–Movielink Announces Plans for Similar Service
Web-based VOD provider, CinemaNow, beta-launched a service Wednesday that allows customers in the US to download the entire contents of a DVD from its Web site, and then burn them for playback on a standard DVD player. Content available through the so-called "Burn to DVD" service, which is the first service of its kind, includes movies and videos from Buena Vista Home Entertainment, Lionsgate, MGM Worldwide Digital Media, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, Universal Studios Home Entertainment, EagleVision and the Sundance Channel. Currently, around 100 "Burn to DVD" titles are available, including "Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle," "Scent of a Woman" and "Barbershop" (CinemaNow says that it plans to add both new and catalog DVD’s from a range of content providers in the coming months): the service provides all the features associated with traditional DVD’s, including graphic menus, 5.1 Surround Sound, subtitles, alternative language and commentary tracks, and bonus materials. Once customers download a DVD, they can either simply play it back on their PC, using Windows Media Player, or burn a copy of the file to a blank DVD+R or DVD-R writeable disc, using their computer’s internal or external DVD writer. Once burned, CinemaNow says, the DVD can be played in virtually any DVD player, with full remote control navigation and access to all special features. DVD downloads are priced from $8.99 and include printable DVD labels and cover art. The Burn to DVD service is based on fluxDVD, a technology for secure online DVD distribution that was developed by Germany’s ACE GmbH.
In an apparent attempt to steal some of CinemaNow’s thunder, rival Web-based VOD service, Movielink, announced Monday that it had signed a licensing deal with Sonic Solutions for technology, dubbed AuthorScript DVD on Demand, that will allow it too to offer a DVD-download-and-burn service. (Note: according to Sonic Solutions, AuthorScript DVD on Demand includes a DRM gateway for secure export of content from approved download systems; video codecs that convert Internet-delivered video into MPEG-2 video for DVD, during the download process; automated DVD-formatting tools for converting video into interactive DVD’s; and an Extensible Media Protection Architecture that allows a range of studio-approved copy-protection mechanisms to be applied to DVD’s as they are being burned.) The deal will also see Sonic Solutions including the Movielink service within its Roxio CinePlayer and in other software applications it distributes through OEM and retail channels: the companies say that they will "implement a parallel marketing collaboration to rapidly establish a large user base of tens of millions of users by widely distributing through Sonic’s PC OEM, retail and e-tail distribution channels." However, Movielink anticipates that it will be approximately six months before it launches its DVD burning service, and the company has yet to say whether any content providers have agreed to offer their content on the service.
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