Pay Per View is just too convenient with a TiVo. If I want to watch a PPV movie, I simply set up a recording of it. I can watch it as it happens or watch it later... or watch it much later - as long as I want to save the recording.
/. crowd to universally deride them. Isn't that like me telling you how you should spend your own money?
Which means that I pretty much NEVER rent from the video store anymore. PPV usually costs a little bit less than a video rental, I don't have to return anything, and I can keep it as long as I want. Other than the fact that the concept is really kind of insulting, decaying DVDs are irrelevant to me.
I suspect that they're going to be irrelevant to most people, too, which means that there's going to be almost no market for them. But if there is a market for them, who am I to say how other people spend their money? These things are only going to take off if there's a demand. If there isn't demand, they'll die. If there is demand, they'll sell. If they sell, I think it's a bit presumptuous of the
Key to financial independence: Spend less than you earn. Save and invest the difference. Do it for a long time.
What a stupid idea.
What happens if I get home, open the pack, then decide to take my girl-friend out for dinner instead. I get home, the DVD has 'expired', then what?
If this technology goes mainstream, piracy is going to grow rapidly, people are going to get highly pissed off. They will copy DVD's and then watch, or just download movies. It is a bad idea, abviously thought out by someone that knows nothing of watching movies.
What about 5 day specials from movie rental stores?
You've just given two examples where the replacement was more convenient.
Dealing with bottles of ink makes people unhappy. Handling straight razor blades, the same.
You've also ignored the way that most cartridge razors work. They're different. THey have multiple blades, frequently, mounted on spring mechanisms. They do lots of stuff that you couldn't do with a straight blade.
A 48 hour DVD instead of returning a DVD may take off. When a movie is insanely popular just after it comes out at the rental stores, they could have stacks of these cheap DVDs sitting around. Much easier than having enough stock of reusable DVDs.
What happens when you return to the store in the morning and say, "this DVD would not play last night."
No evidence... Cos it certainly wont play now!
So what your saying is that I should RIP it first then watch it?
I think I'll start investing in Philips.
I would rather be ashes than dust!
This sounds so MI2... exploding sunglasses and stuff. People will love it. Just make sure you get rid of that DVD before the eight hours are over.
I love C++
I only need 20 minutes to rip it. It seems like more than anything else, this technology is on its knees, BEGGING you to make a copy.
Point 2: I frequently open up a disc to check it out, read the book, look at the artwork, etc, and sometimes don't get around to actually watching the thing for weeks.
Of course, they will probably use this for totally cut-rate, disc-in-a-jewel-box, no booklet, no commentary, no extras crap versions. Knowing their market, they'll probably all be 4:3 pan & scan shit, too. Remember DivX (the original, BAD one)?
You forgot how disposable DVDs are mandated by the patriot act.
People won't pay more than $20 for a DVD. Rentals are already 1/4 the price of ownership. quit whining. this changes nothing, it just makes rental companies lives easier by minimizing inventory.
Reason, free market capitalism, and individualism
I'm referring, of course, to my willingness to buy, rent, or even entertain (pun intended) the notion of watching one -- when will these "entertainment moguls" learn that they can't just keep spitting in their (potential) customers' faces indefinitely and expect there to not (eventually) be a financial backlash?
Is piracy a problem for that industry? Sure, but guess what, guys: piracy's a problem for the SOFTWARE industry too, and (with some comical "crippleware" exceptions) WE'VE not resorted to self-destructing products to prevent the illegitimate distribution of OUR hard work! (Unfortunately, the self-destructing-product scheme only seems effective in preventing the legitimate distribution of something, but it's a high-priced lesson always learned too late.)
If it weren't so irritating I'd laugh, though, because this reminds me of the Hitchhiker's Guide's device of a "shoe event horizon". Plus, how long until someone tries the "but officer, I was just trying to get home with my DVD of Star Wars, Episode Eleven before it self-destructed!" excuse to get out of a speeding rap?
And I can't help but think there'll be a lot of people compulsively humming the Mission: Impossible theme on the way home with their movies; "Your mission, should you choose to accept it...this DVD will self-destruct in five seconds..."
This space intentionally left (almost) blank.
How many times has something that was seemingly impossible and way too costly been figured out by some tinkering person? Never say never.
First time I have to see a movie via a self destructing disc is the day I start ripping every rental rather than buying the disc.
And here I thought I might actually fill up a 400 dvd jukebox.
If these catch on, atmospherically sealed DVD players will catch on. Just keep your collection of cheap rentals in the sealed box, and pay only $2 per DVD.
Of course, I'm sure putting a DVD into air without oxygen violates the DCMA.
MPAA == Dumbasses.
Regardless what the they *want*, we're the one with the money. Homeusers are going to perceive this as a competitor with rentals and PPV, not sales, so they better be priced around rental rates if they want any traction with the people who are buying them.
$10 each? Not on your frickin' life!
$1 each? Where do I get em?
Reality is a harsh cold mistress.
"Lawyers are for sucks."
- Doug McKenzie
It doesn't take me 8 hours to copy a degraded DVD, if I can get them cheaper, what the hell do I care?
30 minuttes? ;)
If Google really cared they would fix Android Chrome to reflow text, instead of discriminating
Except this time, they're leaving out the 'pony up more funds' part. The disc degrades irreparably.
Whoever thought this was a good idea is obviously on the wrong side of the upcoming media wars. Let them be first to die.
The dummies who cooked up the hair-brained scheme are as resource-wasteful as AOL is. A movement has been afoot to force AOL to collect and properly shred/recycle the 10s of millions of disks they've dumped on millions of people over the years.
When I worked at an encoder/mux video tech company, I advocated and communicated that virtually ALL manufacturers equipment using umpteen amounts of plastic, foam, cardboard, wood, and metal should be required to recover and recycle or at least reuse the materials.
One problem is that for refund or RMA reasons, the recipients of the goods protected by all that material have to hang on to it so the goods are safely returned. Many can, and probably do, recycle them. However, the manufacturers would be forced to innovate and shrink their large products to things very small.
Merchandise packaging also needs to be reduced. I once heard and watched on a news expose (I suppose it could be referred to as such a thing) that MOST packaging is intentionally bright and colorful to induce impulse buying. Moreover the stuff is large to deter or prevent or expose shoplifting.
I have a strange and sad feeling that most people, especially in non-recycling communities (home-owners associations (some of my friends live in some), lazily-managed apartments, and poor areas) are STILL not doing enough to increase recycling.
The best way to deal with this problem is to educate people to not buy products that don't use recyclable packaging. A demo product can be on display, but the bought product gets taken home in the lowest-grade of ink possible so that recycling can be facilitated. A discount could be offered for purchasers who buy without the packaging. It would take getting used to, but it could be swung.
Previously: "Linux... Toward the Sunrise..." Now: "Linux... Toward the-- No, now, part of Every Sunrise"
Yet Another Degrading DVD
Has episode three already been released?
E.
Never rub another man's rhubarb - The Joker
...stop with the misleading headlines already. I want my pr0n!
Warning: May contain nuts
I can just imagine the heaps of shimmering garbage produced as a result of this idea. Consider how many of these would be produced if each "EZ-D" or whatever the f**k they're called is a one-watch-only disc.
Not to be an environmentalist or anything, but our garbage production is already out of control, and the manufacturing process for CDs and DVDs is already polutant enough. This is over the top.
This is a great example of when scientific researchers should pause and think "is this the right thing to do?" It's time the concept of ethics got reintroduced to science, but that's unfortunately not likely to happen.
Science, meet my good friend Ethics. Ah, you know each other! Well then, here's to old friends!
putfwd.com - 1GB Free file storage with a twist
All solutions targeted at reverse engineering the DVD-D to make it playable on a permanent basis are extremely costly and complex, if they can ever succeed;
Sounds like famous last words to me...
