Thanks for the link. That probably would be a death blow to DVD. I wouldn't want to buy more if I knew I could only play in a few times and then it died on me. Hell I have enough of them dying or having bad sections without the locks.

DenverDon

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Speaking of which, how are they planning to handle the rentals? Would those DVDs be coded differently? Would that possibly open up a potentially huge black market?

Edited by - YogaGrrl on Aug 12 2002

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I just don't see people renting DvDs at the volume they rented VHS unless they can make copies at home.

Note - I am not defending the pirating of movies - just telling you how I think most porn viewers will respond to the coming wave of DvD only video stores.

Cyberchicken

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Cyberchicken

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This is kinda like what the music industry is trying to do with music CDs (and they have already landed in court). If the law does go through and copyholders are able to restrict viewing, I doubt very much that adult producers will implement it. So, you should at least be able to count on your adult viewing pleasure.

What concerns me more, as a producer, is VOD and Divix ripping. I also think that this where the big boys should concentrating their efforts in protecting their copyrights and stop trying to squeeze consumers that are more than willing to buy their DVDs.

Just my opinion, but I'm sticking to it.

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My guess is that the law being talked about is regarding the digital copying of High Definition programming. Hollywood is very concerned about the future ability of people to make perfect digital HD copies of movies on Pay-Per-View and premium cable stations.

Some of the laws being discussed would allow a "broadcast flag" to be set that would dictate certain "rules" to digital recorders. These rules could include the restriction of any copying at all, that ability to copy but only view a copy X number of times on the machine that recorded the program (so you can't watch a Pay-Per-View while making a copy for a friend to watch), and unlimited copying (which is what would probably occur on broadcast TV).

There is currently a lot of fighting about this because many people feel that this is in violation of the Sony Betamax case which initially determined the copying rights of viewers.

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You're assuming that a significant number of people who rent VHS tapes make copies of them, which I don't believe to be the case. Probably the majority of people who rent only see the movie that night then return it without copying. DVDs, for them, won't affect their renting habits. Plus, those people who do record from tape to tape now can record from DVD to tape just as easily.

Also, technology for recording DVDs is just in its infancy. Pretty soon people will be able to copy them just as easily (and cheaply) as they do VHS tapes now. Even when/if piracy protection is in place, those few people who are seriously looking to make copies will have ways around it.

Also, speaking personally, I rent a whole lot *more* movies now than I did before - simply because I find DVD to have better picture quality, better preservation of the original aspect ratio (almost every movie on DVD is rented with a widescreen version, while almost none on VHS has such a transfer), it offers more data (extras), it's simply more convenient to carry /use (it's not as bulky, and you don't need to fast forward or rewind in an analog fashion), and it doesn't degrade over time nearly as much as tape (even though there are sometimes scratching issues with DVD that you don't get with tape).

But, all in all, I don't see DVDs doing anything but taking over the market. (Just as tape took over the market from vinyl and CDs took over the market from tape.) The current market trends also support this. Sales (bought and rented) are up almost everywhere.

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