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Media
Information > Media DVD Coverage 
Archive
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DVD NEWS DIGEST
1 -
Cold Mountain (Collector's Edition) Miramax Home Entertainment Retail shipments of DVDs rose 52% in the first six months of 2004, while sales of DVD players rose 25%, according to the Digital Entertainment Group. On a unit basis, 649 million DVD titles were shipped to retail stores in the first six months of the year, while 13 million new DVD players were sold to play those discs. The
group said 62 million US households have DVD players.
A survey by the Motion Picture Association of America found almost one in five Australians illegally download films from the Internet. Major film companies have banded together to educate film fans about the illegality of the practice, but downloaders question whether education will prevent downloading films from becoming as popular as getting songs from the Internet. A regular movie downloader, who declined to be named, said it was already just as easy to find new-release films on the Internet as it was new songs. The quality of pirated movies varied greatly but some were equal to commercially released DVDs. Major movie companies are using various methods to stop the practice. Columbia Tristar managing director Ross Entwistle said movies were being released to DVDs sooner to "close that window of opportunity". July 14 - CNET: New Copy Protection for DVDs A group of technology companies and movie studios have cooperated to create a new copy protection standard for DVDs that could allow high-definition movies to be copied and used inside home networks. Called Advanced Access Content System [AACS] would replace the anticopying technology that now protects ordinary DVDs, but it would be focused on next-generation, high-definition discs. Unlike today's technology, which allows movies to be played only in authorized DVD players, AACS would potentially allow people to store copies of a movie on home computers and watch it on other devices connected to a network--or even transfer it to a portable movie player. There is considerable work ahead before the new technology comes to market. Members said they have already begun working on the specifications and hope to release the technology this year. Analysts said the broad range of representation gave the alliance a more promising future than some of the initiatives that had come solely out of the technology industry. "In this case, you've got two major gorillas from the home video business," GartnerG2 Vice President James Brancheau said. "That's really good news. I like the composition of this." July
13 - The Australian: DVD Players the Latest Digital Camera Accessory Consumer electronics manufacturers are integrating data card slots and software into a new generation of televisions and DVD players to give users more power over their still photos. Two new DVD players include multi-format memory card slots and can display images and movies stored on the cards. They also include software that can record the images to a DVD as a slide show, with background music and menu controls, just like a professional DVD.
The film industry has forced 321 Studios to stop selling software that can copy Hollywood movies sold on DVDs, but its success may be limited. Purveyors of software tools that can do the same thing, sometimes better, are flourishing on the Internet - and the wares are often free. The availability and apparently widespread use of such tools is fostering debate about the legality and the ethical implications of such copying by individual consumers - including people who copy DVD's onto a computer to avoid carrying a disc while they travel, or to keep children from damaging the originals - who do not distribute copies of the DVD as pirates do. Photocopying a magazine article or recording a television broadcast on a VCR is generally considered legal under the fair-use provision of American copyright law. In the electronic realm, however, it may be illegal for individuals in the United States to circumvent any antipiracy measures that might be used to prevent copying material on something like a DVD. A Congressional Representative, however, has introduced legislation intended to promote the availability of DVD-copying tools designed primarily for legitimate consumer use, and to extend fair-use provisions of copyright law to consumers who break anti-copying protection. July 6 - DigiTimes: Taiwan DVD Drive Makers Eye Car-Use Market Taiwanese DVD drive manufacturers say they intend to increase production of car-use DVD players by next year. Total demand for optical disc drives is expected to reach 500 million units this year, with automotive accounting for 100 million drives, the Taiwanese makers indicated. PC-use and consumer electronics (CE) will account for 200 million units each. As certification by automakers for car-use DVD players can take as long as two years, the Taiwanese makers will initially target the automotive after market and offer external (rather than built-in) car-use DVD players.
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