DailyTech - Movielink Will Allow Downloaded Movies to be Burned to DVD

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Internet Movielink Will Allow Downloaded Movies to be Burned to DVD
Tuan Nguyen (Blog) - July 18, 2006 9:20 AM

22 comment(s) - last by xKelemvor.. on Jul 19 at 4:07 PM

Movie studios keep a close watch

A company in California called Movielink is about to make available a service that allows movies downloaded through its online service to be burned to DVD. Unlike other online movie services which only allows downloaded movies to be viewed on either the machine it was downloaded on, movies downloaded using Movielink will be watchable on any DVD player. The only problem with this strategy is the feedback it's getting from Hollywood studios.

Fortunately, Movielink says that its using a technology from Sonic Solutions, that places DRM protection onto the movies. The protection prevents users from making multiple copies of the movie, either from the service or from DVD to DVD -- although DVD movie protection schemes have been anything but reliable.

Movielink's CEO Jim Ramo told reporters "we are anticipating an industry resolution to establish rules for converting secure Internet-delivered Movielink downloads into a secure format compatible with DVD players. Movielink did not comment on when its service would be available to customers but the company said that only customers in the US would be allowed to use its services at this time.

DailyTech previously reported that the BitTorrent file sharing technology has received more movie studio support. Since the beginning of 2006, BitTorrent has been receiving increased support from IT companies to movie studios alike.

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netflix

By kattanna on 7/18/2006 10:55:28 AM , Rating: 2

in my opinion netflix still rules over all these services

i get true DVD quality because i get the actual DVD & one HUGE selection. Yeah i may have to wait a day or 2 for a new DVD to arrive, but then i dont have to worry/wait with downloading something either.

we have actually stepped up to the 6 DVD at a time plan and ALWAYS have something that we want to watch. In fact we have found that netflix is saving us LOTS of money because very few movies are actually worth buying cause very few movies are worth watching more then once..heck a few arent even worth watching once..and a couple of tv shows to boot as we have found out. but it didnt end up as an expensive mistake..just mail it back, remove any more of that show from your list, and get something else. very handy.

it is also saving us money in that we have cancelled all of the premium movie channels, as any shows or movies that would be playing there we can netflix and watch much more at our convience. The only fallback on that is new shows, we have to be a season behind, but it is more then made up for by being able to get the entire season once on DVD all at once and blowing through it thereby getting more story.

anyways..with netflix and our DVR on our satellite service, all of our viewing needs are well meet.

i dont see hollywood doing anything anytime soon that will allow a service that would make me want to change

RE: netflix

By rrsurfer1 on 7/18/2006 11:42:26 AM , Rating: 2

But what if a similar service existed to download the DVDs. Many people have HTPCs or at least streaming abilities (I used a moded Xbox) to stream media, so theres no need to even burn to DVD. Then you could "rent" your 6 movies by downloading them and not have to wait the 1-2 days. Now that would be nice.

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RE: netflix

By kattanna on 7/18/2006 12:40:35 PM , Rating: 2

maybe..but they need to overcome a few things

1) image quality. most of the stuff you download is more compressed and therefore not true full DVD quality. a nitpicking point, but still a point, and we willnt even get into HD

2) software client. its got to be easy to use and robust enough to set it to download in the background and forget it and it does it thing resuming when necessary.

3) you and your ISP. more and more nowadays ISPs are placing caps on the max bandwidth you can use in a month, and when you exceed that you could be charged more. Not really to much an issue today..but as more and more people adopt downloading GIGS and GIGS of content, it could be, and if so, it thereby raises the true cost of said service.