Anyway, the reparation cost would be much higher than the cost of a permanent DVD, and this would never justify the involvement of anybody in such an operation
Since when has that ever stopped a true geek?
The tech stuff also says that "some key data" is destroyed, not the entire disc; and that if the eight hours is up while you're watching it, the movie will still finish.
Here's my prediction - if they release it, there'll be a workaround available somehow, perhaps via a hacked DVD-ROM firmware?
Ydco co
Porn: if you're the average embarassed male, it's harder to return porn than to rent it in the first place.
Point of sale rentals: You can "rent" the movie without the hassle of returning it. It means rentals can be available in far more places.
Recycling: yes, they do recycle into usable materials.
This isn't supposed to alter the way the world watches movies, it's supposed to make it a lot better for some manufacturers and some consumers, some of the time. That's still a big market.
Golly Gosh I just love capitalism, fcuk the environment there's money to be made!And I have a patent on the "my sarcastic tone" tag so if you want to use it you have to give me money or you can hire the disposable version that turns into a "George W Stammer" after 8 hours.
to be about the release of Revolution OS II... hehe.
Plays violent online games as: Nerfherder76
"Facts are meaningless. You could use facts to prove anything that's even remotely true." - Homer Simpson
This has been tried when Circut City started selling divx Movies instead of DVDs. Divx discs where like dvd disks except you had to authorize them to play (I think you paid each time your viewed the movie). The idea was if you "rented" a disc and wouldn't have to return it, just pay each time you played it.
Obviously this caught on like wildfire, because divx dvd machines are everywhere. Even the term divx means something different today.
Yeah I've seen it myself, walked into the local club the other day, and there was this DVD on stage, taking her clothes off, ... Degrading
in my life God comes first.... but Linux is pretty high after that
Francis Smit
In french, use the fish!
Test of 2 DVD-D:
http://www.dvdfr.com/news/news.php?id=2703
Reply from distributor:
http://www.dvdfr.com/news/news.php?id=2719
It will NOT stop piracy, and will NOT stop any P2P network from providing juicy brand new films, sometimes BEFORE their official release.
BUT... weekend-long rental fees will go down the drain. Who will pay an extra for a 8-hour maximum rental?
[]'s Carlos Cardoso - Becoming a brazilian ProBlogger, typo by typo
Of course, it depends who they are degrading to.
Oh...I get it...nevermind.
Just goto the store, and start poking holes in all the packages. Ooops in 8hrs EVERY disk has gone bad. Chalk it up to a bad packaging job. Have them sent back as defective.
What sort of fucked up stuff have these people been smoking this time?! Where were they when the DVD-CSS was cracked!? Do they have no sense of economics? If they sell a DVD thats identical to other DVDs but self-destructs and is much much cheaper, what sort of message is that going to send to the average consumer? they will think "hey, wait a minute, if they can give me the DVD and not need me to return it, then the disk must cost almost nothing to make, so why the fuck am i paying such mad prices for retail DVDs?!?" then they will just copy the rented disks before the 8 hours is up, simple as that, theres no way around it - try and ban the copying software? sure, like you tried to ban file-sharing, you see when you copy a DVD, no-one knows what you are doing, you are not on a network and your ISP has no record duh!
This comment does not represent the views or opinions of the user.
I believe that this will just significantly increase piracy. I for one do not pirate movies, but by god I would start. By one of these and burn a copy for 400 of my closest friends just because.
If you want people to do the right thing, make it the easiest. Lower the price and it becomes easier to just spend a few bucks and buy the non-degrading dvd. Pirating would take too much work. Damd, didn't these guys take basic economics in college?
In God we trust, all others require data.
Lord of the Rings - Special Edition Box Set on DVD-D. In this one you have to imagine your own ending since they're not enough time to watch all three.
"All solutions targeted at reverse engineering the DVD-D to make it playable on a permanent basis are extremely costly and complex, if they can ever succeed"
Like DVD X Copy?
Barnes & Noble has announced paperbacks which crumble to dust after 48 hours, hoping to drive up demand for hardcover versions. :P
The postman hits! The postman hits! You have mail.
There are people concerned about the enormous numbers of AOL CDs in the landfills and dumps. What do environmentalists say about these so-called "disposable" DVDs? Asside from a pretty consumer-hating business model, are they totally forgetting the environment too?
(Note: I'm not an environmentalist, just looking for other ways to poke holes in this technology plan)
Get home, open up the DVD and then there is a power outage (anbody remember the Great Northeast Power Blackout of 2003?) for 6 hours. Better hope its a short movie!
with those pathetic disc, is to make a copy within 8 hours so that you can put it there, and watch it when ever you want to. :D
Even if there were a market for disposable DVDs, it wouldn't (as the story implies) destroy the existing market. Raising prices of regular DVDs would not effect the rental market. Studios have charged high rates on VHS rentals for years. Some tapes were selling for $130+ to video stores for 6 months before being released to the general public for $13. It wasn't until DVD came out that home collectors made is feasible to price initial releases at low prices.
Raising prices on DVD won't crush the video rental market. History has proven that Blockbuster can make money renting out a $130 video. Raising prices will kill the home collector market. The rental market would stay constant, and the result would be a net loss for the studios.
The whole conspiracy theory just doesn't add up.
In a Spinal Tap interview on NPR, back when CDs came in elongated cardboard boxes, Nigel said that they'd had the manufacturer put the CD in an extra long box just so there was that much extra cardboard for recycling...
Ooh, a sarcasm detector. Oh, that's a real useful invention.
Why try to bolster your position by feigning outrage at the fact that these measures would prevent DVD's from being donated to charity? I can't think of a single humanitarian crisis or catastrophe that would be ameliorated by distributing the shill that comes out of Hollywood to the suffering. P.S. Anyone mentioning (beyond this mention) airdropping 'Fahrenheit 9/11' into Iraq should be appropriately moderated
You can add those annoying AOL CDs to the landfill as well. AOL should distribute their CDs with little rubber cushions on printed side, so people can actually use it for coasters at home.
Penn and Teller as a primary source of information? I get my info from old Ziggy comics but I digress.
You are wrong about many things so I'll just focus on a couple:
1. AL isn't the only product worth recycling. There is a little thing known as the scrap iron business that has been a major industry for over a century. In China and S Korea scrap metal is so valuable that people in Mongolia are collecting old junk cars and rebar and shipping it to China.
Glass is another item that is especially energy intensive to make.
2. Landfills fill up my friend. Ever see those big piles of dirt with vents all over them near cities and towns? Those are landfills that filled up or got to big to allow to stay open. The cost of transporting trash is going up as there are fewer and fewer places willing to take it (right now poor towns in places like Africa and Pennsylvania are the world's trashcans). Since I haven't seen a plan for taking every scrap of trash and compressing it into a 30 cubic mile box it will continue to sit spread out near the places that generate it, like, for instance, the homes of slashdotters.
The cost of transporting it away to be recycled is real but should be born by the generator. This would be more fair than how people who drive don't pay gas taxes that cover 100% of the cost of roads and are subsidized by other tax payers. The cost of NOT recycling has to be added in to the equation. Quality of life also has a definite value. I doubt even the most die hard anti-environmentalist (a "brown"?) enjoys living in a trash strewn world.
It is by the juice of the coffee bean that thoughts acquire speed, the teeth acquire stains. The stains become a warning
What this is really about is allowing the rental store to make copies of a dvd legally. How many times has my local video store not had enough copies of a movie I wanted to watch? now they will never be out. How many times has a movie I rented been too scratched to play (especially children's movies)? Now I will never get scratched DVD again. How many times have I got a late fee (and denied someone else a chance access to a movie) by being too lazy to run out to the video store on a speical trip to return it? Now I wont have to return the DVD.
the net result is higher profits for the rental store and thus potentially lower rental costs and bore convenience for me.
remember rental stores dont make profits on the dvds they resell, they merely recoup investment capital tied up in the CDs. Everytime one of those DVDs is too scratched to resell they lose that money. Now they wont even have to buy as many copies of a DVD: one copy will suffice to make all the rental copies.
