woa.. thats pretty good idea i guess. but if someone can find a way to counteract that happening then cheap dvd's r us!

wow that just means that it will be copied within the first 2 days

quote:

Originally posted by DJ LIQUID wow that just means that it will be copied within the first 2 days

It's not meant to be a form of copy protection - I thought that at first too, but it's actually just a tool for the rental stores, so that they don't have to worry about stolen discs, late returns, etc. They're not meant to be bought, just rented. Very cool, nice to see some useful technology emerging in the entertainment industry!

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I don't get it, how is this going to save them money, they still have to supply a brand new DVD when somebody wants one, and surely this technology will be even more expensive than normal DVD's?

The whole reason Blockbusters want you to return the DVD/Video you rent is so they can rent it to somebody else afterwards, I don't think they care how many times you watch it :/ I don't think they'd be happy if you didn't return one and when they phoned you up you said "it's OK I'm not watching it anymore, I threw it away".

edit: *duh* Now I get it. DigiNut: I think the idea is to bypass rental stores altogether. Disney can just sell these in any store alongside the "normal" ones but for a cheaper price. If somebody wants to watch it again they'll need to either buy another one or buy a copy of the "normal" DVD that doesn't expire (at normal price).

Bad news for rental stores if this works

Last edited by Spad on May-17-2003 at 02:17

This is a story that actually began long ago, about 1997 when Circuit city and a law firm in hollywood introduced an alternate format and players for DIVX to compete directly with DVD.

Before DVD was released ALL the major electronics giants agreed to all go forward with a single format for digital video so that there wouldnt be a ridiculous format war like there was for BETA vs VHS.

So after this momentous agreement DVD was released. Yet the greedy law firm in L.A. and Circuit SHITTY decided to go on their own and offer a DIVX format which would allow customers to take a DVD for around $5.00 home and pay for each time they play the movie. These were bare bones, fullscreen versions of the competing DVD versions which had widescreen versions and of course often tons of special features.

This DIVX format caused a HUGE grassroots uproar on the internet, many anti-divx websites went up and huge petitions went up to stop circuit city from pushing this stupid format.

I was part of a anti-divx group and we did our best to get people to boycott Circuit Shitty and to fight this format. Many of us blame DIVX for late DVD sign on's like Disney and Fox who waited to see what would happen with this mini format war.

I'm still angry about the whole thing because Circuit SHITTY went into this knowing that years previous the electronics giants actually agreed to one format.

Now Disney comes along yet again and wants to give this another go. I mean people don't learn from their stupidity in the past, and the greed is just such a problem with regards to Disney.

BTW, Blockbuster video faught against DIVX and that was the final nail in the coffin for the doomed format, so you can expect the same this time if they do try this again.

Just think of the enviornmental cost, all those rented DVDs thrown away after they stop working?

Either way, I'm getting my gloves on for a fight, this kind of concept is inherently bad for all concerned.

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lol, lo and behold my old friends at the Digitalbits.com are already commenting on this stupid move by disney.. I have to mention the digitalbits.com was a big part of the movement to stop DIVX and sharea big thanks from all us early DVD adopters to make DVD such a big thing and to stop DIVX from gaining against DVD.

quote:

Quote from Digitalbits.com "Well... apparently the death of Divx just wasn't enough for some studios to get the hint. According to Reuters (via Yahoo), Disney is going to be launching a new disposable "rental" disc format this August, called EZ-D, using a process developed by Flexplay Technologies. You buy the disc at a rental store for a low price. When you open the package, a chemical reaction begins between the disc and oxygen in the air such that it becomes unreadable after 48 hours. Basically, the outer surface of the disc rusts and becomes cloudy so the laser can't read through it. Then you just throw it away. The idea is that it makes the rental process easy - you never have to return the disc. Of course, one suspects that all those discarded discs aren't exactly beneficial to the environment. In any case, never fear - Disney's commitment to standard DVD seems plenty firm. We really feel that this is absolutely nothing to worry about. And our guess is EZ-D will be a TRK-E. One last thing today - a lot of people have been asking why our book has disappeared from Amazon. Apparently, when they first listed the book, they forgot to include the 30% off discount. They've corrected this and the listing is being recycled back into the system. We're told it should be back up on Tuesday, so our Amazon links will be back to normal by then. Don't worry - all those of you who have pre-ordered the book already WILL get the 30% discount. We should also note that the book is also available for pre-order from other book retailers as well. Now then... have a great weekend everyone!"

Link:

http://www.thedigitalbits.com/

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Spad: it would cost something like 1 cent (yes one cent) plus maybe 5 cents of packaging... its very cheap. You can rent it at 3$, give 1.50$ to the rental store and keep the rest

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Sceptical of how useful it would be,plus I see rental prices going up since the only way the rates are around 4 $ for a DVD work on the theory of re-renting =)
Maybe prices of dvd-r's will drop

quite the contrary... the price of renting should drop or stay the same. Rental places pay for the licence not for the physical DVD itself...

maybe it would even bring an end to most rental places, cause "renting" a dvd would become like any consumable you can buy anywhere... like buying a choclate bar or bag of chips

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pretty shitty for the buyer if the packaging is broken huh?

quote:

Originally posted by Xo|oX pretty shitty for the buyer if the packaging is broken huh?

haha, i was gonna say that too, broken packages = tough luck, haha