DVD movie burning, coming to a store near you

DVDlogo Major movie studios have given their consent for B&M (Brick and Mortar) retail stores to begin utilizing DVD burning kiosks, which can be used to burn a DVD movie on demand while

customers wait in store. Supposedly these kiosks will allow retail stores to carry a much larger selection of movies, without devoting additional physical shelf space that would otherwise be needed for stocking retail versions of the enormous back catalog of movies that are available to stores. We have already heard of DVD burning kiosks that produce Linux distribution disks, but now we will finally see the same type of burning stations for Hollywood blockbusters. And while these movie burning stations will allow stores to carry a much greater selection, they will also significantly decrease the cost of manufacturing a DVD movie title. Costs that could be reduced or eliminated by using the DVD burning stations include the DVD armory case, label printing, disk pressing, shipping, and others. Pricing information has not been communicated as of yet, so we will have to wait and see what they will be attempting to charge for an on-demand movie DVD-R. With the reduced product cost, I surely hope the savings will be passed on to the customers, as I am sure no one is going to want to pay $20 for a movie DVD-R that does not come in a retail package.

These DVD movie burning stations would have been available much sooner if it were not for the fears and hesitations of the movie studios. Movie studios have been reluctant to approve the kiosks due to copy protection concerns. We now know that the stations will utilize CSS for DVD-R, also known as DVD Download. The Content Scrambling System (CSS) was broken long ago, so I do not see why the movie studios waited for CSS for DVD-R before approving these burning kiosks. DRM and encryption mechanisms can not be updated on DVD’s due to long established specifications and standards. The DVD-R burning and CSS implementation will be provided by Sonic Solutions and their Qflix technology. Mark Ely from Sonic Solutions also stated “In the next three to four years, we expect 15-20 percent of DVDs will become on-demand rather than being displayed on retailers’ shelves.” Interesting indeed. I predict that these DVD-R movie disks produced at the burning stations will be extremely easy to backup using the currently available DVD backup tools. I will be looking out for the stations as I am interested in finding out exactly who the manufacturer will be for the DVD-R media utilized inside.

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