Finally its arguable if rental DVD sales and normal DVD sales even compete in the first place. Condisering the relative few rental DVDs available, and their dicey condition, and their uncertain availability, and the fact that they come to market very late in the product cycle the sorts of consumers that buy in these two distict markets probably has little overlap. Moreover a sold DVD either through a retail chanel or a rental chanel is from the studios point of view a full sale--that is they get the full value for the sale. it is the rental store that is selling it for less at a loss.
Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
What they are talking about is glass containers. Where the bottle is smashed and smelted again to create a new bottle.
Now a lot of the right wing make all kinds of claims that this kind of recycling is actually more costly. Funny thing is that the glass industry itself doesn't seem to think so. Just that the only problem is that the margins are extremely narrow so it is hard to make the business of collecting a real profit maker.
Oh and those who suggest landfills, you are of course the volunteer to have it in your backyard right? Thought not.
Remember the only difference between left wing and right wing loonies is the wich words they spew from the hole in their head. They are both loonies who take the facts and take the ones they like and twist them to suit their objectives.
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
Puts new meaning in their advertisements: "Own it today (only)".
people don't rent anymore, they either BUY or they use pay-per-view/on demand type services.
/ http://suffocate.us
/ http://johngrayson.com
Do these companies really think people will want to buy disposible DVDs? It is a big hassle, not to mention anyone with one iota of environmentalism won't touch these things since its all going to go into the garbage and pollute.
I recommend people not buy this even if they sell them for a penny.
3dinfo@maficstudios.com
So now check the price on the two. I don't know about the rest of the world but DVD is sometimes twice as expensive as the VHS version. Sure the DVD got extras but with the cost saving in production shipping and storage at worst they should be priced the same.
Worst of all? Explain this to people and they think you are insane. Madness.
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
...appear marketed at movie studios that might wish to drive up the price of DVD rentals. Presumably, once throw-away DVDs catch on, the studios can ... prevent price competition between rental and sales of DVDs by charging more for a regular DVD (rentable and re-saleable) and having the retail sales copies disappear 8 hours after opening so that no one can re-sell them, lend them, ...
You may want to loosen that tin-foil hat a little--it's cutting off more than just the spy-waves.
What self-degrading DVDs do is allow a whole bunch of retailers (Walmart, Target, gas-stations, etc.) to sell 1 viewing of a movie. That's a new product for them. That allows them to hit the $8 pricepoint for single viewings and the $30 pricepoint for durable DVDs. It's not like the durable retail DVDs we have now are going away any time soon. (All of which is bad for consumers, of course.)
Current rental shops, BTW, should _hate_ degradable DVDs. First, they cost more per sale than rerentable durable DVDs. Second, rental shops _love_ late fees, which degradables don't have. Third, rental shops love returns because it causes people to go to their store. Fourth, degradables allow big-box retailers to enter the rental shops' price range, eating their business.
"We reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals." --The American President (20.1.2009)
If you were blocking sigs, you wouldn't have to read this.
The used DVD (and CD) business must be hurting Hollywood. I NEVER buy anything new anymore. It's so easy to buy used from Amazon now. And a used CD (incl. shipping) is almost always cheaper than iTunes, and you get better quality and a backup!
Best Buy can have you arrested
Give me a break.
That is the only insightful comment in this thread.
...it can be played till the end even if the viewing window is finished. If the user tries to play the disk after the end of the viewing window, the DVD players displays "NO DISC".
So it can also become unusable just by taking it out of the box (suffiently long time). I wonder:
- is the entire disc degraded, or just the headers (whatever these are called on DVDs)?
- if the entire disc degrades: how sharply is the viewing period defined? I can imagine that, if you are unlucky, you will see the onset of degradation (artefacts etc) even during your 'legal' viewing time.
Presumably, once throw-away DVDs catch on
And we can stop right there. They won't. Consumers aren't always stupid, and when it comes to something like this, they're far more likely to be smart.
Until I see someone presenting a believable reason why a consumer would choose to buy throw-away DVDs, I have to believe no one will.
---
Mod me down, you fucking twits. Go ahead. I dare you.
(I read with sigs off.)
One tin of thin clear varnish.
[WARNING: what follows is a rant. please do not read any further if you don't understand that i need to let off some steam.]
the next block of text is similar to a spoiler alert - i.e. text that gives people an opportunity to choose to read something that they may not want to bump into accidentally
[btw, thanks to ortholattice for the heads-up on how to tame the lameness filter]
rant warning1 warning foul1 language1 rant2 warning foul2 language2 rant3 warning foul3 language3 rant4 warning foul4 language4 rant5 warning foul5 language5 rant6 warning foul6 language6 rant7 warning foul7 language7 rant8 warning foul8 language8 rant9 warning foul9 language9 rant10 warning foul10 language10 rant11 warning foul11 language11 rant12 warning foul12 language12 rant13 warning foul13 language13 rant14 warning foul14 language14 rant15 warning foul15 language15 rant16 warning foul16 language16 rant17 warning foul17 language17 rant18 warning foul18 language18 rant19 warning foul19 language19 rant20 warning foul20 language20 rant21 warning foul21 language21 rant22 warning foul22 language22 rant23 warning foul23 language23 rant24 warning foul24 language24 rant25 warning foul25 language25 rant26 warning foul26 language26 rant27 warning foul27 language27 rant28 warning foul28 language28 rant29 warning foul29 language29 rant30 warning foul30 language30 rant31 warning foul31 language31 rant32 warning foul32 language32 rant33 warning foul33 language33 rant34 warning foul34 language34 rant35 warning foul35 language35 rant36 warning foul36 language36 rant37 warning foul37 language37 rant38 warning foul38 language38 rant39 warning foul39 language39 rant40 warning foul40 language40 rant41 warning foul41 language41 rant42 warning foul42 language42 rant43 warning foul43 language43 rant44 warning foul44 language44 rant45 warning foul45 language45 rant46 warning foul46 language46 rant47 warning foul47 language47 rant48 warning foul48 language48 rant49 warning foul49 language49 rant50 warning foul50 language50 rant51 warning foul51 language51 rant52 warning foul52 language52 rant53 warning foul53 language53 rant54 warning foul54 language54 rant55 warning foul55 language55 rant56 warning foul56 language56 rant57 warning foul57 language57 rant58 warning foul58 language58 rant59 warning foul59 language59 rant60 warning foul60 language60 rant61 warning foul61 language61 rant62 warning foul62 language62 rant63 warning foul63 language63 rant64 warning foul64 language64 rant65 warning foul65 language65 rant66 warning foul66 language66 rant67 warning foul67 language67 rant68 warning foul68 language68 rant69 warning foul69 language69 rant70 warning foul70 language70 rant71 warning foul71 language71 rant72 warning foul72 language72 rant73 warning foul73 language73 rant74 warning foul74 language74 rant75 warning foul75 language75 rant76 warning foul76 language76 rant77 warning foul77 language77 rant78 warning foul78 language78 rant79 warning foul79 language79 rant80 warning foul80 language80 rant81 warning foul81 language81 rant82 warning foul82 language82 rant83 warning foul83 language83 rant84 warning foul84 language84 rant85 warning foul85 language85 rant86 warning foul86 language86 rant87 warning foul87 language87 rant88 warning foul88 language88 rant89 warning foul89 language89 rant90 warning foul90 language90 rant91 warning foul91 language91 rant92 warning foul92 language92 rant93 warning foul93 language93 rant94 warning foul94 language94 rant95 warning foul95 language95 rant96 warning foul96 language96 rant97 warning foul97 language97 rant98 warning foul98 language98 rant99 warning foul99 language99 rant100 warning foul100 language100
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Mods are on drugs today. Just thought I should let everyone know....
Some of them are being marketed for not returning to rental video club. I avoid late fees if you use to pay them.
