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Media
Information > Media DVD Coverage 
Archive
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| Updated May 9, 2005 DVD
NEWS DIGEST
1 -
Sideways (Widescreen) FoxVideo
Restored versions of classic films, major and minor, have found new popularity in recent years on DVD. When experts restored the late Orson Welles's studio-altered 1958 melodrama "Touch of Evil," they used Mr. Welles's notes to conform their work with his ideas - among other things, removing the credits superimposed over the three-minute opening shot. One of the most acclaimed camera feats ever, it can now be viewed without obstruction. About 21,000 features were produced in American studios before 1950, and only about half still exist. Many were melted down so the film stock's silver content could be recycled. Some movies that were stowed away for posterity have crumbled into dust because of poor storage. Digital technology has opened fresh possibilities for restoration, allowing damaged or deteriorated footage to be reconditioned even when the original elements are beyond physical repair.
Pirate DVD shops in Beijing's embassy district continue to operate despite the launch of a week-long national anti-piracy campaign and the high-profile jailing of a China-based American global fake DVD merchant. The Ministry of Culture says officials inspected 555,368 shops in 2004 and found a record 154m audio-visual products, while investigators also uncovered 21 production lines producing pirated discs. However, the government admits that illegal copies still account for more than 80 per cent of the market in audio-visual products, and analysts say relatively few traders ever face serious punishment. In Beijing, pirate DVD shops have become increasingly common, with many issuing VIP cards to favoured customers and offering money-back guarantees.
Home entertainment releases have typically followed a film's cinema debut by six months, dropping to just over four in recent years. Now the window could be set to shrink further. Figures show that 70% of consumers who buy or rent a DVD have never seen that film on the big screen, revealing a separate demographic of stay-at-home viewers who account for the lion's share of a title's lifetime revenues. Furthermore the rate at which pirates are rushing illegal recordings of Hollywood releases onto the black market has alarmed the studios as much as it has stung them in lost income. The studio lobby group, Motion Picture Association of America, claims studios lose approximately $3.5bn (£1.8bn) around the world each year in potential revenues, and there are numerous reports of bootleg DVDs appearing in countries like China, Russia and eastern Europe the same day the picture goes on theatrical release.
Two American men were sentenced to prison terms of up to two years and six months for selling pirated DVDs over the Internet in a rare success for joint U.S.-China efforts to enforce intellectual property laws. The two Americans and two Chinese co-defendants were accused of using the Internet to sell more than 180,000 counterfeit DVDs to buyers in 25 countries. Officials said about 20,000 of the DVDs were sold to American buyers. Prosecutors said they seized 119,000 pirated DVDs in raids last summer in one accused man's Shanghai apartment and a warehouse rented by a Chinese associate. Investigators
said the case saw unprecedented cooperation between Chinese and
U.S. law enforcement. The U.S. and other nations has been pressing
China to crack down on rampant copyright violations. ____________________________________________________ |