Blu-Ray Will Likely Catch On Despite Flaws

from the patience dept

I've had my own share of criticisms of the Blu-Ray format in the past, but even I think the thesis that Blu-ray is doomed is over the top. Don Reisinger claims that having won the battle with HD-DVD, Sony's Blu-Ray format is still going to lose the war of consumer indifference. I think there's clearly something to this. Clearly, lots of people are still buying DVDs, and the reasons Reisinger identifies -- inflexible DRM, high prices, many consumers' inability to tell the difference between HD and regular definition content -- are certainly reasons to expect uptake of the Blu-Ray format to be relatively slow. But I think it's important to keep the longer-term perspective in mind. People were saying many of the same things about the DVD format a decade ago: complaining about the price and wondering if consumers would care about the quality difference. But the DVD format is indisputably successful. Prices came down. Consumers got used to the higher quality of DVD. It didn't happen in a year, but it took less than a decade.

The same thing will happen with Blu-Ray. Blu-Ray players today are no more expensive than DVDs were a decade ago, and the PS3 doubles as a video game console. As people upgrade their TVs, more and more of them will get used to high-def picture quality. We've pointed out before that faster bandwidth will ultimately render physical formats obsolete. But fortunately for Sony, as bad as Blu-Ray's DRM is, the download services' DRM is even worse. You can at least be reasonably sure you'll be able to play your Blu-Ray disc on most TVs, something that's often not true of video download services. So in the short run, Blu-Ray probably has time to reach critical mass among consumers before Hollywood figures out how to design a movie download service consumers will actually be interested in. Blu-Ray would catch on faster if it weren't for the issues Reisinger identifies, but I don't think there's much doubt Sony and its partners will sell tens of millions of the things.

Filed Under: blu-ray, downloads, drm, dvd
Companies: sony

Die Hard Packages Digital Copy With Its DVD

from the yippee-kay-yay-kay-yo dept

In a special edition of its upcoming release of the latest Die Hard DVD, 20th Century Fox has announced that it will include a DRM-free digital version of the movie on the DVD. In order to copy the WMV file to a local computer, movie watchers will need to input a 16 digit code that is found on the DVD box. It seems ironic to require people to enter some code to get at the supposedly DRM-free file. This is a step in the right direction, but it still seems like they're making people jump through unnecessary hoops. Still, this feature will finally allow consumers to legally watch the movie on their computer and portable devices without having to pay again for that right... or having to use a third party ripping tool. Perhaps this move is more evidence that the studios find the DMCA unreasonable. As we've seen before, by embracing these formats, consumers will begin to find more value from the media, and, as a result, their consumption should increase, which is ultimately good for the entire movie industry.

Filed Under: dvd, movies

NetFlix Hopes Good Customer Service Will Keep Mail Boxes Stuffed With Red Envelopes

from the nice-talking-with-you dept

Although Blockbuster sat on its heels for a long time while NetFlix gobbled up market share, the company has aggressively fought back this year, prompting a lot of pain at NetFlix. NetFlix stock has been pummeled lately as its been drawn into a price war in order to stem customer churn. The problem is that its business model is easily replicated, which partly explains the company's attempt to assert a patent on it. However, the company does appear willing to actually compete, which is refreshing. The New York Times reports on the company's unorthodox decision to offer customer support services from friendly sounding Oregonions (as the company puts it), rather than rely on offshoring or email support. Although this is an expensive move, the company feels it will prove to be a key differentiator as it battles back Blockbuster. Obviously, good customer support means happier customers, while bad customer support can turn customers away. But the lesson isn't that companies should immediately stop all offshoring of these services. Rather, it's important for companies to think of customer support strategically and weigh the various costs and benefits, rather than just going on the lowest-price option.