DNA in your Linux: DNALinux
The notion that it is cheaper to dump garbage than recycle it is only partly true. It assumes that there is a place nearby to dump it: a place near by that is cheap to transport the garbage to, a place that nobody wants for any other purpose. These places are becoming rare and will be more rare in future years. Especially when just dumping garbage and sewerage into the ocean becomes impossible due to the destruction of sea life.
Dumping garbage is cheaper because it is only one small part of the recycling process: collecting and 'warehousing' of raw materials. Recycling is expensive because so much energy is required to seperate the various components of the garbage from the pile. By seperating the components before shipping it all to the central dump, recycling is cheaper than inital processing from natural raw materials.
Please no more remarks about 'gaddam hippies'. Hippies are smarter than you. This is website that respects intelligence and creativity: Hippies are respected around here.
Please n
It's sad that most consumers won't 'get it'.... I really see it as THE WORST invention in many years..
It's part of the broader trend toward pay-every-time business models. No company wants to sell any reusable, durable product anymore. Instead, they want you to pay a subscription or a use fee at every viewing. This includes planned obsolescence of physical products, frequent format changes requiring both new hardware and repurchasing media, and now degradable media.
One of the unfortunate side-effects of ubiquitous computing lowering transaction costs is that companies can now afford to bill you at every transaction instead of wrapping the whole price into a one-time purchase price. It's going to get worse as soon as businesses get us weaned off the idea of _owning_ anything and turn us into one-song-at-a-time renters.
"We reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals." --The American President (20.1.2009)
Just another step into making all content 'pay per play'. So you cant even own the media and watch your movie on your time, years later.
But this way doesnt require any of the complex and user-irritating DRM techniques.
Let's hope the RIAA doesnt start doing this too.. Sure we can copy the original in the first 5 mins, but i prefer to have something a bit more trustable then cd'r/dvd'r
---- Booth was a patriot ----
Or if you're distributing trial software or sending a demo of your product to a venture capitalist. Make a bootable DVD that expires in 8 hours that has some copy protection on it. They can basically run the program for 8 hours and you don't have to worry about the program then getting into the wrong hands.
And then of course there are practical jokes. Just burn say photoshopped pictures of your (married) enemy with another woman. Send them to the person's wife and by the time he tries to analyze the disc to see where it came from it'll be blank!
As with all technologies, it's not the technology that's evil, but the application.
So if these things degrade with ligth and air, will vacuum sealing them stop this process? A food sealer would do the trick.
Someone up a ways suggested that this scheme will simply bypass the rental chains, and I think they're right. The market for self-destructo disks isn't Blockbuster. It's WALMART. WalMart already has hordes of impulse buyers in the store, and already has the distribution mechanism (a fleet of trucks and a retail presence). WalMart doesn't feel any storage crunch from keeping 3000 copies in stock; they do that already. And they have no need or desire to market anything but what is hot at the moment. WalMart can probably sell a lot of 'em at 99 cents.
I still think it's a shitty idea, aimed at milking the customer multiple times instead of just once, but I can see where it's headed.
~REZ~ #43301. Who'd fake being me anyway?
And here I thought Paris Hilton had a new DVD out.
I agree with this, provided there is proper notice in the DVD. imho, to limit the freedom to write code, reverse engineer or market devices because they can be use for "piracy", is wrong and set dangerous precedents. To honestly sell something that will physically degrade, it just business as usual. Degrade after consumption is what happens to most goods around.
I guess when this format hits the street the 'evil hackers' will have a field day trying to crack the copy protection scheme before the disc self-destructs. Sounds like fun!
#
# Modus Ponens
#
The economic model for content distribution is really, seriously screwed up. You've got a product with extremely high fixed costs (The cost to produce the movie or the video game or the music) and essentially zero marginal cost (The few cents paid to make the jewelcase and the packaging), sold by a single company with monopoly rights for at least 70 years to a set of monopolistic competitors who demand to buy all products at a similar price.
That market is so far out of normal economics that most conventional economic laws fail to exlpain anything about it. Normally, prices convey information to buyers and sellers about the relative abundancy or scarcity of the product. The problem here is that only one entity is deciding how many of said objects to produce, and then a separate group of buyers and resellers (think companies like best buy or circuit city) all decide to buy and then sell at about the same price, regardless of the demand for the product or how many they have to sell.
Price changes for content are based almost entirely on the time since the content was created, rather than the relative popularity of the product itself, and so no information is conveyed to either buyers or sellers about scaricty or abundance. It's all completely absurd. The price at which CDs and DVDs and Video Games are sold does not at all reflect supply or demand or any sort of market condition other than the whims of the single supplier. That's why companies like EBGames and GameStop are all buying and selling used games - they don't make any money on the used games since they have to buy them and sell them for about the same price. There is intense competition among buyers of new games and media (by buyers, I mean resellers here) but only entity supplying those games. Once you have a reasonable supply of used games entering the market, you start to see a semblance of a market economy, with the price of a used game representing the abundancy or scarcity thereof.
How is this all going to be resolved? Suppose the movie companies decide to release content for extremely high prices at first, and then they set their price to about the same level as the going rate for used content. They'll keep selling products because there are plenty of people willing to pay a little extra for a new product over a used one. But then, as more new copies enter circulation, there are more sellers of used copies (since all new copies become used copies and thus all buyers of new copies can become sellers of used copies) and so the price of used copies falls, and then along with it the price of new copies. This causes more people to want to buy the product and the cycle keeps repeating with the price of the content getting closer and closer to the price of the medium on which it is stored. At this point it doesn't make any sense for the movie company to stay in production, so they should just pull back, but keep watching the market. Instead, once games and movies and cds have been out for several years, the content producers tend to ignore market fluctuations in the prices for used content. There are some used games selling on ebay for prices far above the original $50 because they went on to become cult hits. If the producers weren't complete idiots, they would start producing more new content and selling it at a little above the market price of the used games.
Instead, since the content producers seem steeped in economic ignorance, we're getting more of these stupid ideas like disposable DVDs and easily circumvented DRM.
My blog
...If you and your pirates should be caught or killed by the RIAA, we will disavow any knowledge of your actions.
This DVD will self descruct in 8 hours... so, like, don't let anybody get a hold of it for a while..."
I thought it would be about porn or something.
"Degrading to whom? Oh!"
All that one needs to do is to go back to the whole DIVX fiasco. I'm obviously referring to the DVD abomination from Circuit City, not the Divx codec.
... how are EZ-D and DVD-D supposed to be good alternatives again?
In many ways, DIVX was superior to EZ-D or DVD-D. Yes, you needed a special player, but
- the rental window was 48 hours for $3.49 IIRC
- you actually kept the disc
- you could give it to a friend months after you bought it as long as they had a DIVX player
- it was merely a DVD with different encoding
EZ-D and DVD-D require additional manufacturing, cost twice as much, can be copied as soon as they're opened, and cannot be recycled. How are they possibly a better alternative?
As to the comments about EZ-D being a good alternative for cereal boxes, General Mills has offered full, REGULARD DVDs with their cereals for a while now. I managed to get several kids' DVDs that are the real thing this way - high-quality DVDs from reputable institutions like Jim Henson Studios, not "this is the only way people will watch them" titles. And they're still functional and on my shelf long after 48 hours.
Regarding not having to return DVDs, isn't there anyone else who knows about NETFLIX?! Jesus! You don't even have to go past your mailbox to get all of the DVD rentals that you want! They're the real DVDs; there are no late fees; you can have three out at the same time; you have have a queue of hundreds of DVDs to be viewed when you return the ones you have -- all for a monthly fee about the cost of three EZ-Ds.
So
You just need to use a different process.
Something more like thermal depolymerization.
Changing world technologies
The original article I read over on discover claimed that in addition to turkey offal, they can use sewage, medical waste (including needles), etc, etc. Shrink those landfills and turn oil into a renewable resource.
