 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Media
Information > Media DVD Coverage 
Archive
|
| Updated October 25, 2005 DVD
NEWS DIGEST
1 -
Crash (Widescreen) Lions Gate Home Entertainment
Q: I am interested in converting my movie collection from videotapes to DVD. I would like to be able to bring the files into the computer then, using a video-editing program, ad menus and maybe special effects. What hardware would be required to connect a VCR player to my computer? A: All you need to connect the VCR to your computer is a digitizing card and the right cable, which generally means an S-video or composite video cable. As for the right card to buy, you'll want to shop around to see which offers the best combination of features and price. Most such solutions also include software for editing the video, though you may choose to purchase a more powerful program separately. As for the DVD recorders, you'll still need a card and an appropriate cable to get the data into your computer. Of course, you won't have to covert the signal from analog to digital so there are fewer concerns about loss of quality.
There are three letters in the alphabet that can make any American teenager tremble. Those three letters are S-A-T, which represent the nationwide college admissions exam known as the Scholastic Aptitude Test. Two new DVDs to help get you ready for the new SAT include a writing section incorporating an essay and some grammar. One DVD focuses on the math sections of the test, and the other combines information on the critical reading and writing sections of this pressurized exam. For the sentence completion and passage-based questions, the DVD introduces helpful strategies that are easy to remember. The DVD also gives some valuable instruction on writing the essay, again by taking you step by step.
Mobile DVD players are largely confined to audiences that frequently drive with passengers. Current DVD products serve a single function - to allow the buyer to watch DVD content on the go on small screens. For the population as a whole, saturation levels will be reached by 2008, and may be reached as early as 2006. The results of the study, Portable and Mobile DVD Hardware in the United States, are somewhat surprising, since portable DVD players are such a niche item. However, Research and Markets' study find that consumers are extremely comfortable with mobile DVD technology as DVD players find their ways into ever-increasing numbers of U.S. households.
DVD players made their premiere in the mid-1990s, and movie studios saw an opportunity to switch from a rental model to a sales model. While they had sold VHS videocassettes to rental companies for about $90 apiece, they loaded DVDs with extra features - interviews with stars, outtakes, directors' cuts and priced them at $20 or less, according to Tom Adams, president of Adams Media Research, an entertainment industry research and consulting firm. By 1999, the average owner of a DVD player was buying 20 DVDs each year, according to Dan Ernst, an analyst with Soleil Securities. DVD penetration reached 52 percent in 2003, and then, as prices of DVD players dropped to $50 or less, it soared to 75 percent in 2004, Ernst said. (It's now up around 80 percent, he said.) The number has dropped to about 14 DVDs sold per household per year.
The Industry Trust for Intellectual Property Awareness (ITIPA) is launching a £1m campaign to stamp out DVD piracy in Britain. The group's campaign, launched by TV presenter Jonathon Ross, aims to stop the growing problem of homegrown DVD piracy. Figures from the Federation Against Software Theft show that, while imported pirated DVD seizures are falling, homegrown pirated DVD seizures are up 133 per cent on last year. Lavinia Carey, director general of the ITIPA, said: "The problem of DVD piracy has not gone away but has evolved over the past 12 months. This is illustrated by the increased presence of pirated DVDs for sale via online auction sites and the growth in fake discs manufactured in the UK. Members of the public need to open their eyes to what is happening. Our message is simple: if you buy pirated DVDs you are funding criminal activity in your own community."
Hong Kong customs officers broke up a movie and video game pirating ring, seizing over 100,000 discs. It was a nice haul, but it was far from the biggest bust in Asia this year, a Motion Picture Association (MPA) representative said. In an operation code-named Glacier, officers from a special task force under the Hong Kong Customs and Excise Department raided 10 locations in Hong Kong, netting 128 DVD-R and CD-R burners, Hong Kong officials said. Eighteen men and women were arrested in the operation, which officials said was run by organized crime members. The seized burners were believed to be in operation 24-hours a day and capable of producing nearly 11.5 million pirated movies, video games, and software programs each year, which would have yielded revenues of nearly $8.7 million each year, according to the MPA. The syndicate was selling the discs from three retail outlets, according to Hong Kong officials. One week earlier in Guangzhou, China, the MPA participated in a raid on several warehouses that netted nearly one million discs. And in May, Hong Kong officials seized 504 DVD-R and CD-R burners from two separate locations, he says. The MPA estimates that its members lose over $896 million in potential revenue each year in the Asia-Pacific region due to copyright infringement of intellectual property. Last year, MPA work in the region resulted in the seizure of 49 million illegal optical discs, the MPA says. end
____________________________________________________ |