Filed Under: customer service, dvd
Companies: blockbuster, netflix

Who Cares How Many Discs Counterfeit Operation Could Have Made?

from the why-focus-on-that? dept

Information Week is reporting on two men who were sentenced to jail for what is being called the "largest CD and DVD pirating scheme to be prosecuted in the United States." From the evidence, it certainly sounds like these guys were counterfeiting all sorts of music, movies and software, so there's nothing wrong with them being caught, found guilty and punished. What I do find interesting, however, is how the various industry associations have been spinning this story (and how the press is accepting it without question). Since these guys were arrested, the story has been how they had equipment that could have made 300 million pirated CDs and DVDs. Note the "could have" part. Because, in reality, authorities only seized a bit less than half a million. It's still significant, but it's less than 0.2% (not 2%, but 0.2%) of what's going in the headlines. In theory, any DVD/CD burner could produce millions of counterfeit discs -- but that's not news. Why is it news in this case?

Of course, this is par for the course for the industry. Remember when the RIAA wanted to count high speed CD burners as multiple burners in trying to boost the size of a bust it made? Or when the MPAA claimed they seized $30 million worth of DVDs when in turned out to only be about $10,000? It seems they like to blow these things out of proportion with big, totally unsubstantiated numbers. Of course, that lets them make the laughable claim that each of these busts is "a significant blow" against piracy when nothing can be further from the truth. In fact, as we've seen, all these CD/DVD counterfeiting shops are facing a much more "significant blow" from the competition from free downloads. Yet, of course, the Information Week piece carries a quote saying that "It cannot be understated how significant it has been." Actually, I'd say it's been significantly overstated.

Filed Under: cd, copyright, counterfeit, dvd, movies, mpaa, music, riaa, software
Companies: mpaa, riaa

74 Percent Of Nothing Is Still Nothing

from the hot-air dept

The group behind the HD DVD format in Europe claims that it has 74 percent market share of the next-gen DVD market in a handful of western European countries. Of course, they're not including Sony PS3s, which have a Blu-ray drive, in their count, but the bigger point is that they're claiming 74 percent of a miniscule market. This contrived stat, like Toshiba's claim of 60 percent share of the US market, glosses over the problems that are holding it back: DRM that breaks legitimate customers' players, low perceived benefits and high prices. Apparently, though, the HD DVD folks would rather claim to have a big share of a tiny market than to have any share in a market that's actually meaningful. Update: Just in case anybody cares, the Blu-ray people say they're actually the market leaders.

Filed Under: dvd, entertainment
Companies: blu-ray, hd dvd, sony, toshiba

Duh: Report Says DVD Ripping Is A Lesser 'Threat' Than File-Sharing

from the snoooore dept

A research firm has released a new report saying that people are much more likely to get pirated movies from file-sharing networks than ripping DVDs from rental services or friends. While an article about the report says this is "contrary to popular belief", it hardly seems surprising. While the number of tools to simplify and automate the task of ripping a DVD and turning it into a manageable file have proliferated over the last few years, they still pale in ease of use to the relative point-and-click simplicity of file-sharing networks, particularly for novice users. This is fairly obvious, but it's an important point, because it underlines the fact that it's really impracticality, not copy protection that stops people from ripping DVDs in the same way they do CDs. Despite the contention of the reports' authors, copy protection and DRM really don't stop anybody from ripping a DVD -- they just frustrate legitimate customers.

Filed Under: drm, dvd, piracy

AACS Is Like Every Other DRM: All It Does Is Annoy Customers

from the they'll-never-learn dept

The cornerstone of the AACS copy-protection technology used on next-generation DVDs is the ability to revoke keys on playback devices. This means that when AACS keys get cracked (as happened months ago), DVD makers start pressing discs with a new key -- and discs with that key not only won't work in playback devices until they're updated to recognize it, it renders those device unable to play back any Blu-ray or HD DVD discs at all. Sure, the system "works", but at the expense of potentially pissing off customers who have legitimately bought their DVDs. For the movie industry, though, that's a price they've long been willing to pay; the AACS scheme just further illustrates that DRM doesn't stop piracy, all it does is frustrate users.

Filed Under: aacs, drm, dvd, piracy