I don't know about other experiences but i recently watched an ez-d( given it was left in the car all day). We opened it, started the movie about 20 minutes after opening it and the end was so choppy we could barley watch it. Had we not seen 1.5 hrs of the movie i would have never tolerated such a bad ending. I then immediatly tried backing it up to watch it cleanly and that failed half way through the movie. So the point is if the 48 hr version is like that, i can't imagine how sensitive the 8 hr version is. my 2 cents.
Movie producers should stop selling DVDs altogether. Instead, movies should be shown only in special rooms called "theaters" where the user would pay a fee for admission and be permitted to sit down and watch the movie once then leave. The theater owner could capitalize further by selling ridiculously overpriced popcorn, candy, and soft drinks.
What do I win?
Everyone else posting on this thread is an idiot.
Hadn't anyone learned from the Divx (the disc format, not the software) fiasco yet? There would be a HUGE resistance and lobbying effort by Blockbuster, Hollywood Video, Et.al... This would shut down a huge revenue stream for the studios...idiots...
You're messin' with my Zen Thing, man.....
On the other, the more they push them, the more people will realize how hard they're getting screwed, and will resort to MODERN methods of aquiring media, ie, P2P, and BT.
Now, of course piracy is bad...and there WILL be actions taken (like the RIAA suing), but they can't sue everybody, and sooner or later we'll have something similar to what happened with prohibition.
Who knows, maybe all we have to do to usher in the new era the right way is just sit back, keep doing what we're doing (including developing new distribution technologies, and yes, pirating) and let the companies shoot themselves in the foot over and over again.
It may get worse for us before it gets better, but these things take a long time, as they have a lot of money. Sooner or later though, either they'll run out, or they'll lose enough where they are forced to do things our way.
Buy Steampunk Clothing Online!
The moral of the story kids is that you need to copy the DVD the second you get it home from the rental store so you can watch it later. This will only hurt movie studios and rental stores, I guarntee it. DVD burners are very common now, and so is the software to copy movies. By making movies more expensive, they drive people further and further into this copying market. Good luck with that one, MPAA.
Build air-tight cabinet around DVD player with special rubber gloves for manipulation. Put DVD inside cabinet. Close seal. Flush cabinet with nitrogen. Set pressure regulator just above 1 atmosphere (in case of any leaks). Put hands in gloves. Unwrap DVD. Play. After watching, put DVD in air-tight container. Charge with extra nitrogen.
All that nitrogen may be getting a bit expensive, so:
Buy the disc. You have 8 hours to make a longer-lasting copy of it. Return the disc to the manufacturer at their own expense, claiming it is faulty. Watch copy at your own leisure.
Or, if mindless destruction is more up your alley:
Find a stack of them in a store. Puncture the wrapping with a pin (or, for extra shock value, a syringe).
Je fume. Tu fumes. Nous fûmes!
"It's a typo."
Oh, say does that Star-Spangled Banner entwine / The myrtle of Venus with Bacchus's vine?
Once one realizes that Blockbuster makes somewhere between 15% and 20% of its revenues from late fees, it's hard to believe that they're going to embrace a business model like this that eliminates those fees.
those annoying late fees -- which account for a full 15 percent of Blockbuster's $4.96 billion in revenues (Industry Standard)
One of the dirty little secrets of the home-video business, writes Lary Gerbrandt, a senior analyst at Paul Kagan Associates, is that their largest profit generator is actually late fees. (Factbook)
late fees, a revenue source that accounts for between 18-20 percent of Blockbuster's overall profits (Earthweb)
In the Netherlands we have a couple of services where you rent a movie on the internet and get them by mail. You can keep them as long as you like, no fees and unlimited ordering with a maximum of 2/3 movies at the same time. For 25 euros a month it's pretty good deal. For the company using cheap degradable dvd's would mean they have much lower overhead: no return enveloppe and special packaging to prevent damage and no 0,89 cents for the stamps.
It's all a question of price - if they sell them cheaply enough e.g. the same price as a rental is now, it's very handy for the consumer to pick up the latest Tom Cruise movie with their weekly shopping. Plus, you could keep it for a week and then watch it. It's almost like video on demand less hassle in obtaining the movie, watch it when you want and no late fees. If it's a 48 hour destruct cycle, you could give it to a friend to watch the next day. Most importantly, how can your S/O accuse you of watchng pron if the only evidence is an unplayable disc! Bet the oscar people start handing out nominated moves in this format soon. In reality, how often do you rent a move more than once? If you liked the film that much you'll buy the regular DVD. So who can lose out of this? unless you remember that Quentin Tarantino started out as a clerk in a video rental store.
its amazing that every one is not only opposed to a good idea but also basing their opposition on fiction. the parent post lays it out right.
Where do you live? I'm from Ontario, Canada, and we get lots of good quality rental DVD's right away.
Whther you do or dont is irrelevant. Every DVD sold by a rental store still makes its profit for the studio. It makes no differenc ewho actualyl sells it.
would push me to record the self-destructing DVD so I could watch it at my leisure whenever I want. This is something I am not othwise interested in doing, thus all this sort of crap does is push me (and any like me) to start making copies of the self-destructing media before they self-destruct. I don't want to feel rushed and I do not like the wasteful design. Yes, let us PLEASE add MUCH more plastic waste to our landfills, there isn't enough as it is.
In Bushworld, they struggle to keep church and state separate in Iraq as they increasingly merge the two in America.
I saw the 48-hour versions in a 7-11 (convenience store for those who didn't grow up filching cigarrettes from mindless clerks). The price tag was about $5 - hmm... $5, a unix system to use dd on, and a DVD burner. Well, well...hmm... What do I do? $5 for a movie that would cost me $25 at my local Best Buy? I'm ssoooo IN.
I'm just sad I had to read this far to find that response, which is the only logical reason for these DVD's. You won't see these sold to consumers like the fanatical and uninformed submitter ranted about. You'll see them at blockbuster and love them for exactly the reason outlined above, you don't have to return it.
This is _GOOD_ for consumers AND blockbuster. Consumers get no more late fees, blockbuster gets much lower overhead...
They who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security, deserve neither liberty nor security
Just because the technology is being developed doesn't mean that people will actually buy it. Even though the studios have a semi-monopoly, the sheep will not necessarily buy DVDs that self destruct, except as a replacement for rentals. If the studios upset the current pricing structure too much they run the risk of giving the golden goose a hysterectomy.
It very well may be that these degrading DVDs will eventually replace rentals. The only problems I can see with that are the environmental problems and that there will be fewer previously rented DVDs available for purchase. There are upsides to these degrading DVDs replacing DVD rentals: They should be available in a greater variety of stores, the new releases area of video stores will not empty out on Friday evening, there is less chance of receiving a defective DVD, and there will be no late fees. This would also make DVD vending machines practical. If there were still mom and pop video rental stores around I would feel sorry for them. It would be a Good Thing if the current mega-store rental outfits have to change their business model because people start buying these degrading DVDs at other stores instead of renting DVDs.
No, not the video compression scheme, but Circuit City's ill-fated and (thankfully) short-lived pay-per-play video format some years ago. Obviously, not the same thing as disintegrating DVDs. But DIVX clearly seemed to be based on a screw-the-consumer business model (whatever spin their marketing tried to put on it), and the consumer responded with a polite "No thank you - now get bent!"
.
There is a limit to how stupid consumers will behave, especially when there are other, better alternatives. The DVD industry is free to try to sell folks whatever they want. But if it's a bad product, it's a bad product - people won't buy it if they have more sensible options. Set aside the environmental impact - these things just don't make economic sense.
Obviously, self-destructing DVDs have to be priced significantly cheaper than regular ones to get people to buy them. But AFAICT, self-destructing DVDs won't be any cheaper to produce than regular ones, which means one of two things: either the price of regular DVDs will have to go *up*, which isn't likely to go over well with consumers (as sales of such items are very price-sensitive); or disposable DVDs will have to be priced less than existing DVDs, which means smaller profit margins on them - which won't go over well with the bean counters (who seem to think per-DVD profit margins are too thin as it is).
