Disney to Begin Renting 'Self-Destructing' DVDs

[Laz]

Taken from:- http://reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=JXEWTBHSIFHEKCRBAELCFEY?type=technologyNews&storyID=2761085

Fri May 16, 2003 07:34 PM ET

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - This disc will self-destruct in 48 hours.
That is the warning The Walt Disney Co. DIS.N will issue this August when it begins to "rent" DVDs that after two days become unplayable and do not have to be returned.

Disney home video unit Buena Vista Home Entertainment will launch a pilot movie "rental" program in August that uses the self-destruction technology, the company said on Friday.

The discs stop working after a change in color renders them unreadable. They start off red, but when they are taken out of the package, exposure to oxygen turns the coating black and makes it impenetrable by a DVD laser.

Buena Vista hopes the technology will let it crack a wider rental market, since it can sell the DVDs in stores or almost anywhere without setting up a system to get the discs back.

The discs work perfectly for the two-day viewing window, said Flexplay Technologies, Inc., the private company which developed the technology using material from General Electric Co.GE.N

Chief Executive Alan Blaustein told Reuters he was also in conversations with other companies to use the self-destructing discs.

The technology cannot be hacked by programmers who would want to view the disc longer because the mechanism which closes the viewing window is chemical and has nothing to do with computer technology.

However, the disc can be copied within 48 hours, since it works like any other DVD during that window.

Buena Vista did not disclose pricing plans but said the discs, dubbed EZ-D, would be available in August in select markets with recent releases including "The Recruit," "The Hot Chick," and "Signs."

 

[scarecrow]

This patent sounds absolutely ridiculous... in fact it is propagating illegal copying- which in that case should rather be legal!

 

[VIPER_1069]

erm DUH tv output to stabiliser to vhs input !?

you could even try the amature approach of a video camera in front of the tv set for a very crude duplication process

 

[Laz]

Well as they will record fine within 48 hours can't see how that will present a problem, they in fact if anything are now giving people even more reasons to buy a DVD burner! lmao

 

[Geoff]

I had to check to see what the date was........NO it's not April 1st

 

[dx]

Oh great..... another wasteful thing to throw away and wreck the environment!

Or perhaps the marketing department at Disney can come up with the slogan, "the DVD that you can watch, which then becomes a frisbee.... all in a convenient 48 hours!"

Even better.... "take 2 specially marked Disney tm self-destructible DVDs and look just like Mickey Mouse. Just glue the useless DVDs to you favorite cap and presto, you have ears just like your favorite mouse!"

 

[Tommy]

The discs stop working after a change in color renders them unreadable. They start off red, but when they are taken out of the package, exposure to oxygen turns the coating black and makes it impenetrable by a DVD laser

Does that mean all my PS1 disks are useless now? lol

 

[VIPER_1069]

"the DVD that you can watch, which then becomes a frisbee.... all in a convenient 48 hours!"

What more junk as if we don't get enough waste with A.O.L. disks

hey now that would make an interesting POLL who uses and actually likes A.O.L.

i think i will make one ....

im going off topic here aint i bleh lol

 

[jmtrash]

mmm... DVDXcopy nuf said.