4) selection. right now the selection of all of these download services is a complete joke. so much so its not even worth my time to look any further at them. Now IF and when that changes so that i dont need to install and subscribe to a service for each studio, where i can install and subscribe to ONE service and get the complete selection like i do with netflix..then..then i would be willing to seriously check that out. but im doubting it anytime soon. turf wars are stopping that now from happening.

i mean they still havent been able to get this done with music and there have been download, legally, services for some time now.

anyways..maybe in 5-10 years

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RE: netflix

By OrSin on 7/18/2006 1:05:13 PM , Rating: 2

I do net flix and just copy the DVD and then send it back the same day. I'm on the 3 at time plan and I get 6-9 dvd a week. I never have time to watch them all, but my Gf does so she jsut tells me the good ones. I'm sorry but my burned copies look just as good as the dvd's. I have 61' and 65' tv so it not the size. I also dl some movies and the dvd rips look good. Add in my DVR and like the other guys said I never need leave to get a movie. Honestly I could drop the premieum channels too since I can dl HBO shows from the net the same week.

Unless the DL service can let me get them for $5 each no way I'm paying for movies that I have to burn to my own media and then create my own sleeves.

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RE: netflix

By TomZ on 7/18/2006 1:23:24 PM , Rating: 2

I'm curious about folks who do this. Do you tend to keep these movies for a long time or just a short time? Do you keep copies of all the movies you rip, or just the ones you like? If you keep movies for a long time, what is your motivation - are you a "collector" or do you just want to be able to watch these movies again in the future.

I know a couple of people who are "software collectors." They have tons of software, some legal and some illegal, like thousands of titles. I just can't understand their motivation, since they don't even ever use the software or even give copies to others - they just collect it like one would collect baseball cards of stamps. I was wondering if some folks collect movies in this same way.

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RE: netflix

By kattanna on 7/18/2006 1:27:51 PM , Rating: 2

so in summary for you orsin..

you steal...and unless they can make it cost effective for you to continue stealing..no way you will use such a service..

boy..yeah..thats a reason to bring such a service to market i tell you

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RE: netflix

By sinisterDei on 7/18/2006 3:21:40 PM , Rating: 2

That's what I got out of his post.

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RE: netflix

By BladeVenom on 7/18/2006 10:38:59 PM , Rating: 2

It's copyright infringement not stealing.

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RE: netflix

By rushfan2006 on 7/18/2006 4:38:10 PM , Rating: 2

OrSin...you sir, are an idiot.

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RE: netflix

By TomZ on 7/18/2006 10:30:10 PM , Rating: 2

I think you guys are going a little overboard. For example, what if this guy/gal just rips each movie, watches it, and deletes it. If that happened to be the case, this seems reasonable to me, and not really deserving of such strong criticism.

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if it' digital, it can be broken.

By armagedon on 7/18/2006 10:50:41 AM , Rating: 2

I doubt the movie studios will agree to this. So far almost every type of protection has failed.
It will take hackers a few days to rip the film from the dvd. Remember it has to be compatible with home dvd players so the technology can't be too different from CSS.

RE: if it' digital, it can be broken.

By sinisterDei on 7/18/2006 10:58:26 AM , Rating: 2

quote:
It will take hackers a few days to rip the film from the dvd.

They won't have to crack any new protection. The implementation of a new digital distribution model doesn't supplant the existing physical distribution model. The "hackers" are much more likely to continue ripping DVDs from whatever their current DVD source is - rather than actually *purchase* movies online that have additional protections (ie- more work for them).

Why bother learning to crack something new when you can just rent the normal DVD from blockbuster? I mean, if you're into that thing.

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RE: if it' digital, it can be broken.

By armagedon on 7/18/2006 11:32:28 AM , Rating: 2

quote:
Why bother learning to crack something new when you can just rent the normal DVD from blockbuster? I mean, if you're into that thing.

just because it's there, is sufficient. Once done, it'll be just another source channel for PTP distribution. No need to rent it from BB anymore, it comes to you at home.

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RE: if it' digital, it can be broken.

By sinisterDei on 7/18/2006 3:24:30 PM , Rating: 2

Oh don't get me wrong - someone with a lot of free time and a penchant for defeating encryption schemes will break whatever new format MovieLink can come up with.