Call me silly, but I think the entertainment industry has to get over itself and accept it's *never* going to make as much money as it thinks it *ought* to. Forget whatever sales it claims are "lost" due to piracy, which is fuzzy math at best. As long as folks can rent, borrow, or buy second-hand DVDs, CDs, books, etc. - i.e., have perfectly legal means for getting ahold of things which doesn't involve putting more coin into the original producer's pocket - there are going to be plenty of people who do so. It's how the marketplace *works* - quit whining and deal with it.
. .
Though obviously, if these damn things take off like hotcakes, I'm going to have to eat crow and cry about humanity.
Stupid, stupid humanity!
...of environmental conservation. They are:
1. Reduce
2. Re-use
3. Recycle
IN THAT ORDER OF IMPORTANCE. Yes, ultimately anything can be recycled, but recycling still requires energy and has an environmental impact.
The only widespread commercial use of TDP at the moment involves waste from food production. Food scraps, sewage and so on are basically "natural" organic waste. Things like CDs and DVDs are make from plastics--an organic chemistry process but still an "artificial" polymer. There are also a lot of inorganic components in the various layers, requiring extra energy and time to process out and re-use.
The best known commercial application (involving the turkey waste) has achieved quite a remarkable efficency in making waste into low-grade heating oil (upwards of 85%). However, consider the source--it is renewable. The original energy was from grains/poultry feed and water. Also consider that for every 1000 BTUs of energy stored in the waste only 850 BTUs becomes usable heating oil.
Now think about all these disposable DVDs. They are made from petroleum products--non-renewable oil pulled from the ground. It takes energy to make them to begin with, then it takes more energy to handle the waste (trucks burning fuel to haul the spent waste to a recycling facility). THEN it takes the 15 percent stored in the DVD material to convert it back into heating oil.
Why don't we forget about all of that crap with disposabel DVDs and just heat our homes with the oil that came from the ground in the first place? That would REDUCE how much non-renewable energy we used. When we buy DVDs today they don't become useless garbage in a few hours-- we can RE-USE them. that way we don't even need to RECYCLE them, and we can devote our resources to more effective recycling efforts--particularly those with big payoffs like composting, metal cans, glass bottles, building materials and scrap paper.
Besides the overtly greedy nature of such a scam as disposable media it is also blatantly wasteful. It makes me cringe when people casually throw away empty tins of soup, but at least food is a necessity and there are few proctical alternatives.
In the case of these throw-away DVDs their mere existence offends me. They are not a basic need, and take no less resources to make than a normal DVD--a practical alternative that is very re-usable. I hope they become the miserable flop they deserve to be and that the inventor and company responsible for them end up broke and destitute.
*phew* good to get the nut-case out of me from time to time...but you get the idea---recyclable or not they are a lousy idea.
No, THIS is a degrading DVD...
- For the complete works of Shakespeare: cat
When I was 14 years old, that would have been 1985, I invented a self-destructing audio cassette. It was a regular audio cassette with a piece of ceramic magnet glued inside the shell just upstream of the takeup spool, where the tape would pass over it during playback. This had the effect that the recording could be listened to once only (at least without my "specially-modified" recorder).
I only used it a couple of times for a bit of fun, but does it count as prior art?
I originally thought of using it for computer games that would transfer themselves to disk (so you could buy a tape, which was cheaper, then have the game save itself on a disk you had purchased elsewhere more cheaply than the software companies, who used to have to charge an extra GBP4.00 to cover the cost of the horrendously expensive floppies they used to use). But you would only be able to play it once, so you would only get to make one copy. Of course I realised as soon as I had thought of it, that it was flawed, because the cassette doesn't know if the audio signal is going into one computer, fifty computers with their tape-ins wired in parallel, or another tape deck with a non-self-destructing cassette inside it.
Je fume. Tu fumes. Nous fûmes!
Current reports indicate that the odds of a CD and DVD recordable media lasting 20 years are less than 50-50. There's a great market opportunity for media which has a shelf long life. On the other hand, I have no interest in media with a short life and since renting DVDs is obsolete anyway (do people really still do that?) they really need consider their current business.
-- "Most people prefer a popular myth to an unpopular truth"
This would be an excellent medium for all those screeners that studios send out to Academy members so they don't have to base their votes on viewings in regular movie theaters. Screener videos are responsible for more than their share of pirating and other violations. It is hard to be sorry for the film industry when it adopts measures that interfere with honest consumers usage of their product and seems less concerned about the sins of industry insiders. But the environmental issue is what will cause this crippled product to fail.
If you must moderate, please moderate as irrelevent, not something bad, because I'm sure someone will find this interest
Instead of trying to engineer a CD/DVD to explode after 48 hours or 7 hours, they should be more concerned with making a CD that lasts 48 months or 7 years. I think more people would be interested in that.
Put the DVD in a DVD player and glue it shut, just like Epic Records did with their new CDs in Sony Walkmans. "No more screener problem."
Discs were the data is removed while the DVD/CD is read. No, you can't view that nudie scene twice...
I love that fact that DIVX bombed. I remember their stupid commercials - Make sure you ask for DIVX instead of a regular DVD player. Bwahahahaha. I actualy like going into Circuit City becasue as soon as Mr. Slick E. Boy sales idiot asks me if I need help, I always ask him to show me the DIVX DVD players. Of course most are wet behind the ears and have no idea what I'm talking about. But I tell them to get ask the manager about it and to leave me alone.
Prof. Farnsworth - "Oh a lesson in not changing history from Mr I'm-My-Own-Grandpa!"
It's the absolutely isolationist mentality of Hollywood that produces this crap. People watch together. People watch to enjoy the movie. People watch to laugh at the movie. TOGETHER. People replay.
/. fodder for a slow day.
People sometimes want to continue watching later.
Sometimes people play the nifty DVD games over and over.
Sometimes kids want to watch it again and again but they won't watch it ever again for five years afterwards. Some families have more than one child, of which one may be at an activity.
People are rarely together more than four hours at a time.
The 48 hour one has some use, barely.
The 8 hour one um... no.
In either case, this is insulting. But it makes good
An improvement might be to make the degrading stop when it's back in the case.
The message on the other side of this sig is false.
Step 1: Make a DVD that is only good for 8 hours
Step 2: ???
Step 3: Profit!
It's all good.
I think this is probably going to be a great oppritunity, for those with the right idea. Can you say "disposable DVD resell market"? I'll be rich!
But does that $50 consider the cost of a full landfill, and requiring barges, or trucks, or trains, and the resulting pollution of transport too, to move the pollution elsewhere for someone else to deal with the leaching, and other mess?
Economics does not consider all Bads, only Goods. And it is the reason things that don't make sense, happen regularly. Such as Canada importing French flour.
Saskboy's blog is good. 9 out of 10 dentists agree.
The EzDVD's are out at all the convenience stores in town, and have been for a few months now. I've been asking the clerks - not one of them has sold a single disc.
Incidentally, quite a few people out there have been working on building up their DVD collections. The "play-once" model is a lose-lose for the studios. Let's say Bob buys a few DVDs a month to add to his collection, typically movies that he enjoyed the hell out of and some of which are coming to DVD after a very long wait. (A la SCTV.) Bob isn't going to spend six bucks on a disc that he can't keep on the shelf. But if the Bobs of the world were to adopt the "play-once" model, the studios would sell a $5 disc for each movie - instead of a $15 DVD. These guys have such a fixation on piracy that they'll shoot themselves in the foot to stop it.
It seems another rental store alternative may benefit from this: Mail-order rental.
Subscribe (there's that pay-per-view price model again), they mail you X number of DVD-D's a month. Saves them on return postage.
Could be an interesting pricings scheme, too...
it seems they just want to continually squeeze more money out of customers while giving them less. why dont they just abandon this whole digital-media business, and start systematically mugging customers.
Hmmmm...sounds like P&T aren't thinking clearly. A 30x30x30 mile cube of trash? Where would that go? Dig 30 miles deep? Let's recalculate at a much more realistic depth. Covering the land with 1000 feet of trash, you'll need about 150,000 square MILES, which is the size of one of our larger states. At an even more realistic 100 feet depth, you'll need about 1.4 MILLION SQUARE MILES. Which is, what, about half of the surface of the continental USA? Assuming my math is correct, anyone else care to check it?
I say we should fully embrace this technology if and only if it is legistlated that instead of filling up landfills, these now useless pieces of garbage will only be disposed of by cramming them up the asses of the inventor(s) and the technology and the CEOs of every company that manufactures, distributes, or sells them.
Once there are no more takers, they would be outlawed.
Instead of a "Sunshine Law" we'll call it the "Where the Sun Don't Shine Law."
It's only fair.
You can dump whatever you want into the blue can -- glass, aluminum, paper, and recyclable plastic. I am told it all gets sorted out by some kind of scheme that measures the density of the material.
On the minus side, everybody pays their 2.5 cent "deposit" per bottle or can, which is presumably money you'll get back when you take them in for recycling. But since nobody takes them in, nobody gets the deposit back -- instead, you pay a company to haul your recycling away and pick up the deposit for you (and keep it).
Also, since people have gotten into the habit of leaving their recycling on the curbs, it's created a cottage industry of low-income people who drive around in trucks and steal it all, to recycle it themselves (for cash). More power to them, I say ... nobody knows the difference, whether it's a corporation picking up my bottles and cans or a couple Mexican guys in a pickup.
Breakfast served all day!
Does anyone remember Divx? Wasn't that an attempt at limiting your ability to view a DVD, but without the "self destruct" option?
> This will also suppress competition from rentals and used copies against currently uncompetitive online movie downloads.
Okay, how can competition be supressed in an uncompetitive environment?
The recycling program was temporarily suspended (not long after 9/11 when the budget was in its worst shape).
They phased back in (every six months or so):
plastic & metal
newspaper
and glass (brought back about six months ago)
Now, let's look at what rental places do today.
(1) Buy ten or so copies of a popular movie. 25 bucks a movie, 250 dollars total.
(2) Rent out these ten copies five dozen times for five dollars a rental, for a total of 300 dollars.
(3) People, who have occasional lapses of judgement, fuck up and forget to return it for a few days. This happens, say, two dozen times, and at three bucks per time as a penalty, that's 72 dollars.
(4) After a month or two, once this movie's run its course a bit, you decide to sell five of your copies of the movie. These generally sell for about fifteen apiece, and if all of them sell, that's 75 bucks in the register.
Add it all together:
300+72+75-250= A profit of 179 dollars. Worth it? Hell yes.
Now, what will these same rental places do with these stupid 8-hour discs?
(1) Buy five dozen of the discs from the manufacturer for about four dollars apiece. Comes out to 240 bucks, close to what you paid for the ten non-stupid ones originally.
(2) Since this is a pretty popular movie, all five dozen discs sell for 5 bucks each. Once again, 300 bucks in your pocket.
(3) There is no step 3, since these people don't have to return them and therefore won't be paying you money when they bring it in late.
(4) There is no step 4, since you won't be getting the discs back and won't be able to resell them.
Add it all up.
300-240= 60 bucks profit.
What's gonna make this store more? That's right, the hardcopy, non-stupid discs. And then the city has to deal with this massive influx of plastic that was once an 8-hour-lasting movie that are now filling trash cans all over the place.
It's not profitable, it's not practical, it's NOTHING GOOD.
This project will never, ever get off the ground. I guarantee it.
Auto-self-destructive DVDs will never be useful for commercial products like movies, games, etc., so this story is a waste of time. What we should be spending our time talking about are the idiots developing this technology in hopes of huge commercial profits... Hey, the profits may come, but only if governments can find a way to spend our tax dollars on it for some hidden purpose.
But you won't find me buying any stock in this crap.
Similar Ideas have been tried and failed terribly. If I want to watch it just once, I rent it, If I want to watch it forever I buy it. And I'm not going to bother buying one I can't watch forever.
(If at first you don't succeed, do it different next time!)
I'm not going to recycle crap. I get it, I will copy it to something more perminate, and I will chunk it in the trash. Screw the enviroment. Screw the movie studios and screw you envronmental tree hugging fags.
Your conclusions are absurd. Take off your point tin foil hat.
I like your concept (or rather, the explanation). However.. i fail to see how this is profitable for blockbuster.
In example 1, blockbuster paid $10 for each DVD, and rents it a few hundred times (or thousand?) in it's lifespan, at $2-4/per time.
In example 2, blockbuster paid ??? for said DVD, and rents it ONCE for $2-4/per time. Perhaps renting it for less than exmample 1, so as to make this option more appealing. If blockbuster is to make a profit, they will need to purchase this DVD (because it can be rented only once) for LESS than the rental fee, versus example one where they can purchase it for 5x the rental fee (due to re-renting it many times).
Let's assume (pulling out of my ass) that the DVD can be manufactured for $.25.. to make a profit on this, the DVD manuf. will want to sell it for at least $1 to blockbuster. Now, if blockbuster was going to have rented to "forever" lasting DVD 200 times, they will now need to purchase at least 100-150 copies of disposable ones to rent one-time each.. at $1/copy that would be $150, versus the $10 they could have spent to purchase the single DVD and rent that 200 times.
I'm not an economics guy, so i know my math probably has a million flaws and loopholes, but really, i dont see how this benifits anyone but the manufacturer of these products.. who will ultimately have to coerce businesses into this scheme (by substantially raising the prices on regular dvd media so that blockbuster has some incentive to buy the disposable crap).. and thus the consumer is forced into the scheme too, as prices at best buy and target go up as well. And this will do little to prevent piracy, as anyone with DVDCOPYX will just burn their copies right away and post them on their favorite p2p rather than waiting a few days or weeks like normally.
and to those who say the "average joe" doesnt have any clue about dvd copying.. you'd be suprised, half of my girlfriend's family makes "backup" copies of blockbuster movies, and none of them are technically adept. I expect a LOT of blockbuster rentals are being used for backup copies (which, again, this media afaik doesnt even change that factor..)
Lastly, i dont know the legality of making "backup copies" of DVD's you own.. but whatr is to stop BLOCKBUSTER from buying 20 of these destructo-DVD's and then making permanent backup copies of them (assuming of course, this practice is legal, which again IANAL but i hear a lot of the pirater type people using that as their thinly veiled excuse)
In another fabulous move to combat piracy, the media industry debates new plans to make their products suck even more. John Erk, Chief Innovation Officer of Parapount Mictures: "We also have the idea that we could just start randomly shooting at movie audiences or poisoning the popcorn. That'll show those evil pirates!"
Free as in mason.
I'll make money that goes blank in 8 hours, stays blank for 8 hours, and then unblanks in 8 hours. When the clerk asks "What's this blank paper in the cash drawer" they'll throw it in the trash and I'll re-claim it...because it's printed using magically dis-appearing-re-appearing ink.
They could start by making movies that don't suck ass. That'd be my first suggestion.
As for staying ahead of the self-destruct tapes/CDs/DVDs thing, with everything going biotech (Spiderman's radioactive spider was turned into a genetically engineered one), how about this: A suppository that, upon insertion, uploads data to your brain via the enteric nervous system. When it's done, it deletes its own data, stimulates your colon, and you poop it out.
All we need is a catchy message like "this message will exit in 3 seconds." The commercial tie-ins to diarrhea medicine are very exciting.
..They're just asking for piracy. Why pay more for the real thing when I can get a throw away disk and copy it?
---- "Excuse me. Where's the children's gun section?"
How will their return policy deal with defective merchandise???