My point is that whether or not the MovieLink format is broken has no effect whatsoever on if any movie in particular will be pirated and distributed illegally over the internet. All MovieLink's possibly new format would prevent would possibly be mom trying to burn a copy of a movie for her sister. Anyone with any technical know-how and a broadband connection that *wants* any particular movie can get it, and some crummy encryption on some crummy video downloading service isn't gonna stop that.

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RE: if it' digital, it can be broken.

By IMPoor on 7/18/2006 11:02:33 AM , Rating: 2

I don't see how this is going to be any harder to crack than the DVD itself. I like the idea and if its cheap enough I would have no problem subscribing to it. It seems like movielink should be able to make the movies have the same copy protection as a store bought DVD. As long as they do that the studios should not be alowed to complain. If movielink puts better copy-protection than the studios and pay the proper royalties I don't see this being a problem.

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Pricing

By rrsurfer1 on 7/18/2006 9:44:48 AM , Rating: 2

Sounds like a good idea if the don't make them more expensive than DVDs are in the first place. $5 would be nice. But I doubt that will happen.

RE: Pricing

By stncttr908 on 7/18/2006 9:53:29 AM , Rating: 2

I'd be willing to bet it'll be just as (if not more) expensive than purchasing the DVD at your local store.

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RE: Pricing

By rrsurfer1 on 7/18/2006 10:12:12 AM , Rating: 2

I know. Lower distribution costs, no printed media, no packaging, same price or higher. Then the studios can claim online distribution doesn't work because of "all the illegal downloaders". Try making your prices reasonable.

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RE: Pricing

By on 7/18/2006 4:20:19 PM , Rating: 2

Not to mention that dye-based "burned" discs have been shown to degrade after just a couple of years. If it's going to cost similarly to the stamped/pressed discs, I think I'd rather have the stamped disc -- just for longevity if nothing else.

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Pricing and Quality of Titles ....

By rushfan2006 on 7/18/2006 10:25:50 AM , Rating: 2

With "hit run" (re: movies actually WORTH owning) costing $21.99 or less retail, means that this service is insane if they charge a dime more then say $15 per movie if its a "hit".

Don't buy into the hype of this service, is my advice, until we see pricing and selection. So tired of this online movie rental services saying "watch any movie you want for just $15 a month!!!" and then you find out that their selection bites, where they put movies like "Bewitched" and "Vanilla Sky" in their "blockbuster hits" category.

If an online movie service is gonna state they are an alternative to say blockbuster or hollywood video -- then they better have the first run hits available like those stores do or else thier ads are nothing more than a big joke.

Ooooh....yay!! I spent x dollars a month, now I can finally watch Attack of the 50ft Woman as much as I want!

Previously Viewed

By Squidward on 7/18/2006 4:41:00 PM , Rating: 2

What I wonder from all these online movie services is how could they ever compete with previously viewed movies. Nowadays you can purchase them for about 5 dollars a pop, which I can view anywhere and anytime I want. Why would I ever pay $20 to $30 dollars for a movie that I could only view on my PC. What if my hard drive crashes? I bet I lost any movie I had downloaded and not backed up and would have to purchase it again. The only thing I could imagine making me pay so much for a movie is if its a niche title that is difficult to find elsewhere, but not even being able to make a copy of what I just bought? Oh I think not! At least this company is attempting to appeal more to the consumer than any other download movie service that's been implemented so far. I really dislike all the restrictions that are going on with digital media it's getting downright absurd.

Prices start at $8.99

By xKelemvor on 7/19/2006 4:07:07 PM , Rating: 2

Just saw this artical somewhere else...

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/busines...

Last Paragraph:

quote:
The burn-to-DVD movies, which can take two to three hours to download with a good broadband connection, start at $8.99. Titles include ``Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle,'' ``Scent of a Woman'' and ``Barbershop.'' Consumers will be able to print disc and jewel-box labels of the purchased films. Eventually, Marvis hopes CinemaNow will partner with a storage company to create a storage network for consumers faced with limited hard drive space to contain big video files.