If the disks work on how long it has been since the disk has been exposed to air, then 8 hours would hardly be enough time to get the disk back to the store you purchased it...I imagine one of the advantages of this format is that stores not likely to rent DVDs could sell at a competitive price. The only problem is, most people play DVDs at night (after they get home)...you pick up one of these disks from a local store and open it at 10pm...by the time the store opens in the morning, the disk is already dead.
And the other method is to base it on hours of actual play (i.e. the laser destroys part of the disk as it reads)...this too would be a bad idea, as most defective disks don't show problems until somewhere around the layer change. On some movies, this isn't for an hour or so into the movie. Some cheaper DVD players (Apex players specifically) exhibit similar problems when the player needs to be reset. You would certainly be asked to try reseting the player first (at which time you'ld probably already be at least half way through the 8 hours).
How does the technology work with fast forward??? slow motion??? If I run a film in slow motion, could the disk actually die before I get to the end??? If I run it in fast forward, could it die within an hour??? Do intro trailers and such count??? (they shouldn't...that's not what I bought) And what about Enhanced DVD-ROM content??? Probably none. These will likely be bare bones DVDs with little more than a few trailers. Which means they probably won't even compete with DVDs...
And lastly, what will this technology do to people's DVD Players??? Harsh chemicals and electronics don't always mix well...
DivX by any othe name is still DivX.
It's France exporting flour to Canada that doesn't make sense, not Canada importing it. If France wants to make flour cheaper for Canadians by subsidizing French farmers, why shouldn't the Canadians buy it.
France exporting grain to Canada is not a consequence of just economics but of government subsidies. (Basically, all rich countries subsidize farmers, and THAT really doesn't make sense.)
If I have a DVD that's going to stop working in a matter of hours, the last thing I have time to do it WATCH it. I'm going to have to go straight to the computer and rip that baby first. Probably not exactly what they were going for.
RP
Forget about Blockbuster, this wouldn't really be profitable for them at least not like regular DVD rentals. If these things took off, and are as cheap or cheaper than a blockbuster rental it will drive Blockbuster and all video rental places out of business or at least force them to change their business' to the point where it wouldn't be a rental shop.
The only reason video rental places exist is because they take the effort to setup a system to ensure that people return the movies and that purchasing movies outright costs more than people are willing to pay in most cases (people want to see lots of movies but buying every movie your interested in seeing is too expensive, especially considering you've never seen it and may never want to watch it again.)
If you don't need to return the movie than why not just buy them at any retail store. So any retail store could carry these and compete with Blockbuster without going through the hassle and expense of making the customers members.
For me personally 8 hours is too short but 48 hours is doable. Think about it your standing in line at Best Buy, or the Gocery Store (or even a Gas station) and you see a movie that you were sort of interested in but never got around to seeing in the theater. Its only good for 48 hours but only costs $4, so what the hell.
This could be big if the price is right.
Collect defunct one way discs and dump them into the backyards of the ceos who produce this dreck and also into the backyards of the ceos of the movie studios. Problably about two days later those disks are outlawed by congress...
Whales do *not* eat algae.
Whales eat krill - small, shrimplike creatures. Krill eat algae. Less whales = more krill. More krill = *less* algae.
In tropical waters it's actually slightly more complicated; some tropical krill eat zooplankton as well as phytoplankton, which muddies the situation.
It's pretty much true about the paper. One thing that recycled paper does have going for it is that it's usually not bleached; production and use of chlorine is really nasty, environmentally speaking. But paper made from fast-growing plantation forests is very "good" for carbon levels. These forests do tend to leave behind rather acidic soils, which many plants don't like, and the forests themselves have terrible biodiversity ("green deserts")... but they do chew up that CO2.
Did anyone else see the title and immediately think Pr0n?
No. They calculated (or more specificly, one of their "experts" who they "interviwed" on the show) calculated that with current landfil tech...However deep it is they dig em now, 30X30 miles is all it takes.
The opinions in this post are ficticious. Any similarity to actual opinions, real or imagined, is purely coincidental.
it only take about 3 hours to rip a DVD and keep forever
plus you can distribute for next to nothing
sure its kinda illegal, but what do these discs do to try and minimise this?
---- Design. Invent. Cheese.
It has already been broken. Just download DVD Decrypter (Windows only) or another DVD ripping program and copy it. Most DVDs fit on a standard recordable DVD without re-encoding if you remove the commentary tracks and only care about the main movie. Their FAQ is right, why would anyone bother to prevent the destruction of the original media when they can just copy it. These DVDs, just like the Flexplay ones, work in anything that can play DVDs, and therefore can be ripped just like a normal DVD as well.
paper books. You open them and the paper ignites when the light hits it. That'll stop those goddammed libraries from competing unfairly with honest book distributors.
Too much resources. I'd just go with a more complex on demand pay per view.
What with broadband, you go with a HD and a expiring download, that while it'll get cracked, so won't any other scheme.
I don't read AC A human right
Must be a money making scheme only. It takes less than 8 hours to duplicate a DVD... it also takes less than 8 hours to upload a DVD to the net.
Two things:
We wouldn't starve, because we produce lots of meat. As any rabid environmentalist will tell you, to get 100 calories of meat you have to feed the animal many times that many calories of grain. You have a bad grain year, grain prices go up, sending meat prices higher to the point people don't buy as much meat, shifting part of the grain producing capacity from meat production to direct human consumption. Also, short-term food shortages can be alleviated by killing off more livestock.
High meat consumption habits are actually very protective against famine (at least when livestock is grain-fed).
Second, many farming subsidies are in the form of paying farmers not to produce on a given tract of land, which also decreases the food supply, making the problem worse.
Granted, small farmers have a hard life, but maybe we need to go to large commercial farming because of economies of scale and the ability to absorb losses one year for profits another.
Finally, we have large surpluses of some things, like powdered milk stockpiled in warehouses. We wouldn't starve, we just wouldn't like the food choices very much.
I stopped renting DVDs at all from the store because they were always scratched. I was half way through a movie and it started to skip. When I took it back and complained, they gave me anoter and it skipped too. Why couldn't they have made the DVD in a cartrage format? Netflix, on the other hand, was awesome. No scratches, but I didn't watch enough movies to make it worth the subscription price.
JET Program: see Japan, meet intere
the whales eat the krill that in turn eats the algae.
:-)
Thus, if you kill whales, it will lead to more krill, thus less algae.
a bit oposite of what you claim.
it will help destroy the environment too!
Perhaps I should have used a better example. I wanted to demonstrate marketers dictating what consumers want, through monopoly or manipulation.
It is clear that consumers are not demanding degrading DVDs, if anything they want them to last forever. So who is coming up with this junk? Producers, trying to manipulate the market by choking off current technologies, and substituting them with others that make them more money, and pass on the waste and expense to consumers who not only don't have DVDs that last, but pay to store them in landfills, or recylcing bins.
Importing flour to the so called Bread-basket of the world AKA Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba, is a fine example though of the market gone wrong. That is the point I was making. Degrading DVDs is the market gone horribly wrong, for profit of a few tech engineers, and a few in the MPAA.
Saskboy's blog is good. 9 out of 10 dentists agree.
Copyright Violation:"theft, piracy"::Anti-Trust Violation:"thermonuclear price terrorism"<-Overly dramatic language.
Damn, you're tough, BrightBlade! All it took to turn me against DVD was region codes, Sony controlling all the content, and the fact that I couldn't get Sid and Nancy on VHS anymore. The only thing the DVD itself has ever been good for is copying, imo, and that's all it will ever be good for, since China will have players available for their competing standard and all the Sony-controlled content is just more Hollywood-produced US propaganda, anyway ...
P2P and writable EVD (or some similar) devices are the future of video. Bet on it. Hollywood, DVD, RIAA, MPAA, and thier friends in Redmond are all over but the crying, at this point.
Ditto. Don't get mad, get even.
"The Internet is